Sullivan - Hope is not a method: what business leaders can learn from Americas army

This book is not an Army manual. It is not a learn-by-rote compendium of steps to success, like a guide on radio maintenance. What it does is offer an approach to thinking about strategy and planning and people based on plenty of practical experience. For that reason alone, its a good investment.

The Chicago Tribune

Former U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gordon Sullivan is an extraordinary leader: part visionary, part historian; part strategist, part cheerleader; part soldier, part servant. The story he and Colonel Harper tell of how the Army has succeeded where so many large, established organizations have failed carries a simple yet profound message: Tapping an organizations capacity for deep change starts with seeing the soul of your people. Should be mandatory reading for todays leaders.

Peter Senge,
author of The Fifth Discipline

In Hope Is Not a Method, Sullivan and Harper present a clear, compelling, and detailed map for leadership. Only those who heed their message will successfully lead us into the future.

Margaret Wheatley,
author of Leadership and the New Science

America will be greatly strengthened if leaders and organizations of excellence are willing to share freely of their time and their insights. Hope Is Not a Method, an inspirational and user-friendly book, makes a considerable contribution in this general area of mutual sharing for the common good.

Armed Forces Journal

an approach to thinking about strategy and planning and people based on plenty of practical experience.

San Jose Mercury News

The challenge we now face is to make change an essential element of corporate culture. Hope Is Not a Method will be an important tool in achieving that objective.

James R. Mellor,
Chairman and CEO, General Dynamics Corporation

Students of organizational change regard the transformation of the U.S. Army as among the most remarkable shifts in both culture and capability of the past twenty years. In their book, enriched by examples from the military history and contemporary corporate situations, the authors trace the Armys journey and offer new tools that are readily applicable to business problems. All in all, a fresh, readable, and informative book on leadership and the architecture of transformational change.

Richard Pascale,
author of Managing on the Edge

When it comes to transforming an organization, Sullivan and Harper know what they are talking aboutthey did it. The U.S. Army has learned to lead in the flexible, dynamic, fast-paced environment we all face. Hope Is Not a Method shows us how.

Lloyd S. Baird,
director, Boston University CEO Leadership Forum

General Gordon R. Sullivan, a distinguished soldier and forward-looking manager, shepherded the U.S. Army through its recent changes with minimum fanfare but exceptional effectiveness. Hope Is Not a Method divulges some of the techniques he used, techniques that should be of great value to leaders in organizations of all kinds.

John S. D. Eisenhower,
former U.S. ambassador to Belgium

Entrepreneurs can learn much from the Army about leadership.

Success magazine

Sullivan and Harper share a great deal of insight, experience, and practical advice with all leaders of today and tomorrowthe authors provide a clear and compelling plan of action that can be readily applied by any organization in these times of Darwinian change.

Norman R. Augustine, CEO, Lockheed Martin Corp.

Their well-written book is recommended not only for upper-level business executives and professionals but also for students and aspiring leaders.

Library Journal

Hope Is Not a Method offers an enormously useful approach to the process of thinking, planning, and acting strategically, based on practical experience. It will benefit anyone facing changing realities in business.