Leader

Everybody needs this book in their home library.

"Hank Rubin is at it again. Collaboration Skills for Educators and Nonprofit Leaders, the first in his "Building the Village" series, is a little volume with a potentially big payoff for thoughtful practitioners at the central office, in the principal's chair or in the classroom. This is a book that can be the basis for collaborative efforts with volunteers, corporate partners and employee groups. This is not a book for Lone Rangers or for those who are cynical about the true value of and need for collaborative leadership. Author Hank Rubin is a successful practitioner, community activist, teacher, theorist and collaborative leader himself. He brings to us the elements of effective collaborative leadership, not from large complex corporate organizations, but from the perspective of the world in which you and I apply our leadership knowledge and skills. In doing so, Rubin presents practical dimensions of collaborative leadership that stress the need to build, manage and maintain relationships with other leaders in our communities. The focus here is on accomplishing tangible results, making a difference and completing our work in the public realm. Rubin sees our jobs as revolving "around building villages of support to raise children." His book can help us be successful in that mission." [Reviewed in "The School Administrator", American Association of School Administrators, April, 1999.]

My school gave many students who attended an event a copy of this book. Since that day, my roomates and I read it every night, as a way of keeping up faith that although college is difficult, through the grace of God, we will make it through. I reccomend this book to any college student in need of inspiration, to any parent of a college student, or to anyone in general. This is a wonderful presentation of stories.

Very thorough and documented. Pictures as well.
Mollie J Lyons (Nichols)

If you Pastor a church or serve on a staff in North America don't go to another seminar or buy another audio tape or video or talk to another consultant on church growth until you read this book. I have read dozens of books on the subject of Church growth and small/cell groups and have never found anything better than Carl Georges insight into the "MetaChurch" concept.

Let me be clear that Carl does not give you a 7 step plan to church growth. It is not that easy, we can not treat the bride of Christ that simply. It is difficult and every church is unique and special. Carl lays the foundation for you to think through and seek the Divine Direction that the Father has for your Church.

The Meta concept can get complicated and it will make you rethink how church works. It will lead you to view the church for what it is , a network of loving caring relationships with a vision to change our world for Christ sake. I have read this book several times. So many I have lost count but each time is necessary for me to help my church reach it's potential.

Let me also warn you if you do not handle the subject of small/cell groups correctly it could cost you your job as a minister. So don't read this alone. Read it and share it, share the Vision God has given you. Let Him birth it in the hearts that you lead. This book is a great part of God breathing new life in the established church.

This book should not be confused as a "book of sayings". This book contains true concepts that can be taken one by one and used to coach, train and develop a truly unique leadership team. If you have a group of leaders that want to be coached they will respond very favorably to the content of Don Garner's book. If they don't want to learn or don't want to be coached - well it becomes just a "book of sayings". I recommend this book to anyone that is serious about leadership.

This is a superb collection of mini-essays on the 200 most important figures in land warfare from A.D. 941 through 1988. The 199 men and 1 woman are listed chronologically at the beginning and then alphabetically, with cross-references where necessary, in the text. The individual entries not only recont major achievements and failures, but also deliver a cogent analysis of each leader's relative worth as a military commander -- only Marshal Zhukov is given notoriously short shrift.

Like all books, this one has its quirks: sailors and airmen need not apply, but a couple of paratroopers and military theorists made the cut. Coverage is international but heavily weighted toward Western Europe at 130 entries, or 69 percent. However, considering that Europe dominated warfare in this millenium, the book is not excessively biased in that direction.

Naturally, no work is perfect, and this one lacks an index, bibliography, sources, and suggested reading.

Yet, despite these minor shortcomings, I believe "A Concise Dictionary of Military Biography" will stand as a landmark work for its brevity, sound judgment, and clear writing.

I congratulate Ms Sharon for her effort to discover the reality of african women in Africa.

You can learn from the practical experience of the authors and be inspired by their nuts and bolts approach to church planting and cell church ministry. Pastor Larry Kreider is a forerunner in the future church growth revolution.

It seems to me that there are two broad categories of leader - those seeking earthly rewards and those seeking heavenly rewards. There is a wealth of material on those in the first category and by going to university or wading through a multitude of books you can acquire the leadership skills required. There are not so many books available regarding the leadership skills of the second category. How did Mother Teresa develop such phenomenal leadership skills that she gathered around her a dedicated group of followers prepared to live at the same level as the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta and who would risk their lives in working side by side with lepers? And all this for zero salary, zero perks and no golden handshake at the end. Most of us would have taken one look at the job description and not even bothered to apply, even though there are plenty of job openings.

Bruce Lansdale holds the middle ground between the Mother Teresas of this world and charismatic CEOs of big corporations. For thirty-five years he was Director of the American Farm School, a nonprofit established in 1904 in northern Greece to improve the quality of life in rural areas by teaching farming, village crafts and industrial skills such as electricity, plumbing, sanitation to youth. For older people there was a community development program. Serving through the really tough years following the German occupation and the civil war when Greece was in a similar condition to many developing countries today, Lansdale's final years saw Greece join the EU and graduate to relative prosperity. These years gave Lansdale a wealth of experience recorded in his first book "Master farmer: Teaching Small farmers Management" which teaches the management skills required to POLKA - plan, organize, lead, k(c)ontrol and adjust. In later years he identified leadership as one of the most important skills to acquire, resulting in "Cultivating Inspired Leaders: Making Participatory Management Work". We will have no difficulty in doing everything he tells us but he brings it all together in a way that is particularly appropriate for nonprofits. Ambassador Niles, President, US Council for International Business and US Ambassador to Greece from 1993 to 1997 knew Lansdale and the American Farm School very well and wrote "Bruce Lansdale is the most inspiring person I have ever met, and one of the wisest. His work as Director of the American Farm School did more for Greece and Greek-American relations, than all the American ambassadors combined, myself included. His book, "Cultivating Inspired Leaders" presents the practical lessons in management and leadership learned over more than half a century. I heartily recommend it."

Cultivating Inspired Leaders has been written for leader-managers at all levels and in all work, particularly for those in nonprofits. The book is based on the philosophy that management is doing what you want with what you've got and that workers of every type and in every position are leader-managers if they believe that there is something greater to what they are doing than may appear in material form.

The transformation of an administrator who may manage by right, privilege or appointment to an inspiring leader-manager is not unlike the metamorphosis of the egg to larva to pupa to butterfly. How many of us fail to be the butterfly we were born to be because we did not have the teacher to guide us or we lacked the willingness to pass through the mental, emotional and spiritual struggle involved? This book provides the advice, guidance and inspiration to those who wish to travel this path. Peter Drucker observes that non-profit institutions that do not have a conventional bottom line may have to measure their effectiveness by their success in producing changed human beings. If this is so, the goal of cultivating inspired leaders is a noble one and may well be the most important task we face.

The goal of this book is that our management becomes participatory, that the helper and the helped become a team, that the manager and employee become companions, that the guide and the guided lead each other. The beauty of this book is that it spells out how we can do it and shows that each of us can become an inspiration to our fellow man.

If you are a trustee of a nonprofit this should be required reading. If your ambition is to climb to the top of a nonprofit you should study this book so that all the lessons it contains become second nature to you. If you are a secretary or receptionist or just starting your career, there is plenty in this book for you; you are a key person within the organization and can show leadership at whatever level you currently hold. If you have been appointed to a top post and find that you are a leader in name only and lack enthusiastic followers, you can become an inspired and inspiring leader. This book is not just a good read, but it demands a lot of you and your organization. The chapter "Evaluate Yourself" may reveal some unpleasant truths. No pain; no gain. But if you really want success for yourself and your nonprofit there is no better place to start than to absorb the wisdom contained in this book.
dwillis@afs.edu.gr