My Life in Leadership

March 1, 2011
In her third book (after Leader to Leader, 1999, and Hesselbein on Leadership, 2002), the former Girl Scouts of America CEO opines on the qualities of leadership as well as her life. Its all about character, she insists, and early events, such as her fathers death when she was 17, shaped the course of her life. So did gentle raising by Mama Wicks (Your place is with your husband) and generous Aunt Carrie. A housewife in her early adult years, Hesselbein was reluctant recruited to lead 30 Girl Scouts in Pennsylvania but in time became executive director of the regional council. Six years thereafter, the national office called, with the huge challenge of reversing eight years of declining membership. Five thousand days later, in 1990, she embarked on another journey, this time with management guru Peter Drucker, and eventually headed his foundation. Her lessons learned are simple yet effective, from Changing lives is the bottom line to Think first; speak last. A real-life look at the guts it takes to lead an organization to glory.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)