"Current management philosophy advocates an outmoded Machiavellian approach to running organizations: Leaders are told in countless books that they can only accomplish their goals by being tough, manipulative, dictatorial, or paternalistic as the situation requires. In Leading Change, noted management theorist James O'Toole proposes a provocative new vision of leadership in the business world--a vision of leadership rooted in moral values and a consistent display of respect for all followers. As O'Toole brilliantly demonstrates, values-based leadership is not only fair and just, it is also highly effective in today's complex organizations. When leaders truly believe that their prime goal is the welfare of their followers, they get results. The finest leaders--from political giants like Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln to contemporary CEOs like Max De Pree and James Houghton--have always shared leadership with their followers. They create organizations that encourage change and self-reevaluation; they foster an atmosphere of open-mindedness and fresh thinking, in which assumptions can be challenged and goals reassessed. Grounded in the ideas of moral philosophy, Leading Change powerfully transcends the standard how-to management primer to define a challenging new approach to leadership. As O'Toole so persuasively argues, growth and change are possible, indeed necessary, and they will be effected by individuals who have the stature and the courage to lead morally. This important book, at once thought-provoking and totally practical, is bound to take its place as one of the landmark business volumes of our times."--Publishers description.

"Christ comes to Brussels" : an introduction to values-based leadership -- The Rushmoreans : an indelible lesson in values-based leadership -- The corporate Rushmorean : how to lead change effectively and morally -- The realists and the fallacy of tough leadership -- Why amoral leadership doesn't work -- Leaders of leaders : why values-based leadership is an unnatural act -- Why democratic leadership is not an oxymoron -- Change resisted : thirty-three hypotheses why -- Drucker unheeded : two potent sources of resistance to change -- Deming ignored : premature articulation or flawed leadership? -- Owen unrecognized : the early promise of the new management -- Owen rejected : valid reasons or rationalizations? -- Mill interpreted : the despotism of custom -- The ideology of comfort : a "good enough" explanation of resistance to change -- Georges comes to the park : creating order through design, composition, tension, balance, and harmony.