Summoned to Lead

THE MOST REFRESHING "SOUNDINGS" on leadership I have ever heard while reading off the printed page. I can hear the crunch of Shackleton's footsteps in the snow. I leaped across the ice flow. I sang songs to make the dark night of my own leadership soul echo from Shackleton's trapped in the dark ice of an Antarctic winter. In a world laced with many great hot leadership books on vision, this was a cool blast like a mocha frappe on a hot day. It's refreshing notes resonated and struck a chord deep within. Sweet writes like no one else. You can truly hear him echo through the Antarctic wind into the real life leadership dramas that we face everyday.

I underestimated this book. Bought it just to read "another" book on leadership, bought it because Sweet is one of my favorite professors and authors, bought it just to see what Sweet has to say about leadership without expecting to learn something new but to review the same old leadership wisdoms that I have learned from other gurus over the years articulated by Sweet in different words. What a surprise! Almost every part of this book is nothing but fresh air. It is not another leadership book. It is a leadership orchestra! It is even not for reading at all. It is for listening and enjoying the sound of leadership. It is beautiful, poetic, and musical. It does need a readied heart to experience this book, so I am not so surprised that it is not so well received, but I will not be surprised that this book becomes a classic in the future on the subject of leadership vision architecture.

I have read many leadership books and consulted with leaders for years. This fresh approach to leadership as sound, music, and relationships of vibration is startling and unique. I have sent the book to all of my clients and will continue to take notes from this book to apply to my life and work. A must read.

Dr. Leonard Sweet encourages leaders to listen to the signs and sounds around them to determine the directions they should go. Using the voyage of Shackleton as a backdrop, he points out the importance of bringing everyone through these difficult times: that accomplishment of the mission may end up different than we expect. The eyes deceive us more than our ears. Lucid, clear writing.

Sweet gets it! This read is worthwhile and valuable. It is for right now. Don't wait.