The Leadership Engine: How Winning Companies Build Leaders at Every Level [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover)

by Noel M. Tichy (Author), Eli B. Cohen (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
"There is a multibillion-dollar consulting industry in the world today," Tichy notes (in this reprint of his 1997 BusinessWeek Book of the Year, written with freelancer Cohen) "that thrives largely on the fact that most managers don't want to lead." It's an insight Tichy (Control Your Destiny Or Someone Else Will), a professor at the Univ. of Michigan School of Business, has observed firsthand when trying to determine why some companies succeed and others fail or just limp along. His conclusion: the winners have "good leaders who nurture the development of other leaders at all levels of the organization." These leaders urge their workers to see reality and mobilize the appropriate responses. Repeatedly, the authors single out the heads of successful companies such as General Electric and Allied Signal to discuss how much time their chief executives spend "formally and informally" on teaching. They conclude that those firms' success is a direct result of everyone's pulling in the same direction. The book's argument ignores small entrepreneurial companies where a product innovation, speed to market or customer service can make all the difference. But in discussing large companies, the book is on the money.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"Noel Tichy has been a point guard on the management of organizations. ... The Leadership Engine focuses on how leaders of organizations use their whole being in creative managing. The book is an inspiration to teachers, business leaders, and coaches." -- Phil Jackson, coach of the Chicago Bulls

"Periodically, all successful organizations have to change. Once a crisis has occurred, any organization will change, but waiting for a crisis is not often the route to success. How to large organizations change without a crisis? Noel Tichy correctly finds the answer in leadership--a leadership that permeates an organization at all levels." -- Lester Thurow, bestselling author of Head to Head and The Future of Capitalism

"This book is the most valuable of the lot because it solidly confronts a vexing problem today--the lack of leaders who are willing to take their organizations through fundamental change. From Congress to the boardroom to the computer room, the qualities discussed are in short supply. If you think you've got what it takes, Tichy offers a comprehensive handbook for developing a leadership program at your workplace." -- Computerworld

"This is Noel Tichy's summa. His text models the leaders he profiles: brilliant, clear on values, and gutsy as hell. The research base is awesome. The stories are great. The message is spot-on. The path to action is clear." -- Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence

"Tichy and co-writer Cohen provide a novel take on a well-worn topic and refreshingly introduce us to a host of new leaders who don't yet wear crowns. ... Too few managers and executives understand the importance of mentoring. In elevating this role to the top of a leader's priorities, the authors offer managers a way of becoming ever more influential." -- Business Week

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers; 1st edition (November 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887307930
• ISBN-13: 978-0887307935
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #567,570 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It Can Be Done, January 11, 2000

By	Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The subtitle suggests the book's objective: To explain "How Winning Companies Build Leaders at Every Level." According to the authors, there are certain "fundamentals" common to winning organizations: "First, leaders with a proven track record of success take direct responsibility for the development of other leaders. Second, leaders who develop other leaders have teachable points of view in the specific areas of ideas, values, and something I call E-cubed -- emotional energy and edge....Third, leaders embody their teachable points of view in living stories....Finally, because winning leaders invest considerable time developing other leaders, they have well-defined methodologies and coaching and teaching techniques." Together, these "fundamentals" create the central metaphor in the book: a machine.

As a "machine", an organization consists of separate but interdependent parts; requires lubrication and fuel as well as constant maintenance; and functions best when utilized to serve the specific purposes for which it has been designed.Almost half of The Leadership Engine consists of a "Handbook for Leaders Developing Leaders." In it, the authors provide a cohesive and comprehensive answer to the question "How to create a Leadership Engine?" One useful approach to the "Handbook" is to think of it as a "super" hardware store and you have an empty toolbox. Examine everything available. Select only what is most appropriate for your own organization. Then work with others to assemble the "machine" your organization needs. In doing so, you and they are providing leadership. Your shared obligation is to involve as many others as possible, helping them to become leaders also. If help is needed along the way, it is reassuring to know that the authors have created the equivalent of an operator's manual to help ensure maximum performance of your organization's "leadership engine." Whenever it's time for a "tune-up", you will have the guidance you need.

This is a superb piece of work.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Winning Organizations are Teaching Organizations", October 22, 2001

By	Turgay BUGDACIGIL (Istanbul, Turkey) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

"A major part of my job has always been figuring out what works and what doesn't. Several years ago, however, the great disparity between the track records of the corporate winners and losers prompted me to step back and specifically tackle the broader question: Why do some companies succeed while others fail? The answer I have come up with is that winning companies win because they have good leaders who nurture the development of other leaders at all levels of the organization. The ultimate test of success for an organization is not whether it can win today but whether it can keep winning tomorrow and the day after. Therefore, the ultimate test for a leader is not whether he or she makes smart decisions and takes decisive action, but whether he or she teaches others to be leaders and builds an organization that can sustain its success even when he or she is not around. The key ability of winning organizations and winning leaders is creating leaders" (from the Introduction).

In this context, Noel Tichy divides his book into ten chapters. After defining what he means by 'winning' in Chapter 1, in the rest of the book, he talks specifically about what winning leaders do that makes them winners and how they develop other winning leaders at all levels of their organizations. In order to help reader, he emphasizes following 30 main themes that emerged in the book:

* Winning is about leadership,

* Leaders have ideas, values, energy and edge,

* Without leaders, organizations stagnate,

* Leaders manage through times of change,

* Leaders make things happen,

* Leaders are revolutionaries,

* Great leaders are great teachers,

* Winning leaders make teaching a personal priority,

* Winners have a 'teachable point of view,'

* Winning leaders draw from their past,

* Leaders' stories reveal their teachable points of view,

* Everyone has a usable past: Leaders just use theirs better,

* Winning organizations are built on clear ideas,

* Leaders make sure the ideas are current and appropriate,

* Ideas are the framework for actions at all levels,

* Winning organizations have strong values,

* Winning leaders live the values-privately and publicly,

* Values are a key competitive tool,

* Winning leaders are high-energy people,

* Winning leaders create energy in others,

* Times of transition: Teachable moments,

* Winning leaders never take the easy way out,

* Categories of edge,

* Edge isn't cruel, it's honest,

* Winning leaders portray the future as an unfolding drama,

* Winners' stories create scenarios for success,

* Leaders' stories are dynamic and motivating,

* Winning leadership is about building for the future,

* Success is achieved by developing other leaders,

* The best leaders know when it's time to leave.

Finally, he says that "Organizations that have a Leadership Engine win because they have leaders at every level who teach others to be leaders. Teaching and learning are at the heart of these organizations."

Highly recommended.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Leadership for lightweights, February 7, 2000

By	Leon M. Bodevin "Do right and fear no man" (Lemoore, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Leadership Engine : How Winning Companies Build Leaders at Every Level (AUDIO CASSETTE) (Audio Cassette)

Even for an audiobook, this book is long-winded and insubstantial. There are no good ideas to be found here. There's nothing inherently wrong with the concept of creating leaders at every level of an organization, but his thesis does not reveal anything profound about leadership. And Tichy's examples don't seem well-chosen: he's obsessed with Jack Welch and GE. His treatment of Howard Gardner's Leading Minds is particularly bad considering that Leading Minds is a leadership classic. For those dissapointed with this book (as I was), I suggest Leaders: The Strategies For Taking Charge by Bennis and Nanus. It provides very good strategies for building a compelling vision for your company.