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5.0 out of 5 stars
A different slant on leadership, October 16, 2003
It seems to me that there are two broad categories of leader - those seeking earthly rewards and those seeking heavenly rewards. There is a wealth of material on those in the first category and by going to university or wading through a multitude of books you can acquire the leadership skills required. There are not so many books available regarding the leadership skills of the second category. How did Mother Teresa develop such phenomenal leadership skills that she gathered around her a dedicated group of followers prepared to live at the same level as the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta and who would risk their lives in working side by side with lepers? And all this for zero salary, zero perks and no golden handshake at the end. Most of us would have taken one look at the job description and not even bothered to apply, even though there are plenty of job openings.Bruce Lansdale holds the middle ground between the Mother Teresas of this world and charismatic CEOs of big corporations. For thirty-five years he was Director of the American Farm School, a nonprofit established in 1904 in northern Greece to improve the quality of life in rural areas by teaching farming, village crafts and industrial skills such as electricity, plumbing, sanitation to youth. For older people there was a community development program. Serving through the really tough years following the German occupation and the civil war when Greece was in a similar condition to many developing countries today, Lansdale's final years saw Greece join the EU and graduate to relative prosperity. These years gave Lansdale a wealth of experience recorded in his first book "Master farmer: Teaching Small farmers Management" which teaches the management skills required to POLKA - plan, organize, lead, k(c)ontrol and adjust. In later years he identified leadership as one of the most important skills to acquire, resulting in "Cultivating Inspired Leaders: Making Participatory Management Work". We will have no difficulty in doing everything he tells us but he brings it all together in a way that is particularly appropriate for nonprofits. Ambassador Niles, President, US Council for International Business and US Ambassador to Greece from 1993 to 1997 knew Lansdale and the American Farm School very well and wrote "Bruce Lansdale is the most inspiring person I have ever met, and one of the wisest. His work as Director of the American Farm School did more for Greece and Greek-American relations, than all the American ambassadors combined, myself included. His book, "Cultivating Inspired Leaders" presents the practical lessons in management and leadership learned over more than half a century. I heartily recommend it." Cultivating Inspired Leaders has been written for leader-managers at all levels and in all work, particularly for those in nonprofits. The book is based on the philosophy that management is doing what you want with what you've got and that workers of every type and in every position are leader-managers if they believe that there is something greater to what they are doing than may appear in material form. The transformation of an administrator who may manage by right, privilege or appointment to an inspiring leader-manager is not unlike the metamorphosis of the egg to larva to pupa to butterfly. How many of us fail to be the butterfly we were born to be because we did not have the teacher to guide us or we lacked the willingness to pass through the mental, emotional and spiritual struggle involved? This book provides the advice, guidance and inspiration to those who wish to travel this path. Peter Drucker observes that non-profit institutions that do not have a conventional bottom line may have to measure their effectiveness by their success in producing changed human beings. If this is so, the goal of cultivating inspired leaders is a noble one and may well be the most important task we face. The goal of this book is that our management becomes participatory, that the helper and the helped become a team, that the manager and employee become companions, that the guide and the guided lead each other. The beauty of this book is that it spells out how we can do it and shows that each of us can become an inspiration to our fellow man. If you are a trustee of a nonprofit this should be required reading. If your ambition is to climb to the top of a nonprofit you should study this book so that all the lessons it contains become second nature to you. If you are a secretary or receptionist or just starting your career, there is plenty in this book for you; you are a key person within the organization and can show leadership at whatever level you currently hold. If you have been appointed to a top post and find that you are a leader in name only and lack enthusiastic followers, you can become an inspired and inspiring leader. This book is not just a good read, but it demands a lot of you and your organization. The chapter "Evaluate Yourself" may reveal some unpleasant truths. No pain; no gain. But if you really want success for yourself and your nonprofit there is no better place to start than to absorb the wisdom contained in this book.
dwillis@afs.edu.gr
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