On Effective Leadership

Using more than a dozen case studies from a wide range of fields and historical settings, On Effective Leadership seeks to explain why some leaders are effective, many are not, and only a very few are exceptional. Though leaders exhibit myriad combinations of traits and behaviors, the authors argue that four common elements drive leadership effectiveness across all domains, cultures, and eras. Three of them are skills, and the fourth is the degree of a leader's selflessness. Including implications for followers, leaders, and leadership development, this timely work promises to attract readers with an interest in history and biography, as well as in leadership.

'As a student of leadership for many years, I have tried to keep up with the extensive scholarship on this subject. On Effective Leadership is the most substantive and sophisticated work that has come to my attention for years. Chandler and Chandler lay out their research systematically, define and confront problems carefully, and present their own brilliant concepts on leadership as vision, persuasion, organization and - remarkably - selflessness. They then apply these phenomena to a variety of real-life leaders and situations. They make good use of existing literature on leadership and make useful judgments on recent and current studies. On Effective Leadership will serve at the cutting edge of leadership research and analysis for years to come.' - James MacGregor Burns Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Roosevelt: Soldier of Freedom