the nature of leadership

i thought i might do a little public relations for one of the ph.d. students in my program whose book "the nature of leadership" came out this past week. the study of leadership is one of the hallmarks of the social-organizational psychology program at the teachers college and yaron prywes wrote a book about a particular theory of leadership with none other than b. joseph white, former dean of the michigan business school (i had the great pleasure of lunching with him one afternoon after class). to make the book even more exciting, the foreward is written by c.k. prahalad, author of "the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid." needless to say, the book is really exciting!

yaron and white's theory of leadership is that there are four categories of leadership traits that comprise good leadership. there are foundational traits which all good leadership should have: the desire to be in charge, ability, strength, and character. then there are great leader requirements: innovativeness, risk taking, appetite for talent, helicopter (high-level) view, and the sparkle factor. then, lastly, the crux of the theory is that good leaders balance two different approaches to leadership: the reptilian approach and the mammalian approach, both of which are necessary for being a successful leader. the reptilian side, is disciplined, has good economic sense, financial management, attention to detail, and is cool, detached, analytic--the task oriented side of leaderhsip. the mammalian side is nurturing, has people sense and communication ability, fosters trust, delegates, empowers, is engaged, pays attention to context, and is developmental. in other words... the people oriented side of leadership. rather than be one or the other, yaron and white argue that good leaders incorporate both "cold-blooded" and "warm-blooded" traits, because both are necessary in being effective.

on the book's website, there is actually a self-assessment tool you can take to help you better understand your leadership style and take steps to improve the way you lead.

run, don't walk, to amazon.com and order your copy!