The Wizard and the Warrior:Leading with Passion and Power

As Peter Drucker once said, everything you learned is wrong. You typically learn in business school, workshops, and seminars that if you can manage the work and serve the people, you have what it takes.

It's not true. Maybe that's all it takes to be a pretty good manager, but it takes a lot more to be a good leader. Specifically, managers today must fill two important roles: They need to bewizards, and they need to be warriors.

That's the theme of The Wizard and the Warrior, by Lee G. Bolman and Terence E. Deal. Bolman holds the Marion Boch/Missouri Chair in Leadership at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Deal retired from the Rossier School, University of Southern California, where he served as the Irving R. Melbo Clinical Professor. 

As we'll explain in our summary, wizards are creative individuals who provide deep meaning and purposeful direction to their organizations. Warriors are people with the strength, courage, and competitive spirit needed to win tough battles.

We will provide examples of three kinds of warriors: toxic, relentless, and principled. We will also examine the key attributes that warriors need to be successful: mind, heart, skill, and weapons.

Then we will identify three wizardly roles -- authentic, wannabe, and harmful -- and demonstrate how wizards succeed by using symbols, rituals, ceremonies, and stories to inspire people.

The best leaders are comfortable whether the situation calls for them to act as a warrior or as a wizard. This summary will help you to become more versatile and make better choices.