There is no holy grail of leadership
04 May 05

The search for the alchemy of leadership seems endless. Much of the literature on leadership tries to squeeze people into boxes or make them measure up to heroic figures from the past.

Jo Owen, (author and Director of Strategy and Development for Teach First), set out on the quest to answer the question: “what is leadership?” He quickly realised he was asking the wrong question. The more useful question is: “how do you learn to be a good leader?”

This quest has taken him inside the boardrooms of 70 of the world's best (and a couple of the worst) companies, into classrooms of schools in the poorest boroughs of London, as well as into tribal villages in Africa and Papua New Guinea.

To consolidate his own experience, he carried out research with over 700 individuals from the public, private and voluntary sector, which shows that we all have the capability of being great leaders (whatever our position on the career ladder), as long as we are operating in the right context.

Key research findings:

• There is a gap between what people want, and what they get from leaders. 72% felt that their leaders had the self-confidence in their own abilities, but only 37% felt that their leaders possessed the ability to motivate their teams.
• Zero interviewees felt they had learned anything about leadership from courses. Their knowledge had come from experience, people who had led them and their peers.
• Only 1 in 30 respondents considered performance a key quality of leaders.
• The attributes sought from recent graduates are not related to the attributes wanted from leaders.
• Most leaders rated intelligence as a low priority.
• Surprisingly, none of the following attributes were even mentioned by respondents as key to a leadership role: management skills, reliability, intelligence, ambition, attention to detail, planning and organisation.

Jo's experiences during this quest have been distilled into a new book, How to Lead, which offers a roadmap to the journey of leadership. It enables individuals to create their own success formula and identifies the skills needed at each stage of the journey.

Combining research, practical stories and case studies, with intellectual authority and a lifetime's experience, this book is for leaders at all levels of the organisation. It won't guarantee that the reader will become a charismatic superhero, but it will load the dice in favour of them becoming an effective leader in their organisation.

	How to Lead
	Author	Jo Owen
	Pub Date	20 March 2005
	Price	£12.99
	Publisher	Prentice Hall Business
	ISBN	0273 69364 6
		Buy online from www.pearson-books.com before 4th June 2005 to save 10% on the RRP of £12.99. Click here for further information or to purchase How to Lead.

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