Crucibles of Leadership May 22, 2008 How to Learn from Experience to Become a Great Leader (Harvard Business School Press, $29.95)
By Skip Corsini
How can you not appreciate a book that draws examples of leadership "crucibles" from such organizations as Toyota, GE, Accenture, Boeing, MIT, the Hells Angels, and the Boston Celtics? By "crucible" the author means an instance or transformative experience in which a leader comes away from a situation with a seriously different outlook, identity, and purpose.
Parents have crucibles nearly every day of their lives, and they are just as challenging as those leaders face at work. Deciding to delegate a major project to an inexperienced colleague is no more hairy than allowing my daughter to attend a weeklong ocean-side seminar during spring break in San Diego.
Crucibles they are, and Robert Thomas provides a wealth of them from real leaders in real organizations. Pay special attention to Chapter 6, "Exploring Your Capabilities," for both its self-assessment tools, which if used correctly can help you "practice while you perform," and its exercises, such as a visit to an art gallery, a trip to the grocer, and a meeting in which company leaders plot to "kill" their company to figure out how to exploit their major weaknesses before competitors do. There's lots of practical stuff to like in here. Harvard scores again.
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