The Secret: What Great Leaders Know – And Do
Kenneth Blanchard and Mark Miller - Berrett-Koehler Publishers; Second Edition (October 1, 2009)

"The Secret" is a message about leadership woven into a story of a leader struggling with her team's performance. When she applies for the Company mentor program, she is paired with the Company President, who imparts some simple, but powerful wisdom about what great leaders do. This book is a quick and easy read and provides an excellent basis for understanding and applying a servant leadership model in your organization. This book demonstrates that by following five enlightened principles, anyone can become a positive influence in the home, workplace, community or world, and thus become a leader.

About the Authors
Kenneth Hartley Blanchard is an American author and management expert. His book The One Minute Manager (co-authored with Spencer Johnson) has sold over 13 million copies and has been translated into 37 languages. He has coauthored over 30 other best-selling books, including Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service (1993), Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational Leadership (1985) (in which he coined the term seagull manager), Gung Ho! Turn On the People in Any Organization (1997), Whale Done! The Power of Positive Relationships (2002) and Leading at a Higher Level: Blanchard on Leadership and Creating High Performing Organizations (2006).

Drs. Ken and Marjorie Blanchard incorporated The Ken Blanchard Companies in 1979, the organization with three simple goals—to make a difference in people’s lives, to drive human worth and effectiveness in the workplace, and to help each organization we work with become the provider, employer, and investment of choice.

Mark Miller began his Chick-fil-A career working as an hourly team member in 1977. In 1978, Mark joined the corporate staff working in the warehouse and mailroom. Since that time, Mark has steadily increased his value at Chick-fil-A and has provided leadership for Corporate Communications, Field Operations, and Quality and Customer Satisfaction. Today he serves as the Vice President of Training and Development. During his time with Chick-fil- A, annual sales have grown to almost $4 billion. The company now has more than 1,500 restaurants in 38 states and the District of Columbia.

When not working to sell more chicken, Mark is actively encouraging and equipping leaders around the world. He has taught at numerous international organizations over the years on topics including leadership, creativity, team building, and more. Mark teamed up with Ken Blanchard (coauthor of The One Minute Manager®, among other best-sellers) to write The Secret! What Great Leaders Know and Do. More than 350,000 copies of The Secret are in print, and it has been translated into more than 20 languages. His latest book, The Secret of Teams, was released in 2011.

In John Maxwell’s book he discusses the critical components that leaders must adhere to in order to become a successful leader. His 5 Levels of Leadership discusses the progression of development from the power and authority one gets from her/his position to becoming a true leader. Staff go from being controlled by a boss’ position-given authority to following their boss because they believe in the value the boss brings to the organization.

Maxwell also explains the Pareto Principle, the 20/80 Principle, where “20% of your work priorities will give you 80% of production if you spend your time, energy, money and personnel on the top 20% of your priorities” ( page 20)

The book goes beyond discussing conceptual theories. It gives specific actions and behaviors that must be developed to become a leader. From the most important characteristic of leadership, integrity, to the levels of vision that guide organizations to successful production, Maxwell thoroughly differentiates between managers and true leaders and maps out the road to developing the leader within you.

In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Patrick Lencioni offers a leadership fable that is as enthralling and instructive as his first two best-selling books, The Five Temptations of a CEO and The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive. This time, he turns his keen intellect and storytelling power to the fascinating, complex world of teams.
In this story, Kathryn Petersen, the CEO of Decision Tech, faces the ultimate leadership crisis: uniting a team that is in such disarray it threatens to bring down the entire company. Will she succeed? Will she be fired? Will the company fail? Lencioni's utterly gripping tale serves as a timeless reminder that leadership requires as much courage as it does insight.
Throughout the story, Lencioni reveals the five dysfunctions which go to the very heart of why teams, even the best, often struggle. He outlines a powerful model and actionable steps that can be used to overcome these common hurdles and build a cohesive, effective team. As with his other books, Lencioni has written a compelling fable with a powerful yet deceptively simple message for all those who strive to be exceptional team leaders.
Patrick Lencioni is founder and president of The Table Group, a management consulting firm specializing in executive team development. As a consultant and keynote speaker, he has worked with senior executives in organizations that range from Fortune 500s to universities and nonprofits.

Powell's "Thirteen Rules," which he gathered over the years, form the basis of his international leadership presentations. Powell's short but sweet rules-among them, "Get mad, then get over it" and "Share credit"-are illustrated by revealing personal stories that introduce and expand upon his principles for effective leadership: conviction, hard work and, above all, respect for others. In work and in life, Powell writes, "it's about how we touch and are touched by the people we meet. It's all about the people."

A natural storyteller, Powell offers warm and engaging parables with wise advice on succeeding in the workplace and beyond. "Trust your people" and "Do your best-someone is watching" are only two of many insightful expressions contained in this book. Powell combines the insights he gained serving in the top ranks of the military and in four presidential administrations with the lessons he learned from his immigrant-family upbringing in the Bronx, his training in the ROTC and his growth as an Army officer. The result is a powerful portrait of a leader who is reflective, self-effacing and grateful for the contributions of everyone he works with.

It Worked for Me is bound to inspire, move, and surprise readers. Thoughtful and revealing, it is a brilliant and original blueprint for leadership.

Colin Powell is a native of New York and a retired four star general in the United States Army. He served four presidential administrations in a variety of roles, most recently as Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005.

For more than 25 years, The Leadership Challenge has been one of the most widely used leadership resources in the world, selling more than 2 million copies in over 20 languages since its first publication. Based on the research of James Kouzes and Barry Posner, this new 5th edition features over 100 new case studies and examples, as well as other updated material.

The central theme of The Leadership Challenge is that leadership is for everyone. Authors Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner began researching and quantifying the study of leadership in 1982, and the first edition of The Leadership Challenge was published in 1987. Since then, through their ongoing studies and thousands of interviews with leaders of all types, Kouzes and Posner have accumulated decades of knowledge about leadership practice and have refined the application of their Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership, which form the foundation of the Leadership Challenge model.

The book contains dozens of examples of how "ordinary” people can have extraordinary, positive impact within their organizations. It is written in a way that can help executives, mid- managers, first-line supervisors, project leaders--and even individual contributors--better understand how they can lead and immediately apply what they have learned in their work. A very readable, well-researched, and practical book about leadership, The Leadership Challenge is the first book in the series, “Recommended Reading”, presented by the Leadership Development Institute.

About the Authors
James Kouzes serves as the Dean’s Executive Fellow of Leadership at the Leavey School of Business, at Santa Clara University, and also lectures on leadership around the world to corporations, governments, and nonprofits. In addition to co-authoring over a dozen books on leadership, Jim Kouzes served as president, then CEO and chairman of the Tom Peters Company from 1988-until 2000. Prior to his tenure at TPC he directed the Executive Development Center at Santa Clara University from 1981 through 1987. He also founded the Joint Center for Human Services Development at San Jose State University, which he directed from 1972 until 1980.

Barry Posner, Ph.D., is the Accolti Professor of Leadership at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, where he served for 12 years as Dean of the School. Dr. Posner has published more than 85 research and practitioner-oriented articles, in such journals as the: Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Relations, Personnel Psychology, and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

LDI Recommended Reading List