Environmental Leadership Equals Essential Leadership: Redefining Who Leads and How

by John C. Gordon

The important new approach to leadership that John Gordon and Joyce Berry explain in this book is built upon the experiences of environmental and natural resource organizations as they contend with complex, long-term problems. But the lessons learned apply beyond these groups--to all modern organizations, for-profit and non-profit, that are dealing with the complicated conditions of the twenty-first century.

Leadership is a learned skill and can be acquired by anyone willing to make the effort, say the authors. And, through case studies of a variety of organizations, they emphasize that all members of productive groups must be ready to take the lead when their specific skills are most relevant to the problem at hand. The authors analyze how organizations and individuals can adopt this new leadership mode, and they discuss the results of a recent survey of leadership ideas and attitudes among active environmental leaders. Shifting emphasis away from celebrated leaders on the world stage, Gordon and Berry focus on “essential” leadership—the kind that engages each member of an organization on an everyday basis.

160 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2006

Reviews

[Bob · Rating 1 out of 5]

A pretty shallow overview of leadership ideas taken from surveys answered by a panel of 40 corporate, governmental, and academic higher-ups. How about some indegenous voices? More minorities? Non-profit leaders? Also, I would have liked to see deeper exploration of how these leaders arrived at their conclusions and how these leadership ideas have been applied.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A breif book, probably should have been a journal article. The authors interveiwed a bunch muckety-muck policy wonks and professors about leadership and getting environmental legislation passed. Not as interesting as the preceeding work of nearly the same title. No representation from the like of the Seirra Club or Green Peace or the Green party.