The Heart and Soul of Leadership

The increasingly complex environment and the changing nature of work are forcing Australian leaders to reconsider the way they lead and manage.

They must now move beyond the productivity agenda and command and control models of the past and find new ways of achieving and leading.

In The Heart and Soul of Leadership, the Australian Institute of Management has drawn together a selection of today’s most accomplished academics and professional managers to explore current and evolving concepts of leadership in Australia.

This collection of articles examines leadership from different and at times contradictory perspectives. The underlying premise of each chapter, however, is that leadership (whether good or bad, successful or ineffective) is a reflection of the values and beliefs of the leader. It is an intensely personal process, involving the heart and soul of both the leader and those who are led.

Like it or not, the leadership journey has deep personal internal and emotional dimensions. Exploring and developing these personal dimensions, and learning to align them with organisational imperatives, is the challenge for leaders in the twenty-first century.