Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis

by George, Bill

• ISBN13: 9780470531877
• ISBN10: 0470531878
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-08-24
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass

Summary

The unprecedented crisis that virtually every American institution is facing these days calls for strong leadership -- but what exactly is a leader to do? Recognized leader Bill George tells them specifically in this short, to the point, straight talking book. His Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis are field tested and true - based on his own direct experiences as well as years of researching the actions of companies who have weathered storms and are weathering this one. They are: Lesson #1 Face Reality, Starting with Yourself, Lesson #2 No Matter How Bad Things Are, They Will Get Worse, Lesson #3 Build a Mountain of Cash, and Get to the Highest Hill, Lesson #4 Never Waste a Good Crisis, Lesson #5 Before Asking Others to Sacrifice, Volunteer Yourself, Lesson #6 Don't Be Atlas: Get the World Off Your Shoulders!, Lesson #7 Be Aggressive: This is Your Best Chance to Win in the Market. There are few leaders today that have the credibilty to be giving such advice: George is one of them. A former CEO of Medtronic, a current board member at Goldman Sachs, Exxon Mobil and Novartis as well as a professor of leadership at Harvard, he has been tested in the trenches and has his finger on the pulse of what is going on today.

Author Biography

Bill George is professor of management practice at Harvard Business School and the author of the best-sellers True North and Authentic Leadership. He is former chairman and CEO of Medtronic; under his leadership, Medtronic's market capitalization grew from $1.1 billion to $60 billion, averaging 35% per year. Earlier in his career, he was an executive with Honeywell and Litton Industries and served in the U.S. Department of Defense. He currently serves as a director of ExxonMobil and Goldman Sachs, and also recently served on the board of Novartis and Target. He is a trustee of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, World Economic Forum USA and the Guthrie Theater. He has served as board chair of Allina Health System, Abbott-Northwestern Hospital, United Way of the Greater Twin Cities, and Advamed. George has been named one of "Top 25 Business Leaders of the Past 25 Years" by PBS; "Executive of the Year 2001" by the Academy of Management; and "Director of the Year 2001-2" by the National Association of Corporate Directors. He has made frequent appearances on TV and radio including Charlie Rose, The Today Show, News Hour with Jim Lehrer, NOW, CNBC, Bloomberg News, and NPR. His articles have appeared in Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Fortune, Harvard Business Review, and many others.
George received his BSIE from Georgia Tech, his MBA from Harvard, where he was a Baker Scholar, and honorary PhDs from Georgia Tech and Bryant University. He has been a professor at IMD International and Ecole Polytechnique (Switzerland), and executive-in-residence at Yale School of Management. He lives in Minnesota, Massachusetts and Colorado.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
The Author	p. xiii
Foreword	p. xv
Introduction The Ultimate Test of Leadership	p. 1
Face Reality, Starting with Yourself	p. 15
Don't Be Atlas; Get the World Off Your Shoulders	p. 31
Dig Deep for the Root Cause	p. 47
Get Ready for the Long Haul	p. 61
Never Waste a Good Crisis	p. 75
You're in the Spotlight: Follow True North	p. 89
Go on Offense, Focus on Winning Now	p. 105
Conclusion Crisis May Be Your Defining Moment	p. 121
Appendix Leaders Featured in 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis	p. 129
References	p. 133
Further Study of 7 Lessons For Leading in Crisis	p. 139
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