GRACE: A Leader's Guide To A Better Us

Leadership guru and executive coach, John Baldoni, challenges conventional assumptions about leadership in his new book, "GRACE: A Leader’s Guide To A Better Us". The basic premise is exceptional leaders set exceptional examples by putting others first, treating them with dignity, showing compassion, being humble, and challenging themselves and others to work for the greater good. Indeed, that behavior is the formula for “leading with grace.”

GRACE is a real-world guide for implementing grace. Baldoni tells the stories of men and women who are making a positive difference by serving as agents for positive change, from business leaders such as Stephen M.R. Covey, Alan Mulally, Skip Prichard, and Sally Helgesen, to celebrities like Aretha Franklin and Fred Rogers, as well as historical figures such as Lou Gehrig and Franklin Roosevelt. The book is a call for goodness in the world that needs it more than ever.

“Purpose emerges from the why of what we do,” says Baldoni. He describes grace in the form of an acronym:

  • G generosity, the will to do something for others
  • R respect, the dignity of life and work
  • A action, the mechanism for change
  • C compassion, the concern for others
  • E energy, the spirit that catalyzes people

His intention is to remind us to be less self-centered and more people-centered.

The coach in Baldoni comes out on every page. He emphasizes that leaders should invest themselves in the development of others through mentoring. The mentor serves as a kind of wise, old sage whose only motive is to help a younger person succeed. Mentorship, like grace, is given freely and without strings attached.

It is messages like this that make GRACE worth the price of admission. There are nuggets for both the C-suite executive leading the large enterprise to the young professional just starting out on a life-long career of leading and inspiring others.

GRACE is a gift for those open to its message. Be sure to check it out!

James M. Kerr: Jim is a leadership consultant, executive coach, the author of five leadership books and a regular columnist for Management-Issues.