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True North Book Review

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True North Book Review
Destiny, with credit to Professor Nettifee brought the book True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership into my life and I want to bring it into the lives of others. More specifically those who may believe they weren’t born with the characteristics or traits to become a leader or those who have not found their passion or purpose in life; their “True North.” The book, written by Bill George and co-author Peter Sims, compiles a series of interviews with 125 managers from Howard Schultz of Starbuck’s to Dan Vasella of Novartis. The interviewees guide readers through their journey to become the leaders they are today; discussing their failures, successes, obstacles, personal tragedies and triumphs. The stories of each manager prove the True North’s thesis, which is no one person is born a leader and there isn’t one path to becoming a leader. The book is separated into three sections: 1) Leadership is a Journey 2) Discover Your Authentic Leadership 3) Empowering People to Lead. Before giving overviews of each section, it is important to define an authentic leader.
To become an authentic leader means to bring “people together around a shared purpose and empowers them to step up and lead authentically in order to create values for all stakeholders,” (xxxi). Bill George has identified the following five dimensions every authentic leader should encompass:
1. Pursuing purpose with passion
2. Practicing solid values
3. Leading with heart
4. Establishing enduring relationships
5. Demonstrating self-discipline.
Part I: Leadership is a Journey
The Journey to Authentic Leadership
After Bill George and Peter Sims interviewed all 125 managers, they found a common thread throughout each of their interviews: their life stories impacted their passion to lead. After experiencing “personal illness or the illness of a family member; death of a parent or sibling; or feelings of being excluded, discriminated against or rejected by peers,” they all were inspired and motivated
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