Читать книгу Becoming an Invitational Leader - William W Purkey - Страница 6

This book is significantly different from many other books on leadership in that it offers a practical and innovative model anchored on a single theoretical framework. This model shifts from emphasizing control and dominance to one that focuses on connectedness, cooperation, and communication. Based on sound philosophical and psychological assumptions, this model has been tested and successfully applied by leaders in numerous fields, including administration, business, nursing, dentistry, counseling, and other helping professions. Indeed, this model is the basis for the International Alliance for Invitational Education, a network of over five hundred professionals from all fifty states as well as Great Britain, Canada, China, South Africa, Australia, Nepal, Thailand, and countries throughout Central and South America.

At its heart, Invitational Leadership is a theory of practice that addresses the total environment in which leaders function. As a theory put into practice, it is a powerful process of communicating caring and appropriate messages intended to summon forth the greatest human potential as well as for identifying and changing those forces that defeat and destroy potential.

Invitational Leadership cannot be understood if it is thought of as an isolated series of habits, behaviors, or skills. Rather, it is an internal holistic process founded on the four principles of respect, trust, optimism, and intentionality. These guiding principles determine how we invite ourselves and others personally and professionally. What is essential in Invitational Leadership is not the skills we possess, the techniques we use, or the hours we spend working, but the way we balance and live our lives.

For this second edition, we have shortened the introductory chapter, added a chapter on the Invitational Guidance System, and made a variety of new references. But for these changes, the essence of our message continues to remain the same: leadership rooted in inclusion and inspired teamwork.

We continue to believe that there is an urgent, global need for the kind of leadership described in this book.