In the first blog of this series, I differentiated between “looking at” and “looking along.” Both are valid perspectives, and both are important to understand the true essence of a thing. In the second blog, I quickly “looked at” leadership, and gave several metaphors for what leadership looks like, and why it is needed today.
I am not going to spend any more time “looking at” leadership, because this is the perspective that most leadership books teach from – What challenge did the leader encounter? How did the leader respond? What was the outcome? What can we learn and how should we gain wisdom from this leader’s experience?
In my experience, very few leadership books are written from the “looking along” perspective. Some memoirs and biographies touch on this perspective – I am thinking of Shoe Dog, by Phil Knight the founder of Nike, who’s narrative of his life, AND introspections of his passions is both a good example, and a wonderful read. Although I loved the book, the leadership applications are not immediately obvious.
One leadership book that does “look along” leadership is Leadership, the inner side of GREATNESS, a philosophy for leaders, by Peter Koestenbaum. Rather than “looking at” what leaders do, Koestenbaum systematizes how leaders think, and their philosophical approach to life. It is a wonderful, mind-binding, thought provoking read, (and I never would have successfully navigated it except that it was required reading for a university class.)
I hope to spend the next several blogs summarizing Peter Koestenbaum’s philosophy of leadership, so that you too can gain the perspective of “looking along” leadership, and possibly be inspired to share your thoughts about leadership.
So, what books have you learned leadership lessons from? What was the main perspective of the book – “looking at” or “looking along?”