Linda Ginzel - Choosing Leadership: Revised and Expanded: How to Create a Better Future by Building Your Courage, Capacity, and Wisdom

How to Create a Better Future by Building Your Courage, Capacity, and Wisdom

Choosing Leadership: Revised and Expanded

Dr. Linda Ginzel

To Boaz Keysar, the best choice I ever made.

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.

JOHN F. KENNEDY

W hen a gosling hatches, it immediately looks around until it locates a bright moving object, and then it instinctively follows that object wherever it goes. The object is typically the goslings mother, so this works out nicely for everyone.

Following is the most natural thing on earth, which is why even a minute-old bird can do it. Leading, on the other hand, takes work. But what kind of work does it take? Does it take knowledge or practice? Does it take a week or a lifetime? Can anybody do it? How about me?

No one knows the answers to these questions better than Linda Ginzel, who has spent her life teaching people how to stop waddling behind the gaggle and start flying in front of the skein. Linda was trained as an experimental psychologist, but after receiving her PhD from Princeton University, she decided she wanted to work in a laboratory that was roughly the size of the world, and so she began teaching in business schoolsfirst Stanford, then Northwestern, and then finally the University of Chicago, where for more than twenty-five years she has been an award-winning professor whose students have gone on to become successful leaders in many of the worlds top corporations and organizations.

When she isnt busy educating her students, Linda keeps busy educating the rest of us. In addition to being a pioneer and innovator in the teaching of leadership, Linda is one of the countrys leading consumer advocates whose work on product safety has saved thousands of lives. President Clinton personally presented her with the Presidents Volunteer Service Award, the nations highest honor for volunteer service directed at solving critical social problems, and she has served on President Obamas transition team, testified before the United States Congress, and appeared on national television shows ranging from the Today Show to Oprah.

All of which is simply to say that Linda knows a whole lot about leadershipabout what it is, and more importantly, what it isnt. One of the things she knows is that leaders dont lead by lecturing, but by acting. And so rather than writing a textbook that tells you how to become a leader, she has written a workbook that shows you. Choosing Leadership doesnt ask you to read itit asks you to participate in it. If you want to sit still while some self-appointed guru explains how you can become the leader of your very own company, country, or religion in three easy steps, then youve come to the wrong place. But if you want to go on a journey with a wise and inspiring guide, a scientist and teacher who has been the personal navigator for thousands of successful leaders over a quarter of a century, then there is no other place to be.

So look around. Linda Ginzel is your bright moving object. Go where she takes you. Youll never be the same old bird again.

DANIEL GILBERT

Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology, Harvard University

Author of Stumbling on Happiness

W elcome to the revised and expanded edition of Choosing Leadership. First, let me share the history. The original workbook was born out of handouts, exercises, and activities to complement a capstone leadership course I created at the University of Chicagos Booth School of Business. Students were better able to understand my philosophy, from the context of the terms I used to the importance of crafting ones own personal definition of leadership. Word spread, and before long people beyond my classroom asked for copies of my course handouts, not only for themselves but for their coworkers, friends, and children.

I was gratified and humbled when the workbook that evolved from those materials became a bestseller. This revised and expanded edition now includes Leadership Modules that guide the reader in how to use the book to teach and learn together with a group. They include links to online instructional videos and they also provide step-by-step guidance to create group experiences designed to enable reflection, explore ideas, and enhance self-understanding. These group experiences create collective wisdom and encourage learners to make better and more thoughtful choices. Through individual written reflection and peer discussions, readers learn how to coach themselves and others while gaining self-understanding and confidence.

The original edition of Choosing Leadership was used by a diverse group of people implementing its lessons across a wide range of personal and professional contexts. Many of them have graciously offered me their feedback, told me how they used the workbook for their purposes, and modeled how others can tailor the material for their programs needs. The contributors work in both academia and the business world and have used the book with high school athletes, undergraduate and graduate students, medical residents, and a faith-based group. They even started a book club. The applications, as these contributors have shown, are only limited by ones imagination.

Below is a list of these contributors, followed by their testimonials and descriptions, in their own words, about how they used Choosing Leadership. Let their ideas be a springboard for you as you gain a deeper understanding of the true meaning of leadershipand learn more about yourself, your vision for the future, and how to impart this vision to others.

1. Char Bennington, human resources director of employee development. Staff meet in small, cross-functional discussion groups.
2. Marjorie Bentley, college director of admissions. Rural high school students attend a college preparatory summer program.
3. Bill Henderson, law school professor. Teams of law school students teach their peers.
4. Beck Jurasius, college student. High school athletes learn about individual and team effectiveness.
5. Jasmine Kwong, MBA student. Created the book club group, Friends with Green Pens.
6. Kimberly Reiser, high school teacher. Leadership education in high school business and marketing courses.
7. Rick Riddering, director of leadership development. Teaches adult learning at a small, Christian liberal arts college.
8. Dr. Joon Shim, program director of general surgery residency. Surgical residents discuss leadership in a longitudinal workshop.
9. Grace Soetikno Pandji, director of international business. Training of employees for one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in Indonesia.

As a valuable addition to our Leadership Development program here at Chicago Booth, our work with the Choosing Leadership book has been amazing. Compared to other leadership development opportunities, the book is not only incredibly inexpensive, it is also very effective. We have formed twenty-plus small discussion groups of staff members who meet usually monthly to work through and discuss the concepts in the chapters and the many exercises. An added benefit is that the groups are all cross-functional, so participants meet other colleagues across the organization.