Hundreds of books have been written by leaders past and present, as well as experts from the academic world, all claiming to have the answer to this question. Glancing over at my bookcase, I can count at least 62 books devoted to Leadership. Do any of these authors or books have the answer ? Maybe, but few have the research that can support their theories and suppositions.
This may indeed be a paradigm shift for many and a much needed one, but it isn't for many of my colleagues and myself. For our entire careers we have advocated for people centered approaches as a way to improve and achieve high performance. I formalized my beliefs, experiences and the insights of many of the authors sitting on my bookshelf into a program entitled Relationship - Centered Leadership®. This study is an affirmation of this program and my continued pursuit of a relationship/peopled - centered approach to assisting leaders and organizations in making the shift from "good to outstanding".