These are
books and audio recordings I have found inspirational and helpful in the past
several years. There are Amazon.com links for those items available
through Amazon.com. Please let me know of your favorites and new
discoveries that are not listed.
Inspire! What Great Leaders
Do
by
Lance Secretan
Excerpt from the foreword of Inspire! written by CEOs and senior leaders
"Lance Secretan’s message is a great testament to the need for a renewed type of
leadership–one that serves with courage, authenticity, service, truth-telling,
and love. Our businesses, governments, communities, and the world need this
critical mass of inspiration now more than ever before."
—Bill George
former Chair and CEO of Medtronic, author, Authentic Leadership
"Lance Secretan first inspired me in 1996 when I read his book, Reclaiming
Higher Ground. I had taken over the Canadian operation of The Home Depot and
faced many difficult challenges. His words influenced me. This new book,
Inspire!, What Great Leaders Do, is a road map for leaders who want to inspire
people in their organizations. Lance has an ability to read the needs of our
society. Post Enron and 9/11, leaders need to find better ways of responding to
the changing needs of the human spirit. Lance has found that way."
—Annette Verschuren
Division President, Expo Design Center (a Home Depot Company), and Home Depot
Canada
"This is a tour de force, a must-read for everyone who leads others–Lance’s
groundbreaking work is inspiring people, changing their lives, creating jobs,
building organizations, and changing the world!"
—Marianne Williamson
author, Everyday Grace
"Leaders know that they have to be on higher ground and guide others there.
That’s the easy part. Knowing what the high ground is–that’s the hard part.
Secretan’s Inspire! guides us through the hard part."
—Gerald Schwartz
Founder and CEO, Onex Corporation
"Lance Secretan has touched our leaders with his message of values, spirit, and
soul in the workplace, inspiring us to greater levels of achievement. His
principles have universal application that can guide any organization to be a
workplace that honors the individuals within and those they serve."
—Pam Bilbrey
Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, Baptist Health Care, Pensacola,
Florida
"Inspire! takes on the biggest question facing corporations, nonprofit
organizations, and even nations today: how do we overcome fear and tension and
replace it with confidence in the potential of the human spirit? Most
importantly, Secretan offers a road map for leaders, showing them a way to build
confident and inspiring organizations that succeed. What a treasure!"
—Tim Shriver
Chairman, Special Olympics
"I started reading Inspire! and found myself so absorbed that I could not put it
down–so much profound thought. Lance introduces a refreshing approach to
corporate culture that will not only inspire greatness in organizations but will
also help us be more responsible stewards of this planet."
—Don Ziraldo
CEO, Inniskillin Wines
Janet
McCallen
It was a mnemonic device that resonated with me most in
this book (though I enjoyed the whole book). CASTLE is an acronym that describes
six concepts that distinguish the higher ground leader from what Secretan calls
“Old Story Leaders” (command and control types). CASTLE stands for:
Courage – “The hard part (of life) is being brave enough to reinvent
ourselves and reframe what we thought we knew about life and then practice it.”
Authenticity – “Showing up and being present in all aspects of life,
removing the mask and becoming a real, vulnerable, and intimate human being, a
person who is genuine and emotionally and spiritually connected to others.”
Service – A desire to serve, understanding that real leadership always
aims for the ultimate good of all concerned. Nothing less is acceptable.
Truth – “The refusal to compromise integrity or to deny universal truths
– even though in testing times, avoiding the truth might, on the face of it,
seem easier.”
Love – Secretan uses a quote from Mother Theresa: “There is more hunger
for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.” And we want more love
in all our lives, Secretan says – at home and at work.
Effectiveness – Being a higher ground leader, Secretan says, is not about
turning our attention away from performance, but is the way to achieve
performance.
The practice (there’s that concept of a practice
again) of CASTLE principles leads to consciousness, Secretan says. Consciousness
is a pretty high aspiration – and one that I think most of us share.
