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The Courage to Act
Book

The Courage to Act

5 Factors of Courage to Transform Business

Merom Klein and Rod Napier
Davies-Black Publishing, 2003
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Editorial Rating

7

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  • Applicable

Recommendation

Only a brave pair of authors would try to tackle a topic as all-encompassing as the need for courage in the modern business world, but that is exactly what Drs. Merom Klein and Rod Napier have set out to do. Do they succeed? Not entirely. While their diagnosis of the organizational ills plaguing today’s companies is spot-on, their prescriptions are generic, involving "creating a safe environment," "building pride" and "keeping it fun." Despite the obviousness of some of the sound advice in the later chapters, the book shines in its first 70 pages, in which the doctors present an original, enlightening analysis of how organizational changes have altered the roles and responsibilities of mid-level workers. Based on this fresh perspective, getAbstract.com thinks that all readers could use a little Courage.

Summary

Why Courage?

The Hebrew language has two words for courage. The first, chutzpah, is well known and carries negative connotations. People with chutzpah are pushy. They don’t hesitate to offend people to get what they want. For this reason, nobody entirely trusts them, and organizations that are run by people with chutzpah are typically edgy and fearful workplaces. The other Hebrew term for courage is ometz lev, which means strength of heart. This is a different type of courage. Ometz lev is a power of personality that draws people to you and makes them feel empowered and appreciated. People and groups are excited and challenged by the synergy ometz lev creates.

This type of courage is needed in today’s business world. In the modern corporate setting, courage - once the exclusive trait of adventurers, mavericks and heroes - has become a mainstream requirement. The contemporary workforce lives in a state of perpetual high alert. Employees all know that the rug can be pulled out from under them with the next merger, reorganization or quarterly announcement. As hierarchies are leveled and workers are empowered, the insulating borders and boundaries that once protected specific...

About the Authors

Merom Klein, Ph.D., is the founder of the Courage Institute and former CEO of Philadelphia-based Key Management Strategies. He divides his time between conducting research on organizational courage in Israel and consulting and lecturing in North America, Europe and Israel. Rod Napier, Ph.D., pioneered the concept of 360-degree feedback and has written 10 books. A former professor at Temple University and teaching fellow at The Wharton School, he now consults for such clients as CBS, Merck and the United Nations.

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