John Adair has transformed the understanding of how leadership works with his pioneering book Not Bosses But Leaders. Now he returns with a new title that explores in an authoritative way exactly what we know about leadership and leadership development. There is a revolution underway. We are moving - rapidly in some areas, slower in others - from management to business leadership. As the market for good leaders who can achieve results increases so-called leadership development programmes have proliferated. Many of these are old management development programmes renamed, and others are full of confusing theories and unproductive approaches. This ground-breaking new book aims to set the record straight. It looks at the body of knowledge on leadership, identifies the seven key principles of leadership development, and answers key questions on how to select, train and educate leaders at the level of team, operational and strategic leadership. A vital addition to the debate on leadership from a true expert, this book also considers the global challenge and long term issues involved.

Paperback – 250 Pages (8 March, 2006)
ISBN: 0330344757

Review
Harvard Business School

How to Grow Leaders stresses that developing leaders is a bit more difficult than merely training them in short courses-so-called sheep dips. In a nutshell, the key to nurturing leaders is to make sure your company recognizes excellence at three levels: strategic, operational, and team. "It is a common fallacy that all an organization needs is a good strategic leader at the helm," writes the author.

There is practical instruction here in various methods of leadership development, from the Three Circles Model, which links a task to a team and an individual, to the War Officer Selection Board, a method for identifying leadership potential in the British Armed Services that has been used successfully for the past sixty-four years.

The seven key principles referred to in the subtitle are training, selection, mentoring, gaining the chance to lead, education, strategy for development, and the chief executive. What makes this book unique among leadership manuals, however, is that it ventures into relevant discussions of Alexander the Great, Chinese proverbs (such as "It does not matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice"), Albert Einstein, the Greek concept of leadership, humility, military battles through the ages, and William Shakespeare. Throwing such a wide net to gather lessons is rarely done and then rarely done well. In this case, the result is a book that's instructive yet full of extra food for thought.

John Adair is a British veteran of the leadership field, and some of the anecdotes he shares here date back to his days teaching leadership at Sandhurst, the Royal Military Academy. These ready references to "back in the day" may annoy some, but we like the long view and find it valuable to learn from someone who has been probing the potential of leadership for at least forty years. A writer, teacher, and consultant, Adair was also the first person to assume an academic post (at the University of Surrey in 1979) dedicated to leadership studies. He's authored close to fifty books, and How to Grow Leaders serves as a fine entry point because it encapsulates his many observations.

To be published in November 2005

John Adair is the UK 's leading leadership guru and is regularly listed as one of the most influential management thinkers of all time. His work on Action Centred Leadership, with its simple but powerful three circles model of task, team and individual, has shaped leadership training for more than a generation. In this book he has distilled a lifetime's work to help you develop leadership within your organisation from board level right through to team leaders.
 
For the first time he tackles the issue of whether his ideas, which began life in a military environment in the 1960s, can be transferred to the modern workplace. With case studies from Mitsubishi, The University of Surrey Engineering Department and a not-for-profit foreign development programme operating in Armenia, Adair comprehensively shows that his methods are being applied successfully in all types of organisations, in all types of cultures and at all levels of leadership.
 
If you want to improve the quality of leadership in your organisation, read this book and put its advice into action.

Review
Dr Peter Honey -
Occupational psychologist and business author

How delightful it is to find a book that unashamedly revels in not being about something new! Without ever exactly saying “I told you so”, John Adair makes a strong case for persisting with his action-centred leadership message. He writes: “When Socrates was asked why he repeated his core teaching so much instead of moving on to new things, he replied: “If I am asked what two plus two makes, shall I not reply four?”.

In this book, Adair is at his persuasive best, without ever appearing defensive or abrasively evangelical. On the contrary, he remains calmly resolute, even scholarly, as he claims that the leadership revolution that gets so much hype today had its origins in the 1960s “and yet its significance has remained hidden to all but a few – until this book”. He is referring, of course, to his concept of functional leadership, symbolised by his famous three-circles model.

This short, beautifully written book leaves you in no doubt that action-centred leadership has stood the test of 40 years, and is, for the time being, the best way to select and train the leaders we so desperately need – in politics, business, the armed forces, education, the NHS – everywhere.

As is well known, Adair first tested his ideas at Sandhurst where, in 1964, after three years of trials, his approach was formally adopted by the British Army. The RAF and the Royal Navy soon followed – and the rest is history.

The book takes you gently by the hand and recaps the nature of leadership, sets out seven sound principles for leadership development, shows how these principles apply to the selection and, particularly, the development of leaders, and finishes with seven case studies showing how action-centred leadership has worked in organisations and sectors as diverse as the Scottish Police, higher education and ICI.

Adair is adamant that no one should ever be given a leadership role without being trained for it. “For me, this axiom has an almost moral force,” he writes. He claims that 80 per cent of leaders are poor simply because no one bothered to explain leadership or offer them encouragement. “That was my position in the 1960’s and it is still my position today some 40 years later,” he says. Adair concedes that, while this might have been excusable before his three-circles breakthrough, there have been no plausible excuses for the past 40 years.

The book offers a programme for a two-day action-centred leadership course that meets some admiral hallmarks (simple, practical, participative, relevant, short and so on), with an invitation to tailor it to your context and situation. “Unless you have unlimited time and money to waste – don’t try to reinvent the wheel”, Adair says. “We know what leadership is and how to train for it”. I believe his confidence is not misplaced.

• Develop leadership abilities - defining the task, planning, briefing, controlling and setting an example
• Grow as a leader - making certain your organisation encourages leaders to emerge
A self-help title which offers advice on developing leadership skills. Draws upon examples of leadership in action - commercial, historical and military - to identify the essential requirements of good leadership. First published by Gower Press in 1983.

Paperback- 240 pages Reissued New and Rev. Ed.
(12 April, 1996) Pan; ISBN: 0330302302

• Eliminate time-wasting activities
• Identify long-term goals and middle-term plans
• Plan the day and make the best use of your time
• Learn to delegate

A handbook on effective time management, which offers advice on making the most of time by planning the day fully, identifying long-term and middle-term goals, and learning to delegate and acquire time effectiveness in the office.

Paperback - 176 pages Reissue (12 April, 1996)
ISBN: 0330302299

• Taking new ideas through to satisfied customers
• Seven habits of successful creative thinkers
• Leadership of creative teams

Innovation is the power of taking new ideas through to satisfied customers. Creativity and innovation are vital ingredients to the success of any organization today. In Effective Innovation John Adair looks at both aspects: generating new ideas and bringing them to the market. His 'seven habits of successful creative thinkers' provides a compelling framework for developing productive skills. Later parts of this book cover leadership of creative teams and building an innovative climate in organizations. A complete guide to a core management competence.

Paperback – 250 Pages (8 March, 1996)
ISBN: 0330344757

Communication skills are arguably becoming the most important management tools. This text ventures beyond the basic skills by looking at such derivations as:
• presentations
• the use of visual aids
• interviews
• appraisals
• giving and receiving criticism
• communication between departments

Paperback- 224 pages (6 June, 1997) Pan;
ISBN: 0330347861

• Strategies for motivating high-performance teams and individuals
• Putting the principles behind motivation to productive use
• Case studies, checklists and exercises

This text presents a set of strategies for motivating high-performance teams and individuals.

Paperback (12 April, 1996) Pan;
ISBN: 0330344765

• Selecting the right people
• Working together
• Sustaining group morale
• Raising the standards of performance

Paperback- 212 pages Reissue (12 April, 1996) Pan;
ISBN: 0330298097

• How to approach problems
• How to argue your case
• How to sharpen your analytical skills

Paperback – 192 pages Reissue (7 June, 1985) Pan;
ISBN: 0330287486

This clear and authoritative guide answers the questions, "what is strategic leadership?", "what makes a person effective as a strategic leader?" and "how can I develop my abilities as a leader?" The concept of leadership is relevant not only to organizational life but to all of us; everyone has to 'lead' their own life. To be a strategic life-leader means developing a vision and direction for one's life, identifying personal core values and fostering an informal team among colleagues and associates. 'Effective Strategic Leadership' is as useful for unstructured careers as it is in large companies or organizations.

Paperback- 345 pages (24 May, 2002) Macmillan;
ISBN: 0333906446