Passion and Purpose: Stories from the Best and Brightest Young Business Leaders [Hardcover]

John Coleman (Author), Daniel Gulati (Author), W. Oliver Segovia (Author), Bill George (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 29, 2011

Globalization. Sustainability. Technology. Diversity. Learning. Convergence of the public and private sectors. These are the big issues on the minds of young leaders today—the challenges they most want to, and must, pursue.

In Passion and Purpose, dozens of recent Harvard Business School MBAs share personal stories on assuming the mantle of leadership in ways unlike any previous generation. In candid accounts of their successes and setbacks—from launching start-ups to taking on the family business to helping kids in the Arabian Gulf to harnessing new technology and developing clean energy—they reveal how the next generation of ideas, aspirations, and practices are shaping business and redefining leadership around the world.

Drawing on insights from a survey of 500 students from top U.S. business schools, Passion and Purpose provides an overview of big, hot-button issues, followed by firsthand accounts from young leaders who are tackling these issues head-on. Their personal stories are rounded out with broader perspectives from established luminaries in business, academia, and the public sector, including Dominic Barton (Managing Director of McKinsey & Company), Nitin Nohria (dean of Harvard Business School), David Gergen (CNN analyst, presidential advisor and director of Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership), Carter Roberts (CEO of World Wildlife Fund), and many others.

Passion and Purpose offers profound insight into the values and vision of tomorrow’s leaders, and inspiration and ideas for all aspiring leaders who hope to lead change in the world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Leaders in each generation face several challenges that are quite different from those that confronted leaders in earlier generations and are also quite different from those that leaders in future generations will encounter. It was ever thus and always will be true. That is one of several reasons why I think so highly of this book.” — Blogging about Business (bobmorris.biz)

Featured on the J.P. Morgan Summer Reading List for 2012

"wholly infectious", and an "upbeat, enjoyable read—as well as a useful one.” – The Financial Times

“…the reader is rewarded with a richness of information and a great view of things to come in the business world, based on the stories of these young leaders. Summing Up: Recommended for students, upper-division undergraduate and up; faculty; practitioners.” — CHOICE

“Far from accounts of the stereotypical generation of entitled slackers, the stories in Passion and Purpose demonstrate the innovation, collaboration, efficiency, and independence of rising young leaders.” — Training + Development Magazine

“We’re introduced to a group of highly impressive MBAs who want to change the world for the better… The result is a surprisingly compelling array of vivid storytelling that reveals this generation’s ideas and aspirations.” “In the end, Coleman and his two buddies have pulled together a book that is less about mainstream MBA thinking than it is a clarion call to a less-traveled, yet potentially more impactful MBA path.” – John Byrne, Poets & Quants (PoetsandQuants.com)

About the Author

John Coleman earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Dean’s Award winner, and an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School, where he was a Zuckerman Fellow and a George Fellow. Daniel Gulati holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Fellow and an Arthur Rock Fellow, and is the founding CEO of FashionStake, a venture-backed fashion company. W. Oliver Segovia received an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School, and is an entrepreneur in the Philippines and Singapore, where he previously worked with Procter & Gamble Asia.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press (November 29, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1422162664
• ISBN-13: 978-1422162668
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 0.9 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #347,789 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An agreeable and relevant study into the nature of leadership December 5, 2011

By George M. Hiller Jr.

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

In an age and global business climate of increasing diversity, plurality, and complexity Passion and Purpose, written in a lucid and accessible style, offers a timely study into the activities and pursuits of young business leaders. The testimonial stories are refreshingly honest and transparent as emerging leaders, involved in a variety of different fields and work environments, candidly discuss their career goals and noble aspirations and also the inevitable obstacles and setbacks they have encountered along the way. These reflections yield valuable insights into the nature of risk, failure, and consequential decision making, along with the opportunities for the professional and personal growth that can result through tackling difficult problems and engaging with pressing business challenges head on. Most encouraging to me is that this group of MBAs seems to intuitively understand that what the global business culture of the future needs is principled servant leadership that rises above the pettiness of self-seeking narrow ambition and strives to bring out the best qualities in all whom they influence - Leadership that elevates the needs of our society as a whole. Examples of virtuous, sacrificial leadership cannot be shared often enough. Through undertaking this project John Coleman, Daniel Gulati, and W. Oliver Segovia have done the business world a most welcome service. I heartily recommend Passion and Purpose.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book full of inspiring and insightful stories December 10, 2011

By John Anthony

Format:Hardcover

It's an interesting proposition - take a bunch of business students who've done some really interesting things with their lives, and ask them to explain what motivates them, what they hope to achieve, and what they've learned as they've gone through the process. That, fundamentally, is what Passion & Purpose is about.

The broad section outlines work well (globalisation, sustainability, technology, diversity, learning, convergence) as beacons for the stories to be organised around. There are some truly uplifting stories in here - from reforming the Met to building a not-for-profit in Kenya. For insight into what's driving the next generation of young business folks - and insight into folks using business to improve the lives of people all around the world - Passion & Purpose is a great read.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Insightful December 2, 2011

By john

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I think the authors have taken a very interesting and insightful look at the challenges of leadership in the changing world we live in. I found the passion of these young people as they related their stories in the interviews to be encouraging and hopeful. As older people we always look for positive examples from the next generation. I found those positive examples in these young leaders. Well written and well worth the time spent reading it. I am going to recommend Passion and Purpose to my friends.