One: The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership [Hardcover]

Lance Secretan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 6, 2006

ONE is about the journey we have traveled from oneness to separateness from a life-view based on a conscious awareness that we are all part of one story, one planet and one cosmic system, to our current belief that everything and all of us are separate. This is a book for all of us, because we all lead others from our first breath. More than at any time in our history, we are in need of inspired and inspiring leadership. And this new vision of life and leadership can be ours when we return to oneness. Secretan uses many inspiring examples to advance his theory that there are always causes and effects there are never actions without consequences anywhere because we are one. If I throw my pop can out of my car window, I may think that this is no longer part of my world because I have moved on but I would be wrong. If millions of others do the same, rivers will become polluted and my drinking water will be at risk. If we bull-doze suppliers to provide more services and higher quality at lower prices and, by doing so, eventually drive them out of business, we will both lose because suppliers and customers are one. If I cheat or steal from my employees, customers or suppliers, I may think that I can get away with it, but this is a misconception as we have learned from the examples of countless industries and leaders. If we have a rancorous exchange with our spouse, it isn't just the other party who is hurt we are both hurt because our relationship our oneness is strained, and this damages our marriage, and therefore, both of us. When we inspire a child to do something extraordinary, we change the world. We are one. Becoming aware of the need to think, feel and act with oneness in other words, consciously is the easy part. Part 2, The CASTLE Principles; explains how to accomplish it. CASTLE is an acronym formed of the first letters of six concepts Courage, Authenticity, Service, Truthfulness, Love and Effectiveness The CASTLE® Principles. Like all fundamental concepts, these are simple ideas well known to us all. The new part is living them more than talking about them. The CASTLE Principles have a unique history: Secretan did not discover them they discovered him. In his consulting work and during corporate retreats, Secretan asked participants to describe the characteristics of ineffective relationships whether at home or at work, in politics, religion, academia, relationships, and among families and friends. This research showed that people were typically turned off by others who were not courageous, authentic, serving, truthful, loving or effective. It made no difference whether they were a CEO, a stay-at-home Mom or an athlete. It was a small intellectual leap to conclude that living fully in the opposite of these limiting behaviors might reveal conscious leadership and so the CASTLE Principles were born. Many stories are told in ONE stories of clients using the CASTLE® Principles to transform organizations. When fully lived, these principles are profoundly transformative and inspiring to one's self and others. What is heartening is that there is nothing new to learn here no great theory, breakthrough or equation. These are concepts that are within us already, that at some stage in our lives have been fully lived at least once, but, for many, have been lost, and now, we yearn to reclaim them. The approach taken in this book is simple: recall when you were at your personal best and live at this peak again. It is through living the CASTLE® Principles that we inspire others and therefore make the world more inspiring and whole the return to oneness for which we all yearn. This is how greatness is achieved.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Secretan shares the transformational ideas that helped us achieve organizational brilliance. These principles could work the same magic for you! Scott Regan, Executive Vice President, Memorial Health, Savannah, GA. We would soar to our full potential if we lived the principles in ONE. This book will transform your life! --Jack Canfield, Author, The Success Principles

From the Inside Flap

The breakthrough book on Conscious Leadership By award-winning author Lance Secretan

Whenever we experience pain or sadness, it is because we have become separated from what, or whom, we love. And whenever we are inspired and joyful, it is because we are one with what, or whom, we love. All human challenges and successes can be explained through this awareness.

In ONE: The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership, Lance Secretan brilliantly reframes leadership theory with a new vision for the 21st century—a vision of reconnecting each of us with our deepest human needs. He traces 6,000 years of history to show how we have become detached from our innate sense of oneness, and instead, have embraced the illusion of separateness, rooted in science and rational thought. Secretan reveals how this illusion has created profound misunderstandings about leadership and how we can, once again, become conscious leaders—through the practice of oneness. The conscious leader practices the CASTLE Principles—CASTLE is an acronym for six attributes: Courage, Authenticity, Service, Truthfulness, Love, and Effectiveness. Like all fundamental, life-changing concepts, these are simple ideas—well known to us all, yet easier to talk about than to live. Secretan guides us through the process of incorporating these principles into our lives to see the sacred connections between everyone and everything. The successful application of the CASTLE Principles has led to exceptional personal growth and organizational performance for thousands internationally.. ONE combines many practical exercises and reflections to help refresh our ideas about leadership and life with stories of remarkable people and organizations from around the world that are living this new thinking. Secretan has written an empowering book for all leaders— managers, consultants, executives, CEOs, organizational-development and human-resource professionals, workshop and seminar leaders, supervisors, parents, teachers, coaches, mentors, clergy, public servants, therapists—in fact, anyone dedicated to serving, leading, and guiding. ONE is essential reading for those who yearn for innovative ideas about leading and living consciously in ways that will inspire and transform people, organizations, and the world.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: The Secretan Center Inc. (April 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 097331155X
• ISBN-13: 978-0973311556
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #510,516 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Lance Secretan lives his dream--"To change the world by creating inspiring organizations". He has dedicated his life to transforming companies, changing the lives of the people who work in them, and revolutionizing the way leaders can lead.

As an advisor to leaders, a speaker, retreat leader, teacher and coach, Lance inspires executive teams with new ways of thinking, which one Fortune 100 leader described as, "enabling us to move from the profane to the sacred". He is pioneering the integration of corporate life and spiritual integrity.

Lance is widely acknowledged as one of the most insightful and provocative leadership teachers of our time. He is the former CEO of a Fortune 100 company, university professor, award-winning columnist and author in 15 books about leadership and inspiration. Lance focuses on the connection between high performance and the heart, the mind and the soul and why the key ingredient is inspiration when we seek effective leadership. His teachings and writings on conscious leadership, are courageous, radical and ingenious and have been hailed as among the most original, authentic and effective contributions to leadership thinking currently available. Individuals, entire organizations, cities and states have experienced remarkable transformations through his unique mentoring, wisdom and approach. Thirty of Fortune's Most Admired Companies, and 13 of Fortune's Best Companies to Work for in America, are his clients. Leadership Excellence ranked him among the top 100 Most Influential Thinkers on Leadership in the World and Speakers in America ranks him among the Top Five Leadership speakers. Our experience is Lance's Retreats and Workshops are simply incomparable in terms of practice and immediate usefulness.

Lance is a dynamic, thought-provoking and extraordinarily tech-savvy presenter who ignites individual clients, companies and audiences with his passion. His work results in reinvigorated work environments all over the world and his presentations result in standing ovations.
Lance is the author of numerous highly-regarded books that inspire people and organizations to look at their work in new and invigorating ways. In Dr. Secretan's latest book, The Spark, the Flame, and the Torch: Inspire Self. Inspire Others. Inspire the World, he teaches us how to become a more inspired person, how to be a more inspiring leader and how to be the change the world needs for a brighter future. He integrates experience and theory to show us how to fulfill our destiny and create inspiring organizations.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful little book with big ideas about leading with a conscience . . ., May 9, 2006

By 

Kirk C. Hoessle (Girdwood, Alaska) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: One: The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership (Hardcover)

This little book is a bounty of inspiring messages and big ideas. It opens with some critical thinking about the separateness we often experience in an otherwise connected world, and it shows how a powerful desire for oneness is emerging (with some surprising conclusions about the role of technology in this process).

It then gently flows into a practical examination of life's key lessons as it lays out the CASTLE principles for leadership. A few central messages rang true for me: what we do to our customers, our employees, and our investors, we do to ourself; there's more room for myth, mystery, and magic in our life's work; and a key role of leaders is "serving employees" (rather than the conventional thought of employees serving management).

I really appreciate the way strong stories are used to make a point as well as to help support an emotional connection with each message. Lance Secretan employs Courage, one of his CASTLE principles, to explain the role of love in leadership and business. This isn't an easy thing to do, and he makes a solid case and does it well.

This is definitely a book to read twice: there are so many ideas packed within. It's a gem that argues, and reinforces, that doing the right thing is really the best way to run a business after all. For those of us aspiring to run businesses along the lines of the CASTLE principles, many of these points may seem second nature, but having one's values validated so thoroughly is inspiring and encouraging. I am more committed than ever to stay the course. In the end, the principles and ideas contained herein are not just for leading a good business: they are for leading a good life.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Has depth and balance like fine wine, April 29, 2006

By 

Dennis Pescitelli (Springfield, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: One: The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership (Hardcover)

Lance Secretan's noble objective in ONE is to help readers rediscover the transcendent notion of leading from their heart and soul-a goal he successfully achieves. The book opens up like a big red wine. As readers swirl its contents about their own consciousness, this seemingly simple formulation of virtuous leadership reveals layers of subtle complexity.

The core of the author's approach is a continuing practice centered on the six CASTLE principles: Courage, Authenticity, Service, Truthfulness, Love, and Effectiveness. These values are consistently sought in leaders by the people who follow them, as revealed through Secretan's own background and his consulting experience with organizations around the world.

The author explores each principle in turn, using stories and quotations backed by facts and statistics. Practical and thought-provoking exercises at the end of chapters provide an opportunity to pause and ponder content in the context of the reader's own life. The writing style is straightforward and accessible.

Like the flavors in fine wine, Secretan's CASTLE Principles are perceived as elegantly enmeshed-an example of the "oneness" that is the author's prescription for more inspiring and effective lives and workplaces. The framework in ONE can be applied to personal coaching, training, teaching, and organizational intervention as a practice that brings forth immediate benefits.

The risk in presenting such a leadership model is that it can be perceived as preachy. There is much passion behind the author's message, and he successfully manages to skirt this trap by communicating it with genuine concern and caring.

The book has much to commend it, providing firm structure, good balance, and a satisfying, long finish. If Robert Parker rated books along with wines, ONE would receive over 90 points.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One is a Homerun, May 1, 2006

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Anita Sharpe - See all my reviews
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This review is from: One: The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership (Hardcover)

This is Lance Secretan's best book in my opinion. From someone less credentialed than Secretan -- he built temp giant Manpower -- his call for "love and truth" in the workplace could come across as little more than wishful thinking. But this short book is brimming with real stories and real facts. And when you see for yourself that this is not only the right way to conduct business, but that it actually works, you'll be passing this book out to everyone you know who has the power to change the world of work.