Living leadership - George Binney

What really makes a good business leader? Do you have to be an extraordinarily charismatic hero with a larger than life personality before you can make things happen? What if you?re not? What are the practical and personal lessons of good leadership that will help ordinary managers get the results they want by leading their teams effectively?

Living Leadership 2e has the answers. This insightful and motivating book will help you discover how to make real connections with people, and become an effective leader who makes things happen in the real world.

Built on a unique four-year experiment working alongside real leaders in real businesses, Living Leadership explodes the myth of the charismatic, transformational leader, to show that real progress comes from the dramatically ordinary stuff of leadership.

By observing business leaders in top companies on a day-to-day basis, the authors found out how these top managers really spent their time and how they really made an impact. They saw these leaders holding key discussions with their teams; watched them formulate strategies, plans and visions; observed their behaviours, ambitions and frustrations. What emerged was a powerful set of principles and proven advice for managers everywhere who want to develop their leadership skills.

New to this edition:

The content is refreshed by using different quotes and examples from the leaders who took part in the original research. Plus there will be updates throughout.

''A sound, readable, leadership book for a wide audience: to be read by everyone concerned with delivering resluts at any level.''
Long Range Planning, March 2007

?The real value of this book lies in the detail of how things really get done, and sometimes go wrong. The "black box" of leadership in organisations is now a little less mysterious?
Those of us who are led by someone will know that the book?s messages are spot-on. It is practical, challenging, potentially liberating and timely. Most of all, it is humane and passionate. It deserves attention. ?
People Management, February 2005

The authors of this timely and reassuring new book are challenging the conventional new wisdom. They bring a large and welcome dose of reality to the overblown debate on "transformational leaders" and the heroics of one lonely individual. Leaders are only effective when they work with and not apart from their organizations, as this important book makes plain. Anyone who has to run or lead anything should find space for it on their bookshelves."

Accounting & Business, February 2005

"... a refreshing and engaging break from the torrent of formulaic, sanctimonious self-help guides ... peppered with incisive observations on redefining leadership in terms of the realities and choices that 'ordinary mortals' in organisations face ... there are some excellent practical lessons of good leadership, which will be helpful to managers and executives looking for long-term effectiveness"

Management Today, February 2005

"Leadership gurus George Binney, Gerhard Wilkie and Colin Williams outline the qualities required to be a contemporary leader..."

- Esquire, Feb 09 (readership 154,000)

?Based on some four years of action research, Binney, Wilke and Williams provide us with an unvarnished account of leadership in action, with all its anxiety, uncertainty, false certainty and crippling expectation.
They dispel the myths of leadership, they eschew recipes and homilies; instead they give us some real insight and wisdom into the constraints and possibilities of ?living leadership? .

Bill Critchley, Organisation Consultant and Leader of the Ashridge Masters in Organisation Consulting

"Living Leadership shows how, when you take away the myths and misconceptions, leading can genuinely be made easier."
Hans Straberg, CEO, Electrolux

?A 'how to' book that redefines leadership in terms of the realities and choices facing people in organisations today."


Professor Michael Osbaldeston, Director of CranfieldSchoolof Management

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