A Passion for Leadership

Lessons on Change and Reform from Fifty Years of Public Service

by Robert M. Gates

Number of pages: 256

Publisher: Knopf

BBB Library: Leadership

ISBN: 978-0307959492



About the Author

Robert Michael "Bob" Gates is an American statesman, scholar and university president who served as the 22nd United States Secretary of Defense from 2006 to 2011.

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Editorial Review

Everybody hates bureaucracies, even those who work in them. No one set out to make bureaucracies the enemy of ordinary people, resistant to change, impervious to new realities, and incompetent. Few if any individuals choose public service as a career because they want to make life miserable for people or to work for some hapless bureaucracy. Indeed, I can attest from decades of working with talented and dedicated public servants that the opposite is often true. And yet, the humorist Will Rogers said decades ago, “I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.”

Book Reviews

This informative, entertaining, and useful book, he delves into what it takes to be a leader who can get results without creating unnecessary enemies.

This practical, no-nonsense look at leadership will not only provide a useful guide but also serve as an inspiration for young people interested in entering public service.

This book illustrates, as the title suggests, the act of having passion for leadership. Robert Gates shows his insightful first-hand experience and provides helpful tips for improving leadership and bureaucracy in nonprofits.

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Wisdom to Share

Everybody hates bureaucracies, even those who work in them.

No one set out to make bureaucracies the enemy of ordinary people, resistant to change, impervious to new realities, and incompetent.

Few if any individuals choose public service as a career because they want to make life miserable for people or to work for some hapless bureaucracy.

The obstacles to cutting costs and becoming more onerous for the public sector leaders in both the public and private sectors face multiple barriers to innovation and reform to cope with new and changing circumstances.

Visionary leaders at all levels can discern a different and better future for the organization, no matter its size, and can map a realistic path to attaining that future.

To be successful agents of change, leaders not only must be able to envision a new way forward but must also be practical, with the skill to build broad support and implement their vision.

To govern well requires two distinct kinds of ability: political skill and the administrative mind. Both are very rare, either in combination or separately.

Armed with clearly defined goals for change, a new leader will be tempted to plunge ahead and let the chips fall where they may.

For successful change at every kind of institution in both the private and the public sectors, a leader must win the support of those in the trenches who deliver the mission of the organization.

Leading reform of bureaucracies requires constant attention and effort.

Nothing must be left to chance, and hardly anything is unimportant.