Crucibles of Leadership: How to Learn from Experience to Become a Great Leader

by Robert J. Thomas

Experience may be a leader's best teacher--but there's a hitch. Two people can have identical experiences, but one blossoms while the other is depleted. The same can be said for any pair of fired CEOs, unsuccessful political candidates, or rookie supervisors.

In Crucibles of Leadership, Robert J. Thomas concludes that what matters most is what one makes of experience, particularly the traumatic and often unplanned crucible events that challenge one's identity as a leader. What distinguishes leaders who grow through a crucible experience? Their approach to learning. Like accomplished athletes or artists, they practice as strenuously as they perform. And because the line between performance and practice is often hard to discern, they learn how to practice while they perform.

But theirs is no ordinary practice. It's a regimen tailored to individual aspirations, motivations, and learning styles--a Personal Learning Strategy. Building on insightful and moving stories told by accomplished leaders, Thomas offers probing self-assessments and innovative tools designed to help you develop your own Personal Learning Strategy.

Provocative and original, with examples drawn from business and politics as well as from the inner workings of the Mormon Church and the Hell's Angels, Thomas's book will revolutionize the way you think about leadership and learning.

Genres: Leadership, Business, Nonfiction

324 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 26, 2008

About the author

There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This entry is for Robert J. ^2 Thomas.

Thomas is a senior fellow with Accenture's Institute for Strategic Change.

Reviews

[Mark Roossinck · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read. Many new concepts to digest. The heart of the book is about learning from those difficult experiences that cause the leader to tap into the resource of life, namely values, etc. and therefore engage in the best responses. And through those experiences learn deeper abilities to further lead toward excellence.

[Gustavo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Raso. Cheio de lugar comum. A parte boa são as referências a Paulo Freire

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas is the co-author with Warren Bennis of Geeks & Geezers, later reissued as Leading for a Lifetime with a new introduction. In it, he and Bennis respond to this question: "Why are some people able to extract wisdom from experience, however harsh, and others are not?" What we have in this volume is Thomas' further development of many of the core concepts introduced in that earlier work as he shifts his focus to exploring "what life is like inside a crucible" to suggest various ways "to leverage the critical formative and transformative experiences that men and women have in their own lives that can reveal to them who they are and where they stand." Also, "to illuminate the process by which leaders learn and the skills and circumstances that accelerate their learning."

Thomas includes several dozen real-world examples of individuals who were able or unable to "extract wisdom from experience, however harsh." He also examines a number of exemplary companies that have designed and implemented an experience-based leadership development program. Although the details are best revealed within his narrative, in context, I will include one brief excerpt from the final chapter because they provide at least an indication of the thrust and flavor of Thomas' thinking.

"If deep learning of the sort we encounter in crucibles is an important part of a leader's journey, and if strong emotions commonly accompany deep learning, then we need to know that strong emotions are very likely to be a part of leader development. If learning from experience is not a desirable part of leader development, then we can ignore it and hope it goes away; if we elect to pursue an experience-based approach to leader development, our only alternative is to find ways to work with emotions."

Although I would never describe this volume as a "how to" book, Thomas does identify and then explore a number of key issues for his reader to consider when determining whether or not an experience-based leadership development program would be appropriate for her or his organization. Various exemplary leaders suggest how they responded to issues such as they. Some of most valuable advice in this book is provided by those men and women who took full advantage of a "crucible" as a learning opportunity. What they learned helped to take them to a higher level of performance. The lessons to be learned from their personal experiences can help others to do so, also.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

A guide on how you can leverage experience to learn about leadership

Most great leaders are great because they’ve been through the fire. That is, they’ve performed admirably, even gallantly, during a particularly difficult experience – a searing, unforgettable crucible or test – in their past. The experience molded them and taught them about life and leadership. These leaders continue to apply the tough lessons they learned to the current obstacles they face. Robert J. Thomas has studied leadership the way a particle physicist tracks photons and neutrinos. His research indicates that experience – and even more, learning from experience – separates those who lead from those who are led. Thomas explains how you can develop your own Personal Learning Strategy to develop and enhance your leadership skills. Bringing his own leadership and research credentials to bear, he explains how you can teach yourself to become a leader. getAbstract recommends his book to executive leaders and management leaders in training.

[Paul Bard · Rating 4 out of 5]

The co-author Thomas wrote a book with the same name in 2008; this report is from 2002.

Leadership comes from intense emotional experiences that are interpreted in empowering ways, according to this report.

There's a great story about how Sidney Harman stumbles upon participative management.

There's a brilliant poem:

Outwitted
by Edwin Markham (1852-1940)
He drew a circle that shut me out —
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in!

The ability grasp context, and the sensitivity to context, is critical to leadership, says the authors.

They conclude with a fascinating discussion of neoteny and the taming of foxes.

It reads like a preview for the book.

[Kunal sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book, describes how to use your experience in building your career.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, very inciteful.

[Vishal Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its really a good book which invigorate how to become a great leader.