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Leading Matters: Lessons from My Journey
In Leading Matters, current Chairman of Alphabet (Google's parent company), former President of Stanford University, and "Godfather of Silicon Valley," John L. Hennessy shares the core elements of leadership that helped him become a successful tech entrepreneur, esteemed academic, and venerated administrator.
Hennessy's approach to leadership is laser-focused on the journey rather than the destination. Each chapter in Leading Matters looks at valuable elements that have shaped Hennessy's career in practice and philosophy. He discusses the pivotal role that humility, authenticity and trust, service, empathy, courage, collaboration, innovation, intellectual curiosity, storytelling, and legacy have all played in his prolific, interdisciplinary career.
Hennessy takes these elements and applies them to instructive stories, such as his encounters with other Silicon Valley leaders including Jim Clark, founder of Netscape; Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. Secretary of State and Stanford provost; John Arrillaga, one of the most successful Silicon Valley commercial real estate developers; and Phil Knight, founder of Nike and philanthropist with whom Hennessy cofounded Knight-Hennessy Scholars at Stanford University.
Across government, education, commerce, and non-profits, the need for effective leadership could not be more pressing. This book is essential reading for those tasked with leading any complex enterprise in the academic, not-for-profit, or for-profit sector.
Hennessy's approach to leadership is laser-focused on the journey rather than the destination. Each chapter in Leading Matters looks at valuable elements that have shaped Hennessy's career in practice and philosophy. He discusses the pivotal role that humility, authenticity and trust, service, empathy, courage, collaboration, innovation, intellectual curiosity, storytelling, and legacy have all played in his prolific, interdisciplinary career.
Hennessy takes these elements and applies them to instructive stories, such as his encounters with other Silicon Valley leaders including Jim Clark, founder of Netscape; Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. Secretary of State and Stanford provost; John Arrillaga, one of the most successful Silicon Valley commercial real estate developers; and Phil Knight, founder of Nike and philanthropist with whom Hennessy cofounded Knight-Hennessy Scholars at Stanford University.
Across government, education, commerce, and non-profits, the need for effective leadership could not be more pressing. This book is essential reading for those tasked with leading any complex enterprise in the academic, not-for-profit, or for-profit sector.
200 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 4, 2018
103 people are currently reading
546 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 15, 2023
i just love listening to white men talk about all their accomplishments in life!
October 13, 2018
Humble, authentic, courageous, heart-led servant leadership... I will ponder these things tonight. A book and an author (white male 'big name' leader) I would have dismissed were it not for my work... "The question before us now is whether these traits can be taught, and if they can, how? I have no doubt that our scholars will be among the brightest people on the planet, but will the experiences we design for them help build skills, enhance empathy, and prepare for future challenges and opportunities?" A killing desire, a rally cry around some of the core desires that drive what I strive for... I respect the man for living these values within the world that was given to him and for sharing his experiences... also saw splatterings of my ever admirable ceo throughout all this... admiration and goalzzz mann
April 24, 2023
Bien écrit par un leader intéressant mais pas vraiment de nouveau concept.
October 22, 2020
My boss made me read it*3 (but i like it
January 24, 2019
Pretty dull writing by an academic about leadership principles that any experienced leader already knows. It comes across as new discoveries by the author, which is the most entertaining part of the book!
December 4, 2019
Достаточно странная книга, похожая на набор благих пожеланий об идеальном лидере. Даром что автор очевидно интересный, да и известный человек. Из умеренно интересного - список рекомендуемых им книг в конце
March 24, 2024
Didn’t learn anything new - it is a general leadership advice with emotional intelligence. The book covers a couple of leadership characteristics: humility, authenticity and trust, leadership as an act of service, empathy, courage and bravery, embracing innovation. The main takeaways for me from the book are:
Humility is the basis for effective leadership. It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom, it is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err - Mahatma Gandhi. You can learn humility through asking for help. Start by admitting what you don’t know, learning what your team members do know and humbly asking them for their support.
Authenticity and trust are essential ingredients for effective leadership. Maintaining one’s integrity is often presented as the greatest challenge by adults. But authenticity is harder to practice every day. It’s the practice of speaking honestly and being true not just to ourselves but to others, to our communities, to the rest of humanity even when being honest may subject us to criticism or lead to disagreement. Be sure to put your feet in the right place, then stand firm - Abraham Lincoln
Leadership is act of service. It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front especially when you celebrate victory, when nice things occur. You take the frontline when there is danger, then people will appreciate your leadership - Nelson Mandela
Empathy shapes a leader and an institution. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside his skin and walk around it - Attakus Finch (To kill a mockingbird).
When you are unsure where to put your energy and resources, when people ask for your help, appealing to your sense of empathy, you should ask yourself those questions, helping you to understand your values, those of your organization and community:
- Does your heart lead you to this issue?
- Do you believe in it enough to take action?
- Would addressing the issue at hand fit with your organization’s mission? If so, does your organization have the resources to help? If not, could you address it personally?
- Of the resources either you or your organization has available, how much do you want to dedicate to this cause, knowing that doing so will limit the resources available for other causes?
- Can you design an impactful, sustainable response to this need?
Courage compels a leader to take the right action. Courage is continuous, a character trait that serves as a foundation to a life of decisiveness and moral direction, while bravery is incident based - willingness to take enormous risk during those brief moments, when they need to be taken. It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong - Abraham Lincoln.
Embracing innovation means accepting and recovering from failure. The challenge is to avoid as many failures as possible and recover from the others as quickly as possible. We all make mistakes. What matters is that you avoid mistakes, when you can, accept and recover from them, when they come, and then move on. Don’t personalize failures but rather see them as part of the leadership journey.
Humility is the basis for effective leadership. It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom, it is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err - Mahatma Gandhi. You can learn humility through asking for help. Start by admitting what you don’t know, learning what your team members do know and humbly asking them for their support.
Authenticity and trust are essential ingredients for effective leadership. Maintaining one’s integrity is often presented as the greatest challenge by adults. But authenticity is harder to practice every day. It’s the practice of speaking honestly and being true not just to ourselves but to others, to our communities, to the rest of humanity even when being honest may subject us to criticism or lead to disagreement. Be sure to put your feet in the right place, then stand firm - Abraham Lincoln
Leadership is act of service. It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front especially when you celebrate victory, when nice things occur. You take the frontline when there is danger, then people will appreciate your leadership - Nelson Mandela
Empathy shapes a leader and an institution. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside his skin and walk around it - Attakus Finch (To kill a mockingbird).
When you are unsure where to put your energy and resources, when people ask for your help, appealing to your sense of empathy, you should ask yourself those questions, helping you to understand your values, those of your organization and community:
- Does your heart lead you to this issue?
- Do you believe in it enough to take action?
- Would addressing the issue at hand fit with your organization’s mission? If so, does your organization have the resources to help? If not, could you address it personally?
- Of the resources either you or your organization has available, how much do you want to dedicate to this cause, knowing that doing so will limit the resources available for other causes?
- Can you design an impactful, sustainable response to this need?
Courage compels a leader to take the right action. Courage is continuous, a character trait that serves as a foundation to a life of decisiveness and moral direction, while bravery is incident based - willingness to take enormous risk during those brief moments, when they need to be taken. It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong - Abraham Lincoln.
Embracing innovation means accepting and recovering from failure. The challenge is to avoid as many failures as possible and recover from the others as quickly as possible. We all make mistakes. What matters is that you avoid mistakes, when you can, accept and recover from them, when they come, and then move on. Don’t personalize failures but rather see them as part of the leadership journey.
June 29, 2025
For a book that emphasizes the power of storytelling, Leading Matters honestly falls short for me on that very front. The narratives feel dry and overly generalized, lacking the emotional resonance that make stories memorable.
Despite its emphasis on humility as a core leadership trait, the book repeatedly references Hennessy’s own accolades and Stanford’s institutional successes. While these accomplishments are undoubtedly impressive, their frequent mention feels more self-congratulatory than enlightening.
Overall, the book offers a few solid reminders about values in leadership, but nothing particularly groundbreaking or profound. A quick read, but not one that will leave a lasting impact.
Despite its emphasis on humility as a core leadership trait, the book repeatedly references Hennessy’s own accolades and Stanford’s institutional successes. While these accomplishments are undoubtedly impressive, their frequent mention feels more self-congratulatory than enlightening.
Overall, the book offers a few solid reminders about values in leadership, but nothing particularly groundbreaking or profound. A quick read, but not one that will leave a lasting impact.
Read
January 26, 2022xenophobia
provost
philanthropy faces mission creep. balance empathy with equity
"You're not being the team member that we need here, and you need to clear this up or decide this isn't the right job for you." My regret is that in some cases I waited too long to have these conversations.
It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong. -Abraham Lincoln
deaths of a thousand cuts extended over a decade
You improve your chances of success by doing your due diligence
Manhattan, the heart of banking, with Silicon Valley, the heart of technology
provost
philanthropy faces mission creep. balance empathy with equity
"You're not being the team member that we need here, and you need to clear this up or decide this isn't the right job for you." My regret is that in some cases I waited too long to have these conversations.
It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong. -Abraham Lincoln
deaths of a thousand cuts extended over a decade
You improve your chances of success by doing your due diligence
Manhattan, the heart of banking, with Silicon Valley, the heart of technology
November 12, 2025
John Hennessy is a legend and successfully led Stanford through a lot of growth through some tumulus times. Nice to hear directly from him about he thinks about leadership, legacy, and what keeps him inspired. He spends a lot of the book namedropping different donors, but that's part of his job.
November 28, 2018
A brilliant call to action for leaders from all walks of life, not only to aid with self improvement but to bring to the forefront that leading is truly about service to others.
February 14, 2019
This could also be called why Stanford is the best and how I made it even better....soo much about Stanford and barely about leadership.
May 24, 2022
This is much more about projects he did at Stanford than about leadership lessons. I literally don’t have a single takeaway from this book.
July 17, 2022
Good introduction how Stanford works. And useful list of books about people and history.
July 12, 2023
View on leadership as a service. Good story
December 18, 2023
BOOOOOOO IDC IDC IDC
January 27, 2024
Thought it was a semi interesting read, but I didn’t really think it was too profound.
Read
April 25, 2024Audiobook
June 24, 2024
I wish this dude authored more novels. Love his writing. Guess I just gotta read his compsci textbooks now
August 11, 2023
Professor and president of Stanford.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews