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Here is a book on leadership like no other.

It begins by announcing that: "You can't learn to be a 'leader.' ... All you can do is be prepared if you are 'called' to provide leadership." So begins Lee Thayer's relentless assault on conventional thinking ... which, he tells us, will "always and inevitably lead to conventional results."

From his initial "stretching exercises" for your mind, he offers a detailed guidebook for making sure you're prepared when your leadership opportunity arrives. The underpinning of his method boils down to this statement:

"As you think, so will you be.
And as you are, so will you do."

He warns at the outset that much of what he's learned over four-plus decades of working with CEOs to build high-performance organizations may seem counter-intuitive and that the journey is "more difficult than you can imagine." But he also notes, "If your learning journey is not fun and exciting, it will not bear fruit."

So along the way you'll learn how to "slay dragons" (Ch. 5) and "overcome perversity" -- especially your own (Ch. 11). And in the process, you'll acquire the habits of thinking, being, and doing that prepare you perform the leadership roles that come your way.

• "Lee Thayer has followed his own leadership convictions and insights in writing a book that is itself the art of leadership. It is refreshing, authentic, and has a penetrating integrity. Don’t take it lightly."
  Max De Pree,
  Chairman Emeritus, Herman Miller, Inc.,
  Author of Leadership is an Art

• "It’s a great book (or ‘guidebook,’ as the author calls it), reflecting years of hard-won experience doing what he reports on here. And he’s done his homework, as well. It’s an original, very creative. If you can’t learn how by applying the leadership lessons here, you probably can’t learn how. It’s superb!"
  James O'Toole,
  Author of Leading Change

• "If you truly want to reinvent yourself, are perpetually dissatisfied with yourself and your organization, and have a deep passion to change and improve, read Lee Thayer’s book. You won’t find any quick fixes here. I’ve been working at this both on the job and at home for a few years now, and both are immeasurably the better for it. I had to question everything I knew. If you can let Thayer do this to you, you will become a far better leader."
  Larry Bull,
  Executive Vice President
  Bergstrom, Inc.