Leadership Is an Art
Max De Pree 1989
Random House
176 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780440503248
Summary
Leadership Is an Art has long been a must-read not only within the business community but also in professions ranging from academia to medical practices, to the political arena.
The book has sold more than 800,000 copies in hardcover and paperback. This revised edition brings Max De Pree’s timeless words and practical philosophy to a new generation of readers.
De Pree looks at leadership as a kind of stewardship, stressing the importance of building relationships, initiating ideas, and creating a lasting value system within an organization. Rather than focusing on the “hows” of corporate life, he explains the “whys.” He shows that the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality and the last is to say thank you. Along the way, the artful leader must:
• Stimulate effectiveness by enabling others to reach both their personal potential and their institutional potential
• Take a role in developing, expressing, and defending civility and values
• Nurture new leaders and ensure the continuation of the corporate culture
Leadership Is an Art offers a proven design for achieving success by developing the generous spirit within all of us. Now more than ever, it provides the insights and guidelines leaders in every field need. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Max De Pree is the retired chairman of Herman Miller, Inc., the primary innovator in the furniture industry for sixty years. Named one of the hundred best companies to work for in the United States, Herman Miller also ranked ninth in a Fortune survey of the most admired corporations and sixth in management excellence. (From the publisher.)
More
Max De Pree is an American writer. A son of D.J. De Pree, founder of Herman Miller office furniture company, he and his brother Hugh De Pree assumed leadership of the company the early 1960s. He succeeded his brother Hugh as CEO in the mid-1980s and served in that capacity to 1990. His book Leadership Is an Art has sold more than 800,000 copies. In 1992, DePree was inducted into Junior Achievement's U.S. Business Hall of Fame.
He studied at Wheaton College but was interrupted by World War II. He served on the European Theatre of Operations. Still in the Army, he studied at the University of Pittsburgh, Haverford College and the University of Paris. After his military service he attended Hope College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1948. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Review
[Leadership Is an Art] overflows with virtue. Mr. De Pree is the head of his family's furniture company, Herman Miller Inc. Herman Miller is a famously good company to work for and manufactures famously good things to sit in—the various Eames chairs, for example. Mr. De Pree devotes his slim text to the idea of applying decency, charity and common sense to business practice. We can't help but like the man. Therefore, let us say that his opus is as worthy as Scripture, and not say that it's as interesting as the Book of Nehemiah.
P.J. O'Rourke - New York Times
Like the elegant furniture his company makes, De Pree?s book provides a valuable lesson in grace, style, and the elements of success.
Time
Perhaps we should banish all of our management books except Max De Pree?s recent gem, Leadership Is an Art. The successful Herman Miller, Inc., chairman...writes only about trust, grace, spirit, and love...such concerns are the essence of organizations, small or large.
Inc. Magazine
This is a wonderful book. It captures Max's spirit.... He's a truly exceptional person. But it also says more about leadership in clearer, more elegant, and more convincing language than many of the much longer books that have been published on the subject.
Peter F. Drucker
Rather than offering a how-to manual on running a business, DePree, CEO of Herman Miller Inc., a manufacturer of office furniture, details, in deceptively simple but imaginative language, a humanitarian approach to leadership. The artful leader, he argues, should recognize human diversity and make full use of his or her employees' gifts. Further, he believes, a leader is responsible not just for the health of a company's financial assets, but for its ethics. Advocating management through persuasion, and the exercise of democratic participation rather than concentrated power, he favors covenantal relationships with employees that rest on shared purpose, dignity and choice. The author stresses the need for communication, but his only direct guidance concerns the need for job performance reviews and self-evaluation.
Publishers Weekly
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Leadership Is an Art:
1. Is De Pree's book different than other business manuels you have read on leadership? If so, how is it different? Overall, can you sum up, concisely, De Pree's approach to leadership? Hint: what does it mean, for instance, to liberate people?
2. What does De Pree mean by a "relational community"? On what is it based...and how does one establish such a culture in a business (or any) environment? Does your organization meet the description of a relational community?
3. De Pree talks about the importance of diversity. How does he define the word in the context of leadership?
4. Discuss the statement, "Trust enables the future." What does De Pree mean?
5. How does De Pree see the role of storytelling in an institution? Comment on the following passage from the book:
Every family, every college, every corporation, every institution needs tribal storytellers. The penalty for failing to listen is to lose' one's history, one's historical context, one's binding values.
6. What is the significance of the book's title? In what way is leadership an art? Are there instances when the analogy of an "art form" makes little sense? What is the difference between leadership and management? Do the two require different skill sets? Is one more critical to an organization than the other?
7. How does the work environment—physical surroundings— affect an organization's culture and productivity? De Pree owns a renowned furniture retail operation; ovbiously surroundings are uppermost in his mind. When he purports that a corporate (or any institutional) facility reflects the values and vision of its organization, is his observation applicable to other types of businesses than his own? In other words, is his observation legitmate?
8. What is your vision of an optimal work environment? How would you rate your own organization?
9. How does De Pree define entropy, and why is it important to an organization that desires growth?
10. Discuss De Pree's vision of the Scanlon Plan. Is it realistic or practical...under some, all or no situations? Would such a plan be effective in your organization? Are your employees sufficiently motivated to undertake a project of that nature? Is management sufficiently receptive? What benefits might accrue to your organization?
11. Have you gone through De Pree's extensive review process, list of workers' rights, and signs of disintegration? Talk about the list...or your own findings as they apply to your organization.
12. What does De Pree see as signs of an organization's impending failure?
13. One of De Pree's insights is that "much of a leader's performance cannot be reviewed until after the fact." How does that observation conflict with today's demand for short-term measurements of performance?
14. This book has sometimes been described as "fluff," "touchy-feely," "abstract," even "repetitive." Others describe it as a "classic," or "a must-read." Where do you stand? Is Leadership Is an Art helpful, or not? Does it offer concrete information on which to build a solid leadership style?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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