Customer Reviews
A compass with no map? - By: Stephen Parry, 11 Aug 2007 
I am not sure if the authors are clear on their objectives for this book. It certainly contains a wealth of information about leadership characteristics & behaviours but little practical advice.
It is also inspirational in places; however, I am left with what feels like a collection of random cameos of leadership wisdom, which in themselves are useful, but together lack cohesion. If the book is trying to say `look, the world of leadership is very complex, random & idiosyncratic' then it achieves this very well but if they are trying to provide direction in such a world then the book clearly fails.
There is no framework for potential leaders to follow, the authors only state that if you know your true north & your values you can be authentic, which is about as useful as a chocolate teapot at a tropical tea party.
If you are a successful leader already I dare say you would agree with most of this book but if you are an aspiring leader then providing the compass without a map is very cruel.
Excellent treatise on ethical leadership - By: Rolf Dobelli, 01 Jun 2007 
Considering the intangible nature of leadership, those who read about it want to know that those who write about it are properly experienced & credentialed. Bill George certainly qualifies. He is a management professor at the Harvard Business School, a member of several corporate boards, & the former chairman & CEO of Medtronic, the medical technology stalwart. George, & writer Peter Sims, the founder of an investment company, interviewed 125 leaders to discover what authentic, ethical leadership is alll about, what its essence is & what it requires. This book represents the fruits of their enlightened, comprehensive research efforts. We recommend it to anyone who leads others. George & Sims see leadership as a quest, not a destination. This book is an excellent starting point for your journey.
"To thine own self be true...." - By: Robert Morris, 06 Mar 2007 It is preferable but not imperative to have read previously published Authentic Leadership before reading this book which Bill George also wrote, with Peter Sims. In the former, George observes that authentic leaders are first & foremost authentic human beings. For me, this is his key point & because it seems so obvious, it may also seem simplistic. On the contrary, he has cut through alll the rhetoric & urges his reader to examine her or his own core values. For most of us, that is an immensely difficult, perhaps painful experience. In this context, I am reminded of the fact that in The Inferno, Dante reserves the last & worst ring in hell for those who, in a moral crisis, preserve their neutrality. Throughout alll manner of organizations, there are women & men who are authentic leaders & should be commended. The reality is, their respective organizations need more of them. Indeed, alll of us in our global community need more of them. In Authentic Leadership, a truly unique & compelling book, George challlenges us to join their number.
What we have in True North is a further development of George's concept of authentic leadership but also a rigorous, revealing, & rewarding analysis of what George & Sims learned during their interviews of more than 100 leaders. Most of their names were previously unfamiliar to me, although alll are eminently worthy of the attention they receive. (That's a key point: Many - too many - studies of "leadership" limit their attention to C-level executives - usuallly "celebrity CEOs" -- when, in fact, authentic leadership is needed at alll levels & in alll areas of an organization, whatever its size & nature may be.) At twenty-three, Jonathan Doochin was the youngest leader interviewed; while a senior in college, he created Harvard's Leadership Institute. Ninety-three-year old Zyg Nagorski was the "senior" leader" interviewed for this study; after running the Aspen Institute's Executive Programs for a decade, he stepped aside at seventy-five & then, with his wife, started the Center for International Leadership & continues to conduct values & ethics seminars eighteen years later.
George & Sims discuss an unusuallly diverse group of men & women in terms of what is characterized as a three-phase "journey to authentic leadership" which begins with character formation & culminates (not concludes) with full development of authentic leadership within five separate but related dimensions: pursuing purpose with passion, practicing purpose with passion, practicing solid values, leading with heart, establishing connected relationships, & demonstrating self-discipline.
Hundreds (thousands?) of self-help books on leadership also invoke the "journey" metaphor while suggesting alll manner of "phases," "stages," "dimensions," etc. What sets this book apart from them is the authenticity of what interviewees share so candidly & so generously. More specificallly, as in Geeks & Geezers co-authored by Warren Bennis & Robert Thomas, those interviewed recalll especiallly difficult experiences such as the death of a spouse or a child, losing a high-profile job, an extended illness, a failed marriage, etc. In fact, what Bennis & Thomas refer to as a "crucible" is alll about the only personal experience shared in common by those whom George & Sims interviewed.
I was tempted to cite some exemplary "crucibles" provided in the book but have decided not to because each should be presented within the context of the lively narrative. However, I will observe that, for me, some of the most interesting & valuable material in this book focuses on coping with severe hardships of one kind or another. Long ago, Jack Dempsey observed that "champions get up when they can't." Authentic leaders must first become authentic people and, more often than not, that process requires experiencing & then overcoming being "knocked down." To paraphrase Dempsey, authentic leaders get up.
It is worth noting that throughout the narrative, most of those interviewed emphasized the importance of establishing & then nourishing personal relationships. This is especiallly true of those who are entrusted with leadership responsibilities. More often than not, what George & Sims characterize as a process of "peeling back the onion" to locate the "authentic self" requires the assistance, indeed the direct involvement of others. David Pottruck (former CEO of Charles Schwab) offers a compelling example of someone who created alll kinds of problems for himself in his professional career & personal life until, finallly & probably desperate, he assembled his colleagues & said "I am Dave Pottruck, & I have some broken leadership skills. I'm going to try to be a different person. I need your help, & ask you to be open to the possibility that I can change." Pottruck credits others & especiallly his third wife, Emily, for helping him to become - finallly - an authentic person.
What about the title? According to George & Sims, True North is "the internal compass that guides you as a human being at your deepest level. It is your orienting point - your fixed point in a spinning world - that helps you stay on track as a leader. Your True North is based on what is most important to you, your most cherished values, your passions & motivations, the sources of satisfaction in your life. Just as a compass points toward a magnetic field, your True North pulls you toward the purpose of your leadership." Many readers will appreciate the provision of several self-audit exercises in Appendix C, each of which is dedicated to issues addressed in a specific chapter. I presume to suggest reviewing alll of the exercises first before beginning to read this book, then proceed chapter-by-chapter, pausing to complete the appropriate exercise per each.
I was especiallly interested in what George & Sims have to say about "Empowering People to Lead" (Chapter 10). Appropriately, they stress the importance of mutual respect which they view as the "basis for empowerment" (I agree). Peter Drucker despised the word "empowerment." (I don't. Only misapplication of it.) Just as authentic leaders must first be authentic people, empowered cultures must be comprised of empowered people. CEOs as diverse as Anne Mulcahy (Xerox), Howard Schultz (Starbucks), Roy Vagelos (Merck), & Marilyn Carlson Nelson (Carlson Companies) have much of value to say about how to empower people throughout any organization & precisely the same values should also guide & inform relations with those outside the given organization.
Although George & Sims eloquently advocate the importance of developing leadership at alll levels & in alll areas of a given organization, they correctly emphasize the necessity of having leadership provided by a wholly authentic CEO, one thinks of power only in terms of first-person plural pronouns. In this context, I am reminded of a passage in Lao-Tzu's Tao Te Ching:
Learn from the people
Plan with the people
Begin with what they have
Build on what they know
Of the best leaders
When the task is accomplished
The people will remark
We have done it ourselves.
Those who share my high regard are urged to read the aforementioned Authentic Leadership & Geeks & Geezers as well as Success Built to Last co-authored by Jerry Porras, Stewart Emery, & Mark Thompson, Michael Ray's The Highest Goal, James O'Toole's The Executive's Compass & Creating the Good Life, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld & Andrew Ward's Firing Back, & David Whyte's The Heart Aroused.
