Unveiling the Next Big Lead Change Project

There’s been an exciting project going on behind the scenes within Lead Change, and now it’s time to pull back the curtain to give our community a sneak peek.

We wrote a book!

A virtual community of 21 authors (all contributing authors to the Lead Change Group) came together to share their wisdom and perspectives regarding character-based leadership.

It’s like a leadership conference in book form! Come and “hear” what Mike Henry, S. Max Brown, Dan Rockwell, and many others have to say that will encourage you along your journey to becoming the character-based leader you want to be, no matter what your role in life.

This book is all about the Character-Based Leader, and explores why character-based leadership is important, how you can lead from who you are (regardless of organizational position), and what character traits are crucial for a character-based leader to develop. It also looks at how communities can be built and what the future of character-based leadership looks like. The book recently went to press...we couldn’t wait to tell you — we are so eager to share this news!  The title is The Character-Based Leader: Instigating a Leadership Revolution... One Person at a Time.

Why a book?

Ever since the Lead Change Group formed, we’ve had a passion for spreading the message of character-based leadership. Those in our community who had already published books encouraged the Lead Change community to put into print ideas that will help move this leadership revolution forward. So, starting in the summer of 2011, a book project (and, along with it, a project team) began to take shape, albeit in a non-traditional way.
We wrote this book to help further the discussion on how to become a character-based leader.

Here’s the cool thing about this project: we did it 100% on a volunteer basis and completely virtually. It’s been a testament to the ability to get things done, even if there isn’t a formal titled “leader” in charge. To date, nearly three dozen people have contributed in some way — as authors of a book chapter, project managers, editors and researchers. It’s been fascinating to see a tangible product come to fruition, with people we haven’t met face-to-face, and with whom we have only the thread of character-based leadership binding us together.

As we await the finished product, we would love to know:

• What would inspire you to read (yet another!) book on leadership?

• What is it about the Lead Change Group that draws you to this community?”

• How can we strengthen this community so that all benefit — not only the group’s membership, but with those we serve each day?

If you’re on Twitter, watch for the #leadrev hashtag for more news and information. As we get closer to a publication date, we’ll have lots of opportunities for you to engage with the Lead Change authors to learn more about the book.

For now, click this link to receive a sample chapter. If you would like to review the advanced .pdf version of the book on your blog or website, please visit this link.

And when you’re done sharing your thoughts and ideas, take a few minutes to congratulate the authors on a job well done! Listed in alphabetical order, they are Tara Alemany, Chad Balthrop, Meghan Biro, S. Max Brown, Page Cole, Heather Coleman-Voss, Deb Costello, Mónica Diaz, Sonia DiMaulo, Georgia Feiste, Chery Gegelman, Christina Haxton, Mike Henry Sr., Will Lukang, Susan Mazza, Jennifer Miller, Jane Perdue, Lisa Petrilli, Dan Rockwell, Mary Schaefer, and Don Shapiro.

Acknowledgement: I would like to personally thank Tara Alemany for her assistance in the editing of this post. If there was a way we could have published citing two authors, I would have done so!