Andy Hargreaves

Uplifting leadership, as described by the authors, is about achieving beyond expectations. Uplifting leaders ignite the emotional, spiritual, and social powers of teams, organizations, and communities to improve performance and results. Based on their research of organizations in business, education, and sports, the authors identify six factors that comprise the uplifting leadership process. A key emphasis of the model is harnessing the energy generated by the tension between “hard” and show more “soft” skills. According to this model, leadership is about managing paradoxes. To create lift leaders must balance dreaming with action, creativity with discipline, collaboration with competition, pushing with pulling, measurement with meaningfulness, and quick wins with sustainable success. The writing is clear and the authors provide many examples of their principles applied in a variety of settings. Yet there is little that is new for those familiar with leadership literature. The authors reinforce what many other researchers have already explained. A good book that provides additional research and another model to support a holistic approach to leadership. show less

Nearing, but not dipping over into, polemic. If you care about education, this book is worth reading. Given an adequate supply of tea, you can read it in an evening or two, and be glad you did.

Hargreaves and Fink, two masterminds in the educational leadership movement present a well packaged, concise book on the seven pillars of sustainable leadership. Each chapter is devoted to a pillar with concrete examples of what practices successful sustainable companies have done. What's provided for is a solid manual on the morality behind systematic leadership- and seeing, preserving and planting the big picture.

Not reviewed