Sara N. King and David Altman, Discovering the Leader in You: How to Realize Your Leadership Potential. Jossey-Bass, Center for Creative Leadership Series. Second Edition. Jossey-Bass, 2011.
Companion volume: Discovering the Leader in You Workbook (2011)
Referenced in: Leadership Development Through Life Effectiveneness
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
The combination of the book and workbook is perhaps the most comprehensive leadership self-assessment and development tool available today. It is not church/ministry — related, but the concepts translate very well into ministry situations. The writers assume readers are in complex organizational settings and walks them through how to conceive of their role in that environment.
In the preface, the authors explain that the book is designed around a systematic framework that connects who you are as a leader (your vision, values, and profile) to the realities of your organizational context and the realities of your personal life.
This framework has five components:
- Current organizational realities — Helps leaders understand the broader circumstances that impact their current leadership situation.
- Leadership vision — Helps leaders assess that leadership plays in one’s life, helping them to be purposeful about what they want as leaders.
- Leadership values — Helps leaders understand the standards or principles that guide their beliefs, decisions, and actions.
- Leadership profile — Helps leaders assess their competencies, styles, and experiences to understand what they bring to their roles, and to target strengths and developmental needs.
- Current personal realities — Helps leaders assess the impact of life on work and work on life, with the philosophy that the two cannot be compartmentalized and should be integrated.
From the Publisher
From the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) comes the thoroughly revised and updated edition of Discovering the Leader in You. This new edition targets leaders (and aspiring leaders) who work in highly complex and competitive environments and want to reenergize themselves by tapping into the qualities that characterize success.
In our high-pressure environment many leaders have begun to question their abilities, the directions their lives have taken, and their hopes for their future. The authors define this as the problem of drift. All of us experience drift at one time or another, but it can become a problem if we stay adrift for too long. Long-term drift is risky because leaders will make decisions by default rather than by conscious choice. Discovering the Leader in You offers a model leaders can use to get back on track and make conscious choices about why, when, how, and where they lead.
Discovering the Leader in You presents a systematic framework that connects leaders to the realities of their organizational contexts and the realities of their personal lives. By examining the demands on and expectations of a leader as a person, leaders can better match their talents to the opportunities surrounding them. This innovative framework is based on five key elements: current organizational realities, leadership vision, leadership values, leadership profile, and current personal realities. In addition to this proven framework, the book includes illustrative case examples and puts the spotlight on the transition from “the decision to lead” to “how to implement the decision to lead.”
Discovering the Leader in You offers a personal guide for tackling the job of leadership with personal enthusiasm, vision, and constant energy.
About the Authors
Sara N. King, former group director at the Center for Creative Leadership, is currently principal of her own consulting firm, Optimum Insights.
David G. Altman is executive vice president of research, innovation, and product development at the Center for Creative Leadership.
Robert J. Lee is a former president of the Center for Creative Leadership.
The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) is the world’s largest institution devoted exclusively to leadership research and education. Since 1970, CCL has studied and trained hundreds of thousands of executives and worked with them to create practical models, tools, and publications for the development of effective leaders and leadership.
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