Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.

The market may be saturated with books about business leadership, but Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal move into fresh territory with this beautifully written, inspirational and practical guide. They impart advice on understanding workplace dynamics and nuances, and emerging as an effective leader. The book offers ample evidence to support the authors' basic assertion: Managers struggle because they have an idealistic approach that fails to account for organizational politics and intangible workplace factors, such as values, creativity and passion. The authors contend that managers who are unwilling to "play the game" will inevitably stumble and never realize their leadership potential. The book's wisdom and insight are built on the real-life lessons and experiences of dynamic leaders. We warmly praise this book and recommend it to any leader or potential leader who is willing to take a good, long look in the mirror.

As a business owner myself, and friend to many others, I know that it is important for business leaders to, in an obvious sense, lead. But there's more to leading then meets the eye. One must lead with a passion for what they do, with a love for what they do, and that is what this book teaches. Bolman and Deal do an impeccable job at showing us how to lead with "passion and power" through their examples. But the leader cannot always be passionate, he/she must sometimes become a warrior to make the tough choices that some other leaders could not make. I seriously recommend this book to business owners, team leaders, and really, to anyone as I feel that everyone can learn from what this book has to offer.

I loved this book. The approach to leadership is fresh and the metaphor of wizard and warrior gave me a lot of inspiration.

The Wizard and the Warrior: Leading with Passion and Power The Wizard and the Warrior: Leading with Passion and Power does a great job of blending the leadership attributes of the "warrior" and the "wizard". Lee G. Bolman use these two ancient archetypes in describing the characteristic's required of great leaders. The "leader" does not necessarily have to be a CEO or business owner. One can take the lessons and teachings and apply to a personal life. After all, we are all leader of our own life creations!

Although not a book specifically about transforming manufacturing operations, the leadership styles described are exactly what are needed for that difficult task. The transformational leader needs to be a "wizard"... creating the magic and inspiring the passion within the organization to reach the tipping point. And he must be a "warrior" to make the difficult decisions and hold strong when long term plans fly in the face of expectations for short term results.