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On Mission: Your Journey to Authentic Leadership
Amazon BEST SELLER in Business Ethics, Management Science, Knowledge Capital, and Nonprofit Management and Leadership
2022 INDIES Book of the Year Finalist by Foreword Reviews for Careers Become a mission-focused, people-centric leader On Mission serves as a resource for personal leadership development, crafted by Sean Georges and John Buford, two former marine officers with a combined 80 years of leadership experience in military, business, nonprofit, and education. This book is for those who aspire to lead authentically across the spectrum of their lives by taking responsibility for and committing to their unique learning journey. Using a simple but powerful servant leadership model with a focus on mission, the authors share practical, fundamental, and timeless leadership concepts designed to help readers understand what it means to lead in an authentic way. The book is intended to be transformational and personal in nature, written to change the way aspiring leaders understand and approach leading across the spectrum of their own lives and help them answer the key question, “What is my best and highest role, in support of my teammates, in alignment with our mission?” The authors provide readers with the tools and perspective needed to navigate and shape their own unique developmental journey.
2022 INDIES Book of the Year Finalist by Foreword Reviews for Careers Become a mission-focused, people-centric leader On Mission serves as a resource for personal leadership development, crafted by Sean Georges and John Buford, two former marine officers with a combined 80 years of leadership experience in military, business, nonprofit, and education. This book is for those who aspire to lead authentically across the spectrum of their lives by taking responsibility for and committing to their unique learning journey. Using a simple but powerful servant leadership model with a focus on mission, the authors share practical, fundamental, and timeless leadership concepts designed to help readers understand what it means to lead in an authentic way. The book is intended to be transformational and personal in nature, written to change the way aspiring leaders understand and approach leading across the spectrum of their own lives and help them answer the key question, “What is my best and highest role, in support of my teammates, in alignment with our mission?” The authors provide readers with the tools and perspective needed to navigate and shape their own unique developmental journey.
- GenresNonfictionLeadership
288 pages, Hardcover
Published August 2, 2022
26 people are currently reading
908 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 11, 2022
I just love how basic and necessary this book is!
I love how easy to read the writing is. A book which can be picked up by anyone who are looking for basic leadership skills.
Twenty two short chapters under five parts, the book explains well who a leader is, how a leader becomes one and what someone can do when someone needs to become a leader.
The highlights would be the section on how to be an authentic leader and the essential concepts to understand in order to become a leader.
A really good read. Needed it.
Thank you, Greenleaf Book Group, for the advance reading copy.
I love how easy to read the writing is. A book which can be picked up by anyone who are looking for basic leadership skills.
Twenty two short chapters under five parts, the book explains well who a leader is, how a leader becomes one and what someone can do when someone needs to become a leader.
The highlights would be the section on how to be an authentic leader and the essential concepts to understand in order to become a leader.
A really good read. Needed it.
Thank you, Greenleaf Book Group, for the advance reading copy.
September 23, 2022
I received a review copy of this from the publisher Greenleaf Book Group Press through NetGalley. I requested it because the premise resonates with my leadership style and the authors confirmed this as I read through it. If you've actually tried to learn more about leadership, and worked to apply what you've learned to yourself, most of this won't be new. To be fair, there aren’t many paradigm shifters anymore. Daniel Pink’s Drive probably nudged many when it was published, but now? Intuitively obvious. Good teachers know that it takes three (or more) times saying something for it to stick, and you'll see that here. Lots of repetitions - say, rather, reinforcement - of the basic concepts of authentic leadership, which can be distilled down to a few bullets:
- people first ... you serve them ("The authentic leaders we served with over the course of our lives shared some important qualities. Chief among these was a deeply held passion to serve others."),
- commit to the mission ("One of the ways authentic leaders influence their teammates is through their own level of personal commitment to the team’s mission."),
- but balance the mission (task) with serving your people,
- continually improve yourself by taking responsibility for your development and being accountable ("Leading is not about you (in that you are at the center); it is about your teammates and about the mission. Learning how to lead, however, is about you; you must take personal responsibility for your growth.")
There are sub points, which the authors go into in detail, many of which cross over to other elements of leadership. The read is easy, with sidebars, graphics, and other reinforecements. And the authors present personal examples to help illustrate their points (and show that they don't pretend to know everything, unlike some of the management/leadership books out there.) More importantly, they embrace "We can also assure you that the quality of your leadership matters." and the title of a subsection: "STRIVE TO BE A LEADER, NOT THE LEADER". Definite articles are dicey. This is spot on.
As I said, you probably know all this already, but it's good to see in a different package and may be the book you recommend to others. I can recommend it.
Highlights - too many. Really, too many to put here, but a selection for a taste:
{The authors each list some quotes from leaders they admire. I highlighted this one:}
Brigadier General Richard Walls, USMC: Get out from behind your desk. Seek the input of those you serve and share your thought process with them. Build relationships and maintain them. Actively raise your next level of leaders.
{The Navy and the Marines know this in their core. Train your replacement. I don't see that thinking as much in the private, or non-military public sector.}
[think about why you want to improve] After you’ve defined, with honesty, your current motivation to develop your leadership capabilities, you can begin to seek answers to some important questions around what leadership is and how you approach it.
[words matter] A few years later, our college found it necessary to hire a new president. What struck me from the beginning was that the new president spoke in the first person, in terms of ownership and shared responsibility. “The enrollment numbers” became “our student enrollment.” “The board of trustees” became “our trustees.” “The faculty, the staff, and the student body” became “us” and “we.” Predictably, our college community began to pull together, and performance improved dramatically. The contrast between these two leaders—in their words and deeds—was stark. When I interacted with the previous president, I felt I was a passenger on his ship, dependent on him to keep the ship afloat. When I interacted with the new president, I felt I was part of a crew, and my captain was counting on me and my teammates to help steer the ship to an exciting destination.
{This is extremely important. Too often, egos take credit for the team, and the team doesn't get credit for their work.}
[leadership quality] Here are some practical suggestions to help you evaluate the quality of your leadership decision: Pay attention to whether and how your decision affected individual and team performance. Observe the short- and long-term impacts on attitude, behavior, and performance. Seek targeted feedback from your teammates. Determine whether your decision added to or detracted from the capabilities of the people you lead. Determine whether your decision served the team in advancing toward its mission.
{Self evaluation is hard sometimes, but necessary.}
[people first, always] One of an authentic leader’s primary responsibilities is to care for their people: the human beings who do the lion’s share of the work required to accomplish the team’s mission. Ineffective leaders fail to comprehend how important it is to create a supportive culture and build human relationships that align and drive individual and team performance.
{I would respectfully submit that "ineffective leaders" are not leaders.}
[And this] James O’Toole, in Leadership A to Z, may have said it best: “All groups and organizations are capable of getting by without leadership. But all high-performing organizations have leadership.”
{This. Simply this.}
- people first ... you serve them ("The authentic leaders we served with over the course of our lives shared some important qualities. Chief among these was a deeply held passion to serve others."),
- commit to the mission ("One of the ways authentic leaders influence their teammates is through their own level of personal commitment to the team’s mission."),
- but balance the mission (task) with serving your people,
- continually improve yourself by taking responsibility for your development and being accountable ("Leading is not about you (in that you are at the center); it is about your teammates and about the mission. Learning how to lead, however, is about you; you must take personal responsibility for your growth.")
There are sub points, which the authors go into in detail, many of which cross over to other elements of leadership. The read is easy, with sidebars, graphics, and other reinforecements. And the authors present personal examples to help illustrate their points (and show that they don't pretend to know everything, unlike some of the management/leadership books out there.) More importantly, they embrace "We can also assure you that the quality of your leadership matters." and the title of a subsection: "STRIVE TO BE A LEADER, NOT THE LEADER". Definite articles are dicey. This is spot on.
As I said, you probably know all this already, but it's good to see in a different package and may be the book you recommend to others. I can recommend it.
Highlights - too many. Really, too many to put here, but a selection for a taste:
{The authors each list some quotes from leaders they admire. I highlighted this one:}
Brigadier General Richard Walls, USMC: Get out from behind your desk. Seek the input of those you serve and share your thought process with them. Build relationships and maintain them. Actively raise your next level of leaders.
{The Navy and the Marines know this in their core. Train your replacement. I don't see that thinking as much in the private, or non-military public sector.}
[think about why you want to improve] After you’ve defined, with honesty, your current motivation to develop your leadership capabilities, you can begin to seek answers to some important questions around what leadership is and how you approach it.
[words matter] A few years later, our college found it necessary to hire a new president. What struck me from the beginning was that the new president spoke in the first person, in terms of ownership and shared responsibility. “The enrollment numbers” became “our student enrollment.” “The board of trustees” became “our trustees.” “The faculty, the staff, and the student body” became “us” and “we.” Predictably, our college community began to pull together, and performance improved dramatically. The contrast between these two leaders—in their words and deeds—was stark. When I interacted with the previous president, I felt I was a passenger on his ship, dependent on him to keep the ship afloat. When I interacted with the new president, I felt I was part of a crew, and my captain was counting on me and my teammates to help steer the ship to an exciting destination.
{This is extremely important. Too often, egos take credit for the team, and the team doesn't get credit for their work.}
[leadership quality] Here are some practical suggestions to help you evaluate the quality of your leadership decision: Pay attention to whether and how your decision affected individual and team performance. Observe the short- and long-term impacts on attitude, behavior, and performance. Seek targeted feedback from your teammates. Determine whether your decision added to or detracted from the capabilities of the people you lead. Determine whether your decision served the team in advancing toward its mission.
{Self evaluation is hard sometimes, but necessary.}
[people first, always] One of an authentic leader’s primary responsibilities is to care for their people: the human beings who do the lion’s share of the work required to accomplish the team’s mission. Ineffective leaders fail to comprehend how important it is to create a supportive culture and build human relationships that align and drive individual and team performance.
{I would respectfully submit that "ineffective leaders" are not leaders.}
[And this] James O’Toole, in Leadership A to Z, may have said it best: “All groups and organizations are capable of getting by without leadership. But all high-performing organizations have leadership.”
{This. Simply this.}
April 19, 2024
On Mission: Your Journey to Authentic Leadership is, as the title indicates, a book about how to become an authentic leader, regardless of your title or position, in every facet of your life.
This was the final blind date book I picked up from my library in February, and I'll be honest: I struggled to get through this one. This is not a long book, coming in at roughly 260 pages. I finished a nearly 400-page novel in the span of one night, but the book took me the better part of a month. (Genuinely, I really should have DNFed this one.) That said, I don't think it's the fault of the book necessarily.
The first hundred pages of this book can be best summed as theory, which genuinely is interesting. It's just way too long for a book this length. I really enjoy the authors' discussion and perspective of leadership as something that isn't reserved just for work but every facet of our lives nor is it reliant on us being in what we traditionally think of as a "leadership position" either. I also really like the notion of servant leadership that Buford and Georges offer, and it actually may be a reason for me to recommend this one to some of the people at my church.
The practical applications are useful, and I can see how they'd make all the difference in leadership. Genuinely, if you're in a leadership position in a business, I think that this'd be helpful if you're looking to become a better leader. They focus on the people aspect, which is so often lost in businesses.
That said, for a book that specifically says that you do not need to be in a leadership role in a business for this to apply to you, I somewhat disagree. This is heavily geared towards a) people in actual positions of power in b) a corporation or business or some kind of job role. Which would be fine, if the book specifically said that this was applicable even if you weren't.
The book could've done with another round of editing, both because there are genuine typos in the book and because it gets a bit repetitive at points. Overall, this was still a 3.5 rounded down, but it's not a book that I feel was very relevant to my current position in life. Hopefully, I'll be in a place to return to it and see if I get anything more useful out of it in the next few years.
This was the final blind date book I picked up from my library in February, and I'll be honest: I struggled to get through this one. This is not a long book, coming in at roughly 260 pages. I finished a nearly 400-page novel in the span of one night, but the book took me the better part of a month. (Genuinely, I really should have DNFed this one.) That said, I don't think it's the fault of the book necessarily.
The first hundred pages of this book can be best summed as theory, which genuinely is interesting. It's just way too long for a book this length. I really enjoy the authors' discussion and perspective of leadership as something that isn't reserved just for work but every facet of our lives nor is it reliant on us being in what we traditionally think of as a "leadership position" either. I also really like the notion of servant leadership that Buford and Georges offer, and it actually may be a reason for me to recommend this one to some of the people at my church.
The practical applications are useful, and I can see how they'd make all the difference in leadership. Genuinely, if you're in a leadership position in a business, I think that this'd be helpful if you're looking to become a better leader. They focus on the people aspect, which is so often lost in businesses.
That said, for a book that specifically says that you do not need to be in a leadership role in a business for this to apply to you, I somewhat disagree. This is heavily geared towards a) people in actual positions of power in b) a corporation or business or some kind of job role. Which would be fine, if the book specifically said that this was applicable even if you weren't.
The book could've done with another round of editing, both because there are genuine typos in the book and because it gets a bit repetitive at points. Overall, this was still a 3.5 rounded down, but it's not a book that I feel was very relevant to my current position in life. Hopefully, I'll be in a place to return to it and see if I get anything more useful out of it in the next few years.
August 7, 2025
2.5: This book definitely speaks to my leadership philosophy. There were great parts, like the guide to write one's own leadership mission/culture. The pullout anecdotes from the authors' experience were helpful--it is always good to see an illustration of a theoretical principle. The book felt much longer than necessary, like almost the entire first half was just, "Are you READY to start leading like this?!?" I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy in a Goodreads giveaway.
June 14, 2025
I am wholeheartedly a pupil of the servant leadership. I think this book does a great job to instill this virtue to the reader. The writing is easy to follow and makes it an enjoyable read and for someone just learning this topic it would be a great guideline to follow. It is broken up into small chapters that make it quick to pick up and put down, very digestible. Some nuggets to take from the book - Lead Authentically, People First, Words Matter, There's always room for improvement.
If you're a first time leader this is a great start. If you're a seasoned leader this is a nice refresher.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
If you're a first time leader this is a great start. If you're a seasoned leader this is a nice refresher.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
October 27, 2022
Great book on leadership
I enjoyed this book. Their advises are spot-on and can easily be applied to real life situations. I gave 4 stars because it didn't provide any other resources.
I enjoyed this book. Their advises are spot-on and can easily be applied to real life situations. I gave 4 stars because it didn't provide any other resources.
February 7, 2023
Another Leadership Grm
I will always seek tools to sharpen my leadership skills. This book is one of those gems. The content is both relevant & relatable. At the core of any leadership to,e is servant leadership.
Highly recommend this one!
I will always seek tools to sharpen my leadership skills. This book is one of those gems. The content is both relevant & relatable. At the core of any leadership to,e is servant leadership.
Highly recommend this one!
November 4, 2022
In a world of several leadership books, this one stands tall. Short get to the point chapters with practical wisdom.
Servant leadership is a dying idea that needs resurrection in this “Me” world.
Servant leadership is a dying idea that needs resurrection in this “Me” world.
April 6, 2023
Thank you for the advance copy of your book. Good reference for multiple reads, especially authentic, servant leadership theme throughout.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews