Our Leaders Our Choices Our Destiny

America is hurting, and so is the rest of the world. The agonizing financial events of the last decadeeconomic meltdown, rising unemployment rates, homes lost to foreclosurehave resulted in broken social systems, exhausted workers, and disconnected families. Environmental calamities, both natural and humancaused, are becoming more frequent and more devastating. Meanwhile, opposing political camps are mired in bickering and finger-pointing. No wonder the ominous predictions about a 2012 doomsday are a marketable notion in our society! But what is the real source of our economic, environmental, and social agony? Is it fate? Our leaders? Our political system? Or something else? In Our Leaders, Our Choices, Our Destiny, author Farid Arjan examines the root causes behind the traumatic events of the last decade. He shows that these crises, from economic to environmental, are not separate, but interrelated. They are not random accidents or ordained by fate, but spring from seeds that we have sown and nurtured for decades. And they are within our power to change. Our Leaders, Our Choices, Our Destiny offers a viable path to solving our societys serious challenges and achieving what we all want and deservethe pursuit of happiness as individuals and as a society.

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Each and every day of our lives, we are faced with decisions. Some are not as big as others. Some are not as important as others. But it is very important that we all improve our decision-making skills. I was so impacted by the statement, "You are what you are based on the decisions you make," that I decided to write this book. I hope to give you some insights on how important the decisions that we make are. The decisions we make in life determine our destiny. I also hope to illustrate to you how to make good quality and godly decisions. May this book be a blessing to you because your decisions will determine your destiny!

When Rick Pitino became the coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, he took them from NCAA probation to four spectacular final Four appearances, including the championship in 1996 and an incredible return to the NCAA Finals in 1997. Under Pitino's leadership, the Wildcats garnered a 70 percent winning record. Now the head coach of the Boston Celtics, Pitino has clearly become a master at molding great players and great teams. What's his secret to success?Pitino's method -- and the reason he's both a peerless basketball coach and one of the most sought-after motivational speakers in the country -- is built on a strategy of over-achievement. He simply doesn't believe in shortcuts.Success Is a Choice draws on Pitino's 17 years as a college and professional coach. In a friendly, one-on-one style, using anecdotes from his superstar career to drive home his message, Pitino presents a concrete, 10-point program for achieving success in every aspect of life, including: - How to make winning seem inevitable- How to achieve things that even you don't think are possible- How to subordinate your own ego and individual agenda for the common good- How to get people to work as a team- How to thrive on pressure- How to feel better yourself -- and improve the way you relate to othersPitino's winning techniques appeal to everyone from corporate managers to educators to parents. Based on the same proven methods that have earned him and his teams legendary stat

In An Existential Approach to Leadership Challenges, Monica Hanaway progresses us forward from a brief, introductory understanding of existential thought to considering how this approach can positively address the practical leadership challenges our twenty-first century leaders face today. Hanaway presents a practical framework to tackle the greatest challenges in leadership, such as creating an inspiring and authentic vision, recruiting, retaining and developing staff and dealing with conflict. In Part I, she presents an overview of existential thought and what existentialism can bring to leadership, helping resolve issues of uncertainty, authenticity, relatedness, freedom and meaning making. In Part II, she explores how to work practically with an existential leadership approach, showing how existentialism can help communicate a vision, examining the vision statements of existing businesses as case studies and explaining the importance of this in recruiting, developing and retaining staff. Finally, she explores how the existential approach is beneficial in preventing, managing and dealing with conflict, defining what conflict is and introducing existentially informed conflict coaching and psychologically informed mediation practice. Combining philosophical and practical thinking, Hanaway has made existentialism an accessible resource for all leaders. This book will appeal to future leaders in practice and in training, and anyone in a leadership role. It will also be of interest to academics and students of coaching and coaching psychology, as well as to those interested in applied philosophy and psychology.

The recent proliferation of populist movements worldwide — along with the often dangerous, demagogic leaders that accompany them — have prompted questions about the underlying conditions that give rise to such troubling developments. Leadership Unhinged: Essays on the Ugly, the Bad and the Weird examines what is going on at a deeper level, both collectively and individually, between leaders and followers. Employing theories derived from psychoanalytic psychology, developmental psychology, neuroscience and evolutionary psychology, these essays help to unravel and expose the pathological leader-follower dynamics that generate such movements. The book is infused with Kets de Vries’s now famous and inimitable style of analysis, which draws from myths, creates fairy tales, and uses irony and metaphor to bring his conclusions into greater relief and trigger new insights. As Kets de Vries explains, effective leaders have the capacity to bring people together and even make them better, stronger. Doing so suggests that those leaders are value driven, able to set a moral tone. Yet, when such a tone is absent or, at worst, twisted toward the destructive, leadership quickly becomes dangerous. History has shown the devastation left in the wake of unhinged leaders who have gone unchecked. To become fully conscious of the conditions that allow for the emergence of such leaders has become a moral requirement of our time. In ways both moving and entertaining, Kets de Vries’s new contribution puts us in a better position to fulfil that requirement.

This book, and course, is designed to enable Christians to lead confidently based on their identity in Christ. Leadership is tough. Many leaders come to leadership from competence in a different field, without training, and fear that they cannot really lead and will be 'found out' one day. Many leaders are insecure, constantly assessing how they are coming across, and where challenges may arise. Being grounded in Christ is the foundation for all true Christian leadership. This identity-based leadership makes us less driven, reduces the risk of burnout, and enables us to survive personal attacks, use conflict positively and overcome other barriers to effective leadership. Once we operate from this secure base, centred and grounded in Christ, we become less vulnerable to threats to our status, we cease to have anything to hide (because we can afford to be vulnerable) and we are less likely to be blown off course by strong-willed people wanting to push their own agenda.

Are you who you want to be? Tom Smith has a vision and a mission to encourage people of all ages, genders, environments, social backgrounds, and education, to look to themselves for the desired results in their lives. In today's political and business environment, character and leadership are under fire and need to be addressed and brought to the public as never before. Character and Leadership could be the two most important facets of having success in life and career. Character and Leadership: Pillars of Success is a hands-on book that will teach everyday people the importance of a positive attitude: the difference between reaching your dreams and falling down. Tom relates experiences in his life that will help you see the importance of and how to develop character, leadership, and values that will lead you to reach your goals and dreams. Making positive character and leadership decisions can be easy as one-two-three, and Tom shows this with real-life examples. Make a life-changing choice by picking up Character and Leadership: Pillars of Success and take charge of your destiny with this thought-provoking book.

In today’s economy everyone seems to be focused on survival and talking about scarcity when the reality is the answer to our problems and predicaments never exist in the world around us. The solutions reside within ourselves and in the case of our individual economic futures, it depends upon self-honesty and the ability to cultivate our own unique abilities. Demonstrating a clear correlation between the style of the entrepreneur and whether or not prosperity can be realistically achieved, "The Prosperous Leader" gives you the tools you need to examine your own unique individual strengths and weaknesses so that you can maximize the former while mitigating the latter. Then you can begin to chart your own path to success as you learn the skills you need to improve your own leadership and management capabilities using: • Twenty-four easy to understand, actionable steps • Comprehensive outlining of the major theories in advanced management and leadership • The six c’s of organizational growth and development So don’t wait for someone else to give you the break, the job, the money, the tip, or the idea you need to create prosperity. Create your own path---and do it today.

Author Olu Brown shares principles from the story of Moses, to guide leaders through some of the most gut-wrenching situations they will face. Leadership Directions from Moses answers the question, ‘How can I remain effective in answering my own call, when people around me—some of whom are trusted friends and colleagues—will not (or cannot) stay on the journey we’ve set out to complete? How can I keep moving forward, when the path suddenly becomes so difficult?’ The book covers topics like how to help others leave gracefully, how not to be upended when others choose to leave, how to have difficult conversations, and how to find unexpected opportunity in the challenge of new vacancies. It is full of practical help, including examples from pastors and churches across the US. It is also filled with compassion and wisdom—a pastoral book for pastors facing this difficult, nuanced, and often-emotional topic.