Leading minds cover

Leading minds

by Howard Gardner

"While much has been written on the subject, a crucial component of leadership has been largely ignored: the mind of the leader and the minds of his or her followers. Linking the study of creativity and leadership, Gardner demonstrates the strong tie between traditional creators (artists and scientists) and leaders in the realms of business, politics, and the military.". "Gardner claims that the key to leadership is the creation and embodiment of an effective story. He argues that unless they're working with specialists, leaders must deal with the "unschooled mind." They must take into account the fundamental theories about the world that all of us acquire as children and that persist through life - even when those theories are later undermined by what we learn in school. In striking portraits of a wide range of leaders - from J. Robert Oppenheimer to Alfred P. Sloan, from Margaret Mead to Pope John XXIII to Mahatma GandhiGardner recreates the leaders' stories and depicts the struggles among rival stories that occur in the minds of an audience. He explains the overwhelming appeal of simplistic stories and enumerates the key moves needed to counter that appeal. He also describes the ways in which all leaders ultimately confront failure.". "In a powerful conclusion, Gardner identifies the six constant features of leadership, six trends that complexify leadership in our time, and the paradoxes that must be resolved for leadership to be effective."--BOOK JACKET.

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Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?