University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
The Leadership Pill
Book

The Leadership Pill

The Missing Ingredient in Motivating People Today

Ken Blanchard and Marc Muchnick
Free Press, 2003
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Editorial Rating

6

Recommendation

Author Ken Blanchard’s literary franchise began with the stunningly successful The One Minute Manager. He has mastered the art of a certain type of book for supervisors and higher executives who need to learn more about management, values and leadership. These readers probably don’t have a lot of time and they like to get right to the bottom line - Blanchard obliges. His book enjoys the blessing of brevity, and he takes an accessible, creative approach to demonstrating that effective management really matters, that it takes time to develop and that it is not the result of trendy theories or relentless bossy practices. Blanchard encapsulates his lessons in an bouncy parable about a contest between a company that uses a manufactured leadership pill to instill a pumped up results-only approach and a company that uses value-driven leadership based on integrity, partnership and affirmation. Although the medicine may be a bit basic, getAbstract.com recommends this dosage for students of the art of effective leadership. It’s a spoonful of sugar.

Summary

The Motivation Challenge

If a tree fell in the middle of a forest, and no one was very motivated about hearing it one way or the other, who would really care? Lack of motivation can be a serious problem in today’s business world, where your company either possesses an aggressive nature and a competitive edge, or its very likely to become fodder for some hungry corporate carnivore. If you need to maintain or bolster your company’s relative position on the corporate food chain, motivation means a lot.

Motivating your workforce is more challenging than ever. After all, your employees are more intelligent, diverse and informed than most workers in the past. With this savvy workforce, managers who insist on "my way or the highway" may fail to get results or lead people forward... and, thus, end up taking a hike themselves. The bottom line is important, but today’s workers expect leaders to win their trust and gain their respect on the way to making a profit. After all, working for someone you have trouble respecting is extremely de-motivating, and that’s no good for profits.

As this parable demonstrates, effective leaders encourage others to become their partners. ...

About the Authors

Ken Blanchard describes himself as chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies. He became famous with the publication of his book, The One Minute Manager. His books have sold more than 13 million copies and have been published in 25 languages. Marc Muchnick is founder and president of the People First Group. He is the author of Naked Management: Bare Essentials for Motivating the X-Generation at Work. A motivational speaker and leadership expert, he attributes his career to his work with Blanchard while completing his Ph.D. in industrial-organizational psychology.

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