The Leadership Pill: The Missing Ingredient in Motivating People Today »

Ken Blanchard is chief spiritual officer and chairman of the board of The Ken Blanchard Companies, a worldwide training and development firm. He is the author of a dozen bestselling books — including the blockbuster international bestseller The One Minute Manager and the giant business bestsellers Whale Done!, Raving Fans and Gung Ho! He and his wife Margie live in San Diego and work with their son Scott, daughter Debbie, and her husband Humberto Medina.

How can you become a more successful manager, a stronger team leader, and a motivator who gets the best results from a group? The Leadership Pill provides the answer. An entertaining and inspiring parable about the competition between two leaders with totally different management styles, here is a story that reveals the ingredients of truly effective leadership.

Consider this tantalizing possibility: What if there was a pill that could actually stimulate the natural powers of the mind and body to provide leadership? In the story, an amazing new pill heightens one leader's powers, but contains the wrong ingredients, stimulating him in an obsessive and shortsighted direction with disastrous results.

In contrast, the "Effective Leader," working without a pill, proclaims that "only through sustainability can our teams remain motivated and successful." An inspiring and supportive leader, he supplies the right ingredients, earning his team's respect and trust with a blend of integrity, partnership, and affirmation. The hard-won result is a highly motivated team producing consistent top performance and genuine success. Ultimately it is recognized that "leadership for a lifetime" is much easier to digest than a pill for leaders looking for a quick fix.

Destined to be a transforming experience for countless listeners, The Leadership Pill shows business managers at any level how to apply the right techniques for getting both results and and the commitment of their people, even when the pressure to perform is high.

Publishers Weekly

Blanchard is a veritable self-help book writing machine. His latest-a typically slim volume offering a typically simple parable-concerns a competition between two leaders with wildly different management styles. One leader takes "the leadership pill," which gives him "all the attributes of effective leadership." The other leader does not take the medication. Although the book is presumably not an advertisement for natural healing, it seems that way at times: it turns out the leader who doesn't take the pill winds up winning the competition. The message? Leadership takes time-it can't be learned overnight (or ingested via pill form). Leaders must show integrity, build "a culture of partnership" and affirm their employees' sense of self-worth by letting them know what they do is important. It's a solid, though obvious, message that should resonate with fans of Blanchard's brand of advice. (Sept. 9) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.