The Wizard and the Warrior: Leading with Passion and Power (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) [Hardcover]

Lee G. Bolman (Author), Terrence E. Deal (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0787974137 | ISBN-13: 978-0787974138 | Publication Date: March 31, 2006 | Edition: 1

The Wizard and the Warrior gives leaders the insight and courage they need to take risks on behalf of values they cherish and the people they guide. Great leaders must act both as wizard, calling on imagination, creativity, meaning, and magic, and as warrior, mobilizing strength, courage, and willingness to fight as necessary to fulfill their mission. Best-selling authors Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal present the defining moments and experiences of exemplary leaders such as Carly Fiorina, Thomas Keller (head chef of French Laundry), David Neeleman (CEO of Jet Blue), Mary Kay Ash, Warren Buffet, Anne Mulcahy, and Abraham Lincoln¾all of whom have wrested with their own inner warrior and wizard. These engaging, realistic case studies are followed by commentaries that will raise questions and suggest possibilities without rushing to resolution or simple answers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Truly something novel and useful among the current books on contemporary leadership. Bolman and Deal have again created a book that is both a conceptual gem and a handy practical reference. The Wizard and the Warrior will make us think carefully again about leadership in general and about our own style in particular."
—Walter F. Ulmer Jr., lieutenant general, U.S. Army (Ret.), former president and CEO, Center for Creative Leadership

"With The Wizard and the Warrior Lee Bolman and Terry Deal have followed up the insights of Reframing Organizations with a grounded and entertaining set of very useful stories. The numerous examples of historical and contemporary figures and their life stories serve to bring  leadership ideas alive in a way that few books achieve.  A great and useful read!"
—Len Schlesinger, vice chairman and chief operating officer, Limited Brands

"Rarely do scholars attempt, let alone succeed as Bolman and Deal have done so palpably, to encompass the polarities of leadership. They have thrown their arms around the inspirational, on one hand, and the tough, practical, and sometimes brutal, on the other. Through wonderful stories, they convincingly illustrate the real challenges and possibilities of living life grounded by larger purposes and the courage to interrogate reality. Anyone practicing leadership, or dreaming of doing so, should read this book."
—Ronald A. Heifetz, King Hussein Bin Talal Lecturer in Public Leadership co-founder, Center for Public Leadership, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; author of Leadership Without Easy Answers and Leadership on the Line

"Terry Deal and Lee Bolman have established the ‘gold standard’ for looking at leadership. In The Wizard and Warrior they show how to integrate the two sides of leadership. It is about fighting the good fight, but not losing sight of the magic-it is about making the word flesh. This is a must-read for anyone who cares about becoming a better leader."
—Paul D. Houston, executive director, American Association of School Administrators

"Warriors and wizards! Craxy metaphors for leaders? No! Compelling insights that Bolman and Deal have distilled compelling insights from organizational life, illustrating them with fascinating stories. They convinced me that we as leaders can achieve our mission and care for our people more effectively by embracing the reality of combat and magic, of power and spirit, in our organizations. If you’re a good leader, this book will make you better."
—Colonel Larry R. Donnithorne, author, The West Point Way of Leadership: From Learning Principled Leadership to Practicing It

"I find The Wizard and Warrior a fascinating and enjoyable read. The premise is exactly what it set out to be, a prod and a guide to trumpet the true legacy of leadership. The self-inventory guidelines stimulate an interesting integration of fantasy and myth (through Harry Potter’s Dumbledore, Merlin of King Arthur’s court, and Tolkein’s Gandalf) with the realities of business tycoons such as Oprah Winfrey, Herb Kelleher, and Mary Kay Ash, as well as the political wizard of U.S. presidents. The book provokes the reader to understand the immeasurable potential of the wizard and warrior in each of us that can create change and challenge."
—John Keola Lake, kumu-in-residence, Chaminade University of Honolulu, Hawai'I, head of Hawaiian traditions

"This book is a must-read for all who are pursuing the journey of leadership. It provides in-depth insight into passion and power, and how they are the very essence of leadership.  It will be of great value for all those in leadership positions at J.E. Dunn."
—Terrence P. Dunn, chief executive officer, J.E. Dunn Construction Company

From the Inside Flap

Why a book about wizards and warriors as models for leadership? Because, as Peter Drucker once said, everything you learned is wrong—at best, it is misleading and insufficient. You typically learn in school, workshops, and seminars that if you can manage the work and serve the people, you have what it takes. It's not true. Maybe you have enough stuff to be a pretty good manager, but it takes a lot more to be a good leader.

The Wizard and the Warrior gives leaders the insight and courage they need to take risks on behalf of values they cherish and the people they guide. Great leaders must act both as wizard, calling on imagination, creativity, meaning, and magic, and as warrior, mobilizing strength, courage, and willingness to fight as necessary to fulfill their mission.

Best-selling authors Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal present the defining moments and experiences of exemplary leaders such as David Neeleman (CEO of Jet Blue), Mary Kay Ash, Warren Buffet, Anne Mulcahy, Thomas Keller (head chef of French Laundry), and Abraham Lincoln—all of whom have wrested with their own inner warrior and wizard. These engaging, realistic case studies are followed by commentaries that will raise questions and suggest possibilities without rushing to resolution or simple answers.

Armed with this book's expanded repertoire of possibilities, the reader can become more versatile and imbue work and life with power and passion.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (March 31, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787974137
• ISBN-13: 978-0787974138
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #270,356 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lead with passion and power...but also with principle and faith, February 7, 2007

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Wizard and the Warrior: Leading with Passion and Power (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) (Hardcover)

Here is a synthesis of the core concepts in Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal's book: "The wizard and the warrior inhabit two distinct but overlapping worlds. The warrior's world is a place of combat, of allies and antagonists, courage and cowardice, honor and betrayal, strength and weakness...The wizard inhabits a realm of possibility, magic, and mystery. The wizard's strength lies not in arms or physical courage, but in wisdom, foresight, and the ability to see below and beyond appearances. The wizard brings unshakable faith that something new and better really is out there...The greatest leaders move and out of both roles, even if they are more comfortable with one or the other."

Bowman and Deal carefully organize their material in terms of three warrior roles in business, the military, the American presidency, and basketball coaching, respectively: Toxic (e.g. Al Dunlap, Hermann Goering, Richard Nixon, and Bobby Knight), Relentless (e.g. Bill Gates, Ulysses S. Grant, George W. Bush, and Mike Rzewski), and Principled (e.g. Warren Buffett, George Marshall, Abraham, Lincoln, and John Wooden); and in terms of three wizard roles within the aforementioned categories: Authentic (e.g. Liz Claiborne, Norman Schwarzkopf, Ronald Reagan, and Phil Jackson), Wannabe (e.g. Ken Lay, William Westmoreland, Woodrow Wilson, and Rudy Tomjanovich), and Harmful (e.g. Frank Lorenzo, Hermann Goering, Warren Harding, and Dave Bliss). Throughout their narrative, they rigorously examine exemplary warriors and wizards, building a case for their observation that "the greatest leaders move in and out of both roles, even if they are more comfortable with one or the other."

More specifically, the greatest leaders combine the strengths and virtues of Principled Warrior and Authentic Wizard in that they "wield both sword and wand, know how to create as well as defend, accept reality but will challenge it because they see unfulfilled possibilities, learn by sensing and intuiting, are both strategists and visionaries, and combine the power of commander and the courage of a champion with the wisdom of the counselor and the magical powers of the shaman." But they are by no means perfect. However, as Bolman and Deal suggest (and I agree), we admire them because they somehow overcome their human weaknesses to achieve extraordinarily difficult goals. "As is clear from examples like Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela, you need not like war to be a warrior." Bolman and Deal also point out that, the warrior heart "must be found in a cause important enough to justify the costs of combat. For many leaders, heart develops over time through experiences that test their courage and strength in the face of rigorous challenge and worthy competitors."

In this context, I am reminded of the fact that Mohandas Gandhi greatly admired Henry David Thoreau's concept of "civil disobedience" and applied its principles so effectively that India was eventually able to obtain its independence. Gandhi was assassinated. Martin Luther King, Jr. studied the life and work of Gandhi and applied what he learned to his non-violent campaign against racial inequality. He was also assassinated. In certain respects, both he and Gandhi were warrior leaders (i.e. they possessed exceptional intuition, recruit thousands to join their cause, inspired them to persevere rather than be overcome, and skillfully negotiated the alliances needed) but they were also wizard leaders (i.e. they were wise in the ways of the world, recognized the importance of symbols and emblematic events, encouraged a strong link between words and deeds, and were visionaries of what could and should be). Admirable human beings.

In this volume, Bolman and Deal provide dozens of other examples of men and women who also found a balance of the strengths and virtues of both warrior and wizard but it remains for each reader make her or his own determination of which balance is most appropriate. When concluding this brief commentary, I presume to share the fact that there have been times when I have had to be more warrior than wizard; other times when I feel the need to be more wizard than warrior. Such situations are when achieving the right "balance" has been most difficult for me. Thanks to Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal, I now feel better prepared to do that.

Those who share my high regard for this volume are urged to check out any of Warren Bennis' books (notably Geeks & Geezers and the more recently published Leading for a Lifetime, both co-authored with Robert Thomas) as well as Bill George's Authentic Leadership and the more recently published True North, Jean Lipman-Blumen's The Allure of Toxic Leaders, James O'Toole's Leading Change and The Executive's Compass, Martin Linsky and Ronald Heifetz'Leadership on the Line, Heifetz's Leadership Without Easy Answers, and Winning co-authored by Jack Welch and Suzy Welch.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Strong Article Stretched to Book-Length, December 10, 2006

By 

Timothy Haugh (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Wizard and the Warrior: Leading with Passion and Power (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) (Hardcover)

Friends of mine who have read other leadership books by Bolman & Deal tell me that they have a lot of insights into leadership and that their others books are excellent. I'm sure my friends are right. It is clear from this book that leadership is something they have studied extensively and know much about. Unfortunately, I didn't feel this book brought out the best in them.

The metaphors they have chosen for this book, wizard and warrior, are good ones. They bring out how a great leader must not only be able to fight but must also be able to work magic. They talk about the qualities of a great warrior (heart, mind, skill and weapons) and great wizard (wisdom, soul, icons and rituals). They talk about how warriors and wizards can go right and wrong (toxic, relentless and principled warrior; authentic, wannabe and harmful wizard). They give examples of their meaning by examples from history and business. They make their point.

On the other hand, the book has some series flaws. First, they flog their point to death. This 200+ page book could have easily been slashed to a short article and made the same points better. Second, the bulk of this book is anecdotes. As a rule, I enjoy stories about historical figures but here there are so many of them and they are often repetitive. I most enjoyed the stories about business leaders since I was unfamiliar with many of these but I found myself wishing they'd get on with it already. Third, though I found their highlighting of the need for a great leader to be both warrior and wizard, they didn't offer much in the way of practical suggestions for those who need to develop one or the other or both of these qualities. Certainly, becoming conscious of your strengths and weaknesses as a leader is important but, once you learn about your weaknesses depression awaits if you aren't guided to some solutions. Bolman & Deal are a bit short on solutions.

Ultimately, this book is harmless and may be inspirational for some people. It is short enough and fluff-filled enough to get through quickly and easily. It offers some important insights. But, as Bolman & Deal are clearly experts in leadership, I expected their book to lead me forward with something meatier and more useful. Maybe this is to be found in some of their other books, but I didn't find it here.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A unique offering among an ocean of business book sameness, March 20, 2009

By 

Rebecca Clement "Publisher, Soundview Executi... (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wizard and the Warrior: Leading with Passion and Power (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) (Hardcover)

Despite its Harry Potter-esque title, The Wizard and the Warrior is an engaging read with interesting case studies. Bestselling authors Terrence Deal and Lee Bolman effectively use the metaphors of a Wizard and Warrior to draw meaningful distinctions among the necessary skill sets of successful leaders today. They postulate that effective leaders need to show the courage and strength of a warrior when it's necessary to mobilize their people or fight for what they believe. While at other times, they must exhibit the creativity, meaning and imagination of a wizard to create seemingly magical outcomes. Soundview likes this book because it effectively weaves these concepts with compelling examples from individuals who lead Xerox, Jet Blue and Mary Kay Cosmetics. Furthermore the book doesn't merely offer pithy solutions or easy answers to tough questions, but it engages the reader to expand their thinking in a more versatile manner to help instill passion and power. It is a truly unique offering among a maelstrom of business book sameness.