Will I love Leadership Is an Art?

Not many guides to leaders written in 1987 are still as pertinent today as then. This little book has sold more than 800,000 copies—and I have seen its lessons in how a Herman Miller team went above and beyond for a charity. That was before I read the book.

Herman Miller (think iconic Eames Chair), thrives on the philosophy of its leader distilled here. It has created an empowered organisation where each person has the opportunity to be their best—and be accountable.

This is a book I read and re-read. It spells out why values matter and how innovation happens.

The author was CEO of the Herman Miller Company, a manufacturer of high-end office furniture. Max was the most unusual business executive I have ever met, and his book is unlike any other written by a CEO. He was humble, caring, ethical, deeply religious, and, most strikingly, he practiced what he preached. He viewed his role as a leader as serving the needs of his followers.

The book is as unusual as its author, a pure delight for the mind and spirit. You will wish you could work for someone like Max. 

This classic by Max De Pree (the former CEO of Herman Miller) looks at leadership as a kind of stewardship, stressing the importance of building relationships, initiating ideas, and creating a lasting value system within an organization. Rather than focusing on the “how” of corporate life, he stresses that leaders need to explain the “why.” He writes that the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality and the last is to say thank you. De Pree offers dozens of memorable leadership anecdotes that will have you wishing you’d worked for him at some point in your career! A… show more.