Gurus on Leadership: A Guide to the World's Thought‐Leaders in Leadership

Citation

Walz, J.T. (2007), "Gurus on Leadership: A Guide to the World's Thought‐Leaders in Leadership", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 186-187. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730710726868

Mark Thomas begins Gurus on Leadership: A Guide to the World's Thought‐Leaders in Leadership, by so painfully reminding us about the leadership dearth that is apparent after the fall of so many business icons such as Enron, WorldCom, Vivendi, and Skandia. Led by executive superstars, each one of these organizations has been plagued by a propensity for greed, malice, and downright deceptive practices. Do we really need to hear this again? Absolutely! Unless we remain aware of the ways in which leaders have taken incredibly successful organizations into valleys of ruin, we may find ourselves making the same mistakes and dealing with the same lack of integrity over and over again. They say that history repeats itself. Let's not let this maxim play out, at least not in the arena of business and commerce. There are simply too many people, families, towns, cities, and nations relying on good, honest, leadership to take us safely, and prosperously into the future. This is the legacy leaders should leave, and this is the point that Thomas successfully makes in this book. He does this by helping us understand who the “gurus” in leadership are; what are their backgrounds, and what theory or theories of leadership have they espoused, and why.

Thomas's choices include Adair, Bennis, Blanchard, Drucker, and most of the all‐star leadership writers. Interestingly, he has left out Bass and Greenleaf, two of the most prolific writers and researchers on leadership in this generation. I guess this would have increased the length of this book by 50 to 100 pages, had he included them. But, this is precisely part of Thomas's strategy. He has given us an easy read that provides a fairly comprehensive understanding of almost everything you wanted to know about leadership theories. Make no mistake; this is not a compendium of strung‐together articles or previously published book chapters by the leadership authors. This is an analysis of each of their theories and practical applications from Thomas's perspective. For the most part he hits the nail on the head, as some would say.

In many ways, this book can be categorized as a handbook on leadership. Mark Thomas treats each author, their theories, and their celebrity with a careful editor's eye. He includes only that information which seems relevant to an understanding of who they are and what they stand for. For the mentally organized and efficient reader, this is refreshing. However, for the technical reader, this may seem light and lacking depth of discussion.

I believe the greatest benefit that this book provides is a quick reference to basic leadership theories and their origins. In preparation for a university lecture, boardroom presentation, or executive training session, this book is a must. I would not recommend that the reader rely solely on this text however, because there is simply too much research and findings regarding leadership in the literature in order to fully understand organizational phenomena and leadership malfunction.

In the final analysis, Gurus on Leadership: A Guide to the World's Thought‐Leaders in Leadership, by Mark Thomas, is an easy read with a wealth of basic knowledge on leadership and the various perspectives in the marketplace. It is not comprehensive, by any means, but it is certainly worth the £14.99 or US$23.95 that Thorogood Publishers is charging for this book. I commend Thomas on a well thought‐out, practical, and interesting overview of basic leadership theories.