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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
True North is a must read for aspiring leaders, April 9, 2007

George has made quite an evolution with his second book, True North. His first book, Authentic Leadership, was more a dissertation on his own leadership experience and ascension to the top post Medtronic. When he started to formulate thoughts on a second book with leadership guru Warren Bennis, Bennis advised him to look outward and share examples of real, authentic leaders in practice today.

George's second book, True North, is just that, a compilation of anecdotal and personal vignettes from leaders at all levels. The book uses the metaphor of a compass to illustrate how staying aligned to your internal "north" makes you more successful and ultimately, as the individual stories tell, more satisfied.

The writings are testaments to the fact that George is gracefully straddling stages six and seven of Bennis' Seven Ages of Leaders - namely The Statesman and The Sage. While George continues to sit on three high-powered boards - Goldman, Exxon and Novartis, he also has come full-circle in a sense and is actively sharing that "invaluable, often subtle information" as Bennis calls it with his HBS classes and with those leaders who aspire to have the kind of professional and personal satisfaction and achievement George has enjoyed.

Agreed, as the dust continues to settle from the wrongs perpetrated by Fastow, Kozlowski and the like, it is refreshing to hear George exclaim that morality and internal alignment do have a place in Corporate America and their corner offices. True North is a must read for aspiring leaders at all levels.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Best On Leadership, April 9, 2007

I studied political science undergraduate, public affairs in graduate school and went to law school. George and Sims are right up there with Neustadt, Schlesinger, Halberstam and Drucker.... They affirm what I've learned over the years --- there is no success without failure nor triumph without hardship .... Whatever the scope of whatever you are trying to lead, True North offers up some valuable insights..... Buy it.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
weLEAD Book Review by the Editor of leadingtoday.org, March 20, 2007

Former CEO and Harvard Business School professor Bill George has a powerful message. Ethics really matter and strong unshakable values are the key to personal and organizational growth. True North is an enlightening work that covers the "who, what, why, when and where" of authentic leadership. Edited by Warren Bennis, and providing a foreword by political consultant David Gergen, it immediately grabs your attention. To produce this book George and Sims interviewed 125 current leaders in various fields and organizations. The examination of these influential executives show that their leadership is grounded in their character and unlike what the modern media portrays, it is usually the most effective you can find anywhere.

Woven deeply into the comments and quotations from the interviews is a practical and engaging commentary on ethics. The heart of the book is intended to inspire the reader to become the best leader they can possibly be by modeling quality standards that grow, care and serve others. It is based on the importance of long-term investment and growth rather than short-term personal gain. George believes that great organizations don't have only one or two charismatic leaders, but have hundreds of leaders in a variety of roles and positions. Chapter 2 is especially sobering as it discusses "Why Leaders Lose Their Way." This excellent chapter outlines the many reasons leaders lose sight of their true north and become derailed. Sadly, thousands of religious, political and business leaders routinely fall into this category.

True North is composed of eleven interesting chapters and the later part is richly seasoned with helpful graphics, personal exercises, development plans and appendix. Some of the leaders interviewed are well known like Howard Schultz (Starbucks, C.E.O) and Charles Schwab (The Charles Schwab Corporation, Chairman and C.E.O.). However, most interviewees are lesser known influential leaders who offer some outstanding insight into their attitudes and ideas.

Why should you read True North? In the March 2007 PBS television show entitled "Now" Bill George was interviewed by the show's host David Brancaccio. When he was asked if he felt "well-adjusted grownups" should lead organizations, George replied: "Leaders first of all have to develop themselves and all the leaders I've seen who have failed, have failed to lead themselves. It's not that they can't lead other people, they aren't well grounded."

True North will help you to understand why being grounded in the right values is essential for your long-term success and that of any business! I wholeheartedly recommend it for your personal library!

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
A Leadership book that makes you think, March 13, 2007

George and Sims’ book makes you think about leadership and your own being. Each chapter has a list of questions which encourage interaction with others. It brings out the authentic leader in yourself - including the set of values / principles on which you have built your own foundation of leadership. This book is about being a true leader, leading with passion and purpose, while being authentic as well. George and Sims have written a "text book", which I am sharing with my entire leadership team. "Remember it is a process not a destination."

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Inspirational and Enlightenging, March 9, 2007

I could not wait to dive into True North after having read and reviewed George's first book, Authentic Leadership. While North is a great read, I have to say that I enjoyed Authentic far more. North is less of a book about leadership principles as it is a collection of interviews of great business leaders. Don't get me wrong, the book is about leadership principles but the vast majority of the content is actual examples, stories and quotes of great leaders reflecting on each of those principles.

For those who learn by stories, North will be a valuable read. I found the stories compelling and interesting, and even applicable, but at times it just felt like that's all there was to North, story after story after story.

George does a great job integrating his narrative into the recounting of each leader's story, but ultimately I felt that the book lacked the meat that was part of Authentic. Still, North provides a valuable insight into the business leadership community as well as the struggles, trials, and failures they have suffered on their way to success. We are also given a glimpse each leader's success from the human standpoint, rather than the hero standpoint, which is a very refreshing perspective.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
An instant classic, March 8, 2007

True North is an instant classic -- that rare kind of book that can change your life. I read an early copy of True North and it knocked my socks off. Bill George and Peter Sims chart a compelling new course for the way we think about leadership and what it means to be a leader in the 21st century. It couldn't come at a better time, when we are in desperate need of more enlightened leaders in our society.

True North re-centers the leadership journey on authenticity, not celebrity, and grounds it in our most personal values. True North empowers leaders to give themselves permission to be human, and to discover their greatest leadership potential in that humanity. The authentic leaders profiled here demonstrate this beautifully and show how authenticity leads to healthier, more innovative, and more successful organizations.

This book is destined to have a far-reaching impact on the business world. George and Sims have articulated what many leaders feel intuitively but struggle to express. In the coming months, True North will provoke powerful "ah-ha's!" around the world and with any luck will help create a new generation of True North leaders.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
The perfect mix of inspiration and pragmatism, March 5, 2007

True North is the rallying point that will carry us into the next generation of much needed, positive, worthwhile, change. The importance of this is more prevalent today than ever.

As a member of the Millennial generation, I am not alone in being disillusioned by institutionalism. I used to believe that either my passion must die in order to fit into workplace norms or that I must be completely on my own (which would not be sustainable, nor preferable).

After reading True North, I feel practically equipped to handle pressures in the workplace while nurturing my own passion, aligning my personal goals with those of my team's, and ultimately becoming value added to the institution as a whole. True North provides plenty of down-to-earth, raw, stories (and relevant exercises) to feed my growth and development for years to come. Take for example Novartis' Chairman Daniel Vasella; overcoming tuberculosis, meningitis, the deaths of close loved ones. All of these very human experiences helped shape him into a great leader who brought the values of compassion and love to the workplace. Stories like this have helped me make sense of my own struggles.

It's like having an inspirational and practical Harvard Business School course sitting on my bookshelf (for a fraction of the cost! :) - and yet this absolutely applies to more than just business... True North has been useful for the integration and encouragement of my personal, professional, social, philanthropic, and even spiritual outlook on life! I'm simply enthralled!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
An incredible book, March 2, 2007

This book is for people who care deeply about being leaders, true to themselves, and focused on creating a positive impact. By analyzing over a hundred of the world's most resourceful leaders in every field and of every age, the authors give the reader a sense of companionship on the journey of life. True North makes you comfortable in your own skin, while pushing you to be a better you, rather than to be things that you are not. We learn that leadership is sustainable when it is built on authentic values and passions, not just ambition and competence.

What I loved most about True North were the stories of all the leaders who have given us details of their struggles and triumphs. Those stories gave me great insights into these unique individuals, but more importantly, they helped me better understand myself, my purpose and my life. The book is an easy read, and ranks high on "number of cool insights per page."

28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
"To thine ownself be true....", February 26, 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 and foremost authentic human beings. For me, this is his key point and because it seems so obvious, it may also seem simplistic. On the contrary, he has cut through all the rhetoric and 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 and worst ring in hell for those who, in a moral crisis, preserve their neutrality. Throughout all manner of organizations, there are women and men who are authentic leaders and should be commended. The reality is, their respective organizations need more of them. Indeed, all of us in our global community need more of them. In Authentic Leadership, a truly unique and compelling book, George challenges 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, and rewarding analysis of what George and Sims learned during their interviews of more than 100 leaders. Most of their names were previously unfamiliar to me, although all 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 - usually "celebrity CEOs" -- when, in fact, authentic leadership is needed at all levels and in all areas of an organization, whatever its size and 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 and then, with his wife, started the Center for International Leadership and continues to conduct values and ethics seminars eighteen years later.

George and Sims discuss an unusually diverse group of men and women in terms of what is characterized as a three-phase "journey to authentic leadership" which begins with character formation and 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, and demonstrating self-discipline.

Hundreds (thousands?) of self-help books on leadership also invoke the "journey" metaphor while suggesting all manner of "phases," "stages," "dimensions," etc. What sets this book apart from them is the authenticity of what interviewees share so candidly and so generously. More specifically, as in Geeks and Geezers co-authored by Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas, those interviewed recall especially 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 and Thomas refer to as a "crucible" is all about the only personal experience shared in common by those whom George and 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 and 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 and 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 and then nourishing personal relationships. This is especially true of those who are entrusted with leadership responsibilities. More often than not, what George and 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 all kinds of problems for himself in his professional career and personal life until, finally and probably desperate, he assembled his colleagues and said "I am Dave Pottruck, and I have some broken leadership skills. I'm going to try to be a different person. I need your help, and ask you to be open to the possibility that I can change." Pottruck credits others and especially his third wife, Emily, for helping him to become - finally - an authentic person.

What about the title? According to George and 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 and 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 all 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 especially interested in what George and 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), and Marilyn Carlson Nelson (Carlson Companies) have much of value to say about how to empower people throughout any organization and precisely the same values should also guide and inform relations with those outside the given organization.

Although George and Sims eloquently advocate the importance of developing leadership at all levels and in all 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 and Geeks and Geezers as well as Success Built to Last co-authored by Jerry Porras, Stewart Emery, and Mark Thompson, Michael Ray's The Highest Goal, James O'Toole's The Executive's Compass and Creating the Good Life, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Andrew Ward's Firing Back, and David Whyte's The Heart Aroused.