Confucius on Leadership

by John Adair

The groundbreaking new book from one of the world's foremost authorities on leadership

Few things are more important than the quality and credibility of leaders, as they play a vital role in every aspect of our modern lives. Yet strong leadership is a difficult skill to master. Good leaders must learn not only to manage, analyse and appraise, but also to encourage, improve and inspire.

Here, John Adair, the celebrated expert on leadership training, shows how Confucian philosophy can help you become a better leader. He demonstrates how, far from merely being interesting ideas from centuries ago, Confucius's sayings, or Analects, will help you to develop the confidence, characteristics and skills you need to be the best leader you can be.

Genres: Leadership

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2013

About the author

John Eric Adair is a British academic who is a leadership theorist and author of more than forty books (translated into eighteen languages) on business, military and other leadership.

Reviews

[Jenyfer Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not the cry but the flight of the wild duck leads the flock to fly and follow'. Chinese proverb


John Adair in his book outlines how it is important for a leader to take action instead of engaging in self-pride or haughtiness. The author has given a clear definition of leadership by breaking the word apart. For instance to lead means to show the way or a path and the suffix ship means either a positon/office or having some sort of an ability.
This book has really enabled me personally to reconsider some ideas such as the validity of followership. It is assumed that in order to be a leader one would have to have a large number of followers. However, Adair points out that a better term in comparison would be fellowship. Being a 'fellow' means that each person is a joint investor. This means that the leader is also a team member and makes a valuable contribution to the achievement of the goal. More importantly in this book it is pointed out that 'one cannot launch a ship on your own, it calls for teamwork combining individual strengths to work towards a common goal'. One of my favourite chapters was on Enthusiasm. Without feeling inspired themselves there is no possibility of the leader being able to inspire action in others. Leader must be enthusiastic in order to set the spark and ignite the flame within their team. Following on enthusiasm, a great leader is a person of integrity. They are someone who is trustworthy. As Livy, the Roman Historian once said 'trust being lost, all the social intercourse of men is brought to naught'. Because this book is fantastic and rich in valuable information I have included an excerpt below:

'''Integrity without knowledge is weak or useless and knowledge without integrity is dangerous' Dr Samuel Johnson once said.Clearly integrity on its own is never going to be enough: it is the foundation but not the actual house of leadership. A leader needs both integrity and the quality of judgment (often called phronesis by the Greeks). Phronesis is practical wisdom, it is an alchemist blend of intelligence, experience and goodness... Politicians who act with integrity will shine like stars however dark the sky may be. Alexander Pope said of politician Joseph Addison:
'In action faithful and in honour clear, who broke no promise' ''
.
Chapter 7 Integrity.

This brings me to the next best part part - popularity. Adair highlights in his book popularity- should not be taken at face value.


I have written an article about Dr Shweitzer who is used as an example of leadership in the book. You can find the article here : http://www.jnurture.com/shweitzer-the...

[Monse Solís · Rating 5 out of 5]

El libro combina varias frases, proverbios y diferentes historias de varios personajes. Muy recomendable, la lectura es muy amena e interesante, brinda nuevos conceptos que se pueden utilizar en el día a día. No es un libro recetario como la mayoría de la actualidad,tampoco se descubre el hilo negro con el liderazgo, pero si enriquece el conocimiento tengas o no gente a tu cargo.

[Wilson Lourenço · Rating 4 out of 5]

Li a versão em Português que é um pouco menor que a original.
Gostei muito das definições claras sobre a liderança e as comparações entre líderes orientais e ocidentais.

[Hessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book because I am fascinated and curious about Confucius’ philosophy ‘Confucianism’. However, this book mainly focused on the leadership’s qualities and credibility. John Adair, the celebrated expert on leadership training, shows how Confucian philosophy can help you become a better leader. He demonstrates how, far from merely being interesting ideas from centuries ago, Confucius’s sayings, or Analects, will help you to develop the confidence, characteristics, and skills you need to be the best leader you can be.

Honesty, reading this – it did help me be open and considerate, especially when working with a team because I usually do not like working in a group or team for a project or assignment.

My rating is 2.5/5, simply because some or much of the information is just additional or unnecessary information that makes me kind of disinterested in finishing the book.

[Fatih · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anlatımı şahane olabilir, farklı atasözleriyle, Çiçero, Sokrates gibi büyük filozofların sözleriyle bezeli pasajlar sunuyor olabilir ancak anladım ki NLP tarzı kitaplar bana göre değil. Kafası çalışan herkes buradaki çıkarımları yapabilir mühim olan icraatın nasıl gerçekleştirileceği!