The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable (J-B Leadership Challenge: Kouzes/Posner) (Hardcover)

~ Robert H. Thompson (Author)
Key Phrases: commitment circle, titled leader, New York, The Five Practices, You're Perfect (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Drawing on the leadership theories in the management classic The Leadership Challenge, Robert Thompson effortlessly incorporates these ideas into a fable of leadership and growth. Based on a company's three-day offsite meeting, we follow this tale of transition through the eyes of two former rival pharmaceutical companies creating a joint sales strategy. The characters ultimately learn how to adopt the five practises that form the Leadership Challenge:

• Model the Way
• Inspire a Shared Vision
• Challenge the Process
• Enable Others to Act
• Encourage the Heart.

The book also explores the dynamics of a company off-site and addresses the fears and concerns participants may have especially around 360 degree feedback, the key component of the Leadership Challenge model and workshops.

For anyone preparing to attend a leadership training off-site, human resource professionals or trainers planning an offsite, leadership developers, program planners, or for professionals looking to hone their leadership skills, this book will be an invaluable resource and a succinct introduction to The Leadership Challenge.

From the Inside Flap

The Offsite

"She'd seen it before. The new guy pushes the incumbent hard for a few months, creates problems, and then brings in someone from his old company to replace the failure. Was he there to test her and teach her, or to toss her out at the first sign of trouble?"
—from The Offsite

Drawing on the leadership theories from the best-selling classic, The Leadership Challenge, Robert Thompson effortlessly incorporates Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner's time-tested concepts into a winning fable of leadership and growth. This dramatic tale of transition centers on a three-day meeting of two former rival pharmaceutical companies taking the first step towards creating a joint sales strategy. Told through the perspective of participants from both camps, they come to rely on The Five Practices that form the heart of The Leadership Challenge:

• Model the Way

• Inspire a Shared Vision

• Challenge the Process

• Enable Others to Act

• Encourage the Heart

Exploring the dynamics of a company offsite with humor and insight, Thompson addresses the fears and concerns many participants have, especially around 360-degree feedback, the key component of The Leadership Challenge® model and workshops.

An invaluable book for anyone planning to attend (or produce) a leadership training retreat, The Offsite also provides a succinct introduction to The Leadership Challenge for professionals, at all levels, who want to hone their leadership skills.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (March 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470189827
• ISBN-13: 978-0470189825
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #386,088 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is so Robert!, April 16, 2008

By	Cathi Bowman (Southern CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I LOVED "The Offsite" and could hear Robert's voice with every word. His enthusiasm for what he does and more importantly, how he does it, resonated throughout the book. It brought back very fond memories of the hard work and good learnings I enjoyed as a participant in Mr. Thompson's workshops/offsites. I can't tell you when I last read a book on leadership that I couldn't put down. His stuff is for real, not dry textbook material. The "in person" Robert is just like the book -- only better!! ENJOY!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Fable Leaders Need, March 13, 2009

By	Clark Frailey "Pastor Clark" (Oklahoma USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Robert H. Thompson says that the fictional characters in his book, The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable, speak to him in his mind: and I believe him.

As Thompson weaves the overbearing burned out salesman, budding young executive, motivational speakers, and even a gardener into his fable based on the seminal The Leadership Challenge by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, he gently guides the reader on a quest to be better than they currently are, not just in leadership but in life.

Thompson writes from his experience as a speaker, workshop leader, executive coach, and one of the founders of The Leadership Challenge Workshop. He incorporates The Leadership Challenge's highly acclaimed five practices into the lives of everyday people struggling in their sense of leadership identity not to mention their personal lives.

Thompson's characters invite you to care about them, understand their motivations, their fears, and their uncertainties. As a third-person observer you not only read the conversations: you know their thoughts. While not groundbreaking for fiction, it is revolutionary in the world of leadership.

Numerous times one has heard the methods employed, meetings held, and the outcomes of successful leadership - but how many times have the individual's innermost thoughts been exposed?

This book could be implemented as a model for churches seeking to help transition their congregations to new models. Churches that seek to move from event-based "attractional" models to service and "externally-focused" models must have lay leaders and staff convinced that a shared vision helps everyone achieve more for the Great Commission.

In application, one realizes that the offsite meeting itself is not the target Thompson is aiming at in his work. Thompson provides a framework for instituting positive change in any leaders' life at any level in the organization.

In Joe's transformation (which includes elements similar to the Apostle Paul's Damascus Road experience) a glimpse is offered that titles mean little for authentic leadership as he steps down from Vice President to a seemingly insignificant role. At this significant moment of transformation, Joe cries out, "Just give me another chance, I'm just a fake. I can see that now" (134).

Whether Aesop or Thompson, fables end with a moral to the story. Thompson teaches that servant leaders who listen and model authenticity find the success everyone else is desperately seeking.

This is a lesson pastors desperately need to hear in multiple formats including the use of fiction to drive home the point. I found this book to be easy to read and hard to put down.

For me this book is the icing on the cake of the excellent The Leadership Challenge and should be read by anyone willing to challenge themselves to greater leadership.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Easy to read yet it does a great job of teaching, August 10, 2008

By	John Mathieson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This book was easy to read and I learned quite a bit. It is the type of learning where you get to the point exactly the same time the book does. Good story.