Inspire! What Great Leaders Do (Hardcover)

~ Lance Secretan (Author)
Key Phrases: old story leaders, achieving pure clarity, loving planet, Higher Ground Leader, New Story, Preprobability Plane (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Consultant and motivational speaker Secretan (The Way of the Tiger) offers a liturgical tome on the exalted state of "Higher Ground Leadership," which he associates with almost every spiritual tradition one can imagine. Job requirements for Higher Ground Leaders include a Christ-like capacity for "loving others unconditionally," a Taoist balance of yin and yang, a Zen knack for "emptying the mind," a Transcendentalist appreciation that "our egos are like waves in the sea" which "return to the ocean—the Universal Soul" and an ability to grok Secretan’s own metaphysics of the "Pre-Probability Plane," aka "the quantum void, before the conscious energy field is activated by intentionality." Secretan’s basic idea, endorsed by lengthy testimonials from executives who have taken his seminars, is to transform the rational, efficient, competitive, profit-driven workplace into an empathetic, humane, cooperative, inspirational "Soulspace." In general, that means a high-minded considerateness towards workers, but the specifics sometimes boil down to advice on office decor—soft curves instead of harsh right angles—or euphemistic language about imposing layoffs "in a graceful, caring and friendly way that honors the souls of those affected and treats them as sacred beings." The point here is to help readers discover their Destiny, Cause and Calling. Secretan’s own Personal Cause Statement—"to inspire others to honor the sacredness in all relationships"—is an apt distillation of the mushy uplift that saturates this rather uninspiring book.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

A top business consultant and speaker lights the path to a positive, productive work environment
What do the best leaders do to achieve greatness in the modern workplace that is muddled by fear, pressure for productivity, overwork? Inspire! offers business leaders a clear vision of what a positive, productive, inspiring organization looks like in these challenging and chaotic times, and how to get there.

The key to extraordinary long-term performance lies in a transformational commitment to inspiring people rather than motivating them. Lance Secretan’s Higher Ground Leadership concepts have been widely used to increase profits and quality, slash staff turnover, and achieve record organizational and personal performance. Inspire! describes Lance’s breakthrough thinking, often in the words of the pace-setting leaders who are implementing them and building legacies. Countless examples, stories, and case studies demonstrate the magic of these brilliant ideas.

Six essential values form the foundation of positive, productive, and profitable organizations and a meaningful and fulfilling life—courage to begin the transformation; authenticity that lets people contribute all of themselves and excel; service that fosters a spirit of cooperation; truth-telling that builds trust and loyalty; love for others that leads to inspired results; and effectiveness, the attainment of results. Inspire! shows leaders in any organization how to foster these essential values that lead to personal and organizational greatness.

Lance Secretan (Alton, Ontario, Canada) is one of the world’s foremost thinkers on self-improvement and leadership. He is an author, award-winning columnist, philosopher, corporate coach, and a renowned public speaker and business consultant. He served as chairman of the Advisory Board of the 1997 Special Olympics World Winter Games and is also a former ambassador to the United Nations Environment Program.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (April 23, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471648825
• ISBN-13: 978-0471648826
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #227,220 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What leadership is all about, September 6, 2008

By	Monty Rainey (New Braunfels, TX) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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This is the first thing I have ever read by this author, but INSPIRE: WHAT GREAT LEADERS DO by Lance Secretan will not be the last. This is leadership for the 21st century.

I learned some new terminology here, such as "higher ground leadership" (leading by serving) and "old story leaders" (Jack Welch types who rule with an iron fist and focus solely on the bottom line).

Much of the focus here is on expanding the mission statement. By that I mean, Secretan teaches creating 3 separate statements; destiny, cause and calling. Call it what you want, but the truth is, we all need something to guide us and maintain our focus. As Yogi Berra said, "If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up someplace else."

I particularly liked the content here about how convoluted and unproductive (and uninspiring) corporate mission statements tend to be. They are all pretty much the same; main focus being a few patronizing remarks to attract shareholders, a quick statement about teamwork, and just for good measure, something about how important our customers are. There's just not a lot there to inspire anyone. I have long maintained, if your corporate mission focuses on building customer loyalty, your employees will perform better, your NOI will go up and your shareholders will be happy. Use your financial statements and analytical tools to attract shareholders, not your mission statement.

Anyone would benefit and learn from this magnificent work, but CEO's in particular. Unfortunately, the smattering of existential eastern philosophy will turn off many CEO's. Let that be their loss, not yours. Read this book.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Leadership in a Bubble, May 14, 2006

By	S. Greene "S. Greene" (Colorado Springs, CO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

While this book certainly does aim high, it only deals with the idea of leadership in a perfect situation or "bubble" if you will. I have to admit I didn't like the book or the author after reading the first page of the introduction. Secretan makes the assumption that we all live in fear and that there is a shortage of people to inspire us (apparently he is here to fill the void). Perhaps I am a minority, but I do not live in fear and can think of many inspirational people, both in the past and present.

As for the rest of the book, he explains leadership in a very new age and ignorant way. Secretan's basic premise is that we all should love each other and that we should all inspire and be inspired ourselves. And that's great, in a world such as that I doubt we would even need leaders as everyone would do what they are supposed to. But in the real world, leaders are confronted with adverse situations such as dealing with subordinates who are unhappy, tired, depressed, going through a divorce, angry, hate you or other teammates, and etc. This book discusses nothing of how to be a leader in difficult situations, or even how to deal with people that you don't love or love you. This is where the book falls down in my opinion. The true test of leadership comes when times are hard, not when everything is hunky-dory. Further, I think Mr. Secretan is a little arrogant in his definition of Higher Ground leadership. He acts as if he is somehow reinventing the wheel when it comes to leadership. Any of the topics he mentions that are actually useful (such as leadership from the front/ serving your subordinates) are ideas that have been around much longer than this book or Secretan himself.

Aside from Inspires lack of useful leadership information, it also has an interesting take on competition. Secretan seems to think competition is bad, and is does nothing more than feed ones ego. He makes such statements as saying a "call to arms" never inspires and "what's wrong with being number two". Again, perhaps I am the minority but I work with small businesses every day. I can tell you that those who don't actively compete often fail.

In the end, Inspire reads more like a new age self help book. Everything from discussing guided meditation, having a divine conversation with God, discovering your destiny and defining your world by how you deal with terrathreats (read environmentalism). If these things are your cup of tea or you hail from a very leftist/pacifist ideology then I guess this book is for you. However, if you are looking for a book that actually deals with how to be a leader in less than utopian situations then I would advise to look elsewhere.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Body as a Corporatopn, July 19, 2004

By	Lynne McCarthy (Milton, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

Tremendous book, I was overwhelmed ( in a wonderful way) by the way the words spoke so directly to my heart and soul. The frequency relationship was direct. I have read the book three times and still feel an energetic response when I think of the applicability to everything that I do. Although Lance is referring to the business or corporate entity, I see the human being as its own grand corporation, with departments/divisions in the respiratory, circulatory, endocrine, skeletal etc. departments. The human being as the microcosm, actually the atom within every cell of the body being the microcosm to the human body, with the family unit, however it is defined to the next step outward. The family unit is the microcosm to the extended family and friends community, this community is the microcosm to the geographic community. The ultimate macrocosm being the universe. All of these aspects of the corporation ( the body) need higher ground leadership. Each cell in our body has a destiny, cause and calling, each grouping of cells, say for example the muscular system has a destiny, cause and calling. All these need to be in alignment with the grander destiny, cause and calling of the person. This is how we actually align and achieve happiness, health and grace in life.
The second and third reading were much more self analytical and I was so inspired by Lance's ability to articulate the meaning and purpose of life. I could go on and on here, I feel this in every cell of my body.