RIDING THE LEADERSHIP ROLLERCOASTER

Leadership often means living on the edge, living a life less ordinary, leaving the straight and narrow to take a more exciting path. Like riding a collercoaster, there will be moments that take our breath aways but it is in those moments that we feel truly alive. Although we may not know what is coming round the next bend or after the next rise, we have a great time on the ride. The author's examination of people's "inner theater" pushes leaders and their coaches to become personal and organizational detectives, to look beyond the obvious and discover the deeper meaning of their own and others' actions. Doing so can prevent leaders failing to recognize the repetitive patterns in their behavior and becoming self-destructive prisoners of their own past. Leaders are more likely than followers to experience ups and downs, successes and failures, happy days and sad. The intensity of the experience depends on the "rider". They can scream or enjoy the ride-or, indeed, do both. They can make the best out of the beginnings and endings, the good times and bad, or they can sink beneath them. In this book, the author provides leaders and their coaches with the insights that can help them take some control of the ride and create better places to work.