The Language of Leadership

by Roger Soder

"When we all think we understand leadership, Soder, with quotations from the ages, shows us new, fascinating, and immensely important elements. A stimulating adventure."--Fisher Howe, author, The Board Member's Guide to Strategic Planning and Welcome to the Board

With The Language of Leadership you'll explore the powerful role that language plays in helping leaders, no matter what their field, support their position and create a climate of credibility and legitimacy.

Written for leaders in the education, business, and nonprofit sectors, The Language of Leadership offers you the information and practical guidance you need to understand the crucial impact of words on the ability to lead, heal, motivate, and chart a path to the future.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published August 9, 2001

Reviews

[Tayler Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good read for a more hypothetical book on leadership that contains many examples from antiquity and literally dozens of quotations in a chapter. The examples could have been more diverse and there could have been more commentary from the author, but it was purposefully set up in a fashion where the quotes do most of the explaining for Soder's concepts.

[S'hi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather than the “skills” of leadership as such, this book looks more into the attitudes of leadership. It is an interesting and subtle shift of focus when in many areas people are calling out about a crisis in leadership. As I begin reading this book I also think of the need for the consideration of the inner leadership of every individual which is required to participate effectively in a social democracy, which is the other focus of this book.
While the author considers education along with politics, my personal journey has been to step clear of formal education as much as possible through my own disappointment with the failure of teachers, lecturers and administrators to focus on the grand ideal of their own profession for the political reasons of being part of “a system”. I look forward to a challenge of my own stance as I read this volume, as I only believe such openness to alternatives is what will help all of us reach a new place where we can be more effective and efficient within the teams we join, or the causes we espouse.

Let the enlightenment begin…
The range of references is extensive and refreshing. For instance “The Sextants of Beijing” sets a half paragraph alive with an example of introducing new ideas into 17th Century China. The image has a remarkable resonance when China now seems to be emerging from a very long sleep into a world leader again.

[Erin McDonnell-Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not an original thought from Soder but lots of excessive quotations from ancient Greek philosophers and Shakespeare.