Book Reviews
What is this thing called leadership? Prominent Australians tell their stories
By Neil C Cranston and Lisa Catherine Ehrlich
ISBN: 978-1-875378-76-0 2007 115 pages Brisbane: Australian Academic Press
Reviewed by Ken Parry
Graduate School of Management, Griffith University, Nathan QLD
This book tells the leadership stories of ten prominent Australians -
- Tim Costello - CEO of World Vision Australia, Baptist Minister and practising lawyer
- Christine Nixon - the first female Commissioner of Police in Australia
- Michael Kirby - Justice of the High Court of Australia and Companion of the Order of Australia
- Linda Burney - a distinguished Aboriginal leader in education, reconciliation and Indigenous issues, and the first Aboriginal in NSW Parliament
- Peter Doherty - joint winner of the Nobel Prize in the Physiology of Medicine in 1996
- Jim Soorley - former Lord Mayor of Brisbane
- Fiona Wood - Director of the Western Australian Burns Unit and Australian of the Year in 2005
- Ian Kiernan - established the first ‘Clean Up Australia' in 1990 and Australian of the Year in 1994
- Sarina Russo - CEO of he Russo group of companies
- Maggi Sietsma - founder of Expressions dance company in Brisbane
Being able to interview all ten is a remarkable achievement in itself. From someone who has done this, I can tell you that it is hard work yet at the same time a rewarding and enjoyable experience for any author.
These authors are prominent education academicians at Brisbane Universities: Neil Cranston is Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of Queensland; Lisa Catherine Ehrich is with the School of Learning and Professional Studies at Queensland University of Technology. Both have impressive careers in the disciplines of leadership, in particular educational leadership. Understandably perhaps, they present an educational tone as much as a business tone with the writing of this book.
The foreword is by Peter Thompson, presenter for the Australian Broadcasting Commission's ‘Talking Heads' television program, and a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand School of Governance. Thompson provides a useful introduction to the concept of an ‘Australian' leadership model. He too has interviewed many prominent Australians, and provides a useful insight, from his perspective, of what these people contribute to leadership in Australia.
Chapter 1 sets the scene, and provides a quick run-through of the leadership literature. It provides a speedy coverage of the history of leadership research. This is a challenging task for any academician, but the authors do it well. The concentration is on the work of Kouzes and Posner, and is as good as any leadership ‘theory' to get the key dimensions of leadership across to readers. Chapter 12 provides some leadership learnings. In between are ten stories about the prominent Australians.
Cranston and Ehrich let these eminent Australians tell their own story about leadership, although the messages provided are somewhat simplistic. The authors announce that they provide these stories ‘without a heavy overlay of theory'. This claim is true and refreshing for the lay reader. However, they assume that the reader already knows something about leadership theory. Having said that, Chapter 1 does attempt to remedy that knowledge shortfall.
Each chapter begins with a short snapshot of the prominent Australian. Refreshingly, they are all prominent for good reasons. There are no people who have succumbed to the temptations of corporate greed and none who we might otherwise classify as ‘bad', although this could be the subject of an interesting follow-up book, should Cranston and Ehrich so desire. Learning leadership from bad examples, as well as from good, is an effective learning experience.
After the snapshot, each chapter has a short introductory profile, followed by a common format of the leader's ‘vision', ‘reflections on leadership' and ‘ongoing challenges'. Chapters are written in the third person. After the introductory profile, they move quickly into a format based around largish quotes joined by connecting commentary from the authors. Each chapter concludes with three or four learnings. These learnings appear to be from the perspective of the prominent Australian rather than from the authors. The writing is pithy and succinct. This is good, although it seems only to whet the reader's appetite. I found myself looking for more detailed academic inquiry and interpretation.
Chapter 12 is a disappointment. It starts with a run-through of the Kouzes and Posner transformational model of leadership, which model the authors correctly identify. Kouzes and Posner list those transformational leadership behaviours as modelling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act, and encouraging the heart. In Chapter 12, these leadership factors are reflected in the stories of the ten prominent Australians. The problem with the transformational model is that the all-important issue of transactional leadership is missing. Most leadership theory acknowledges that the transaction is the basis of the leadership relationship. Once the transactions are in place and enacted, then transformational leadership behaviours can be effective.
Following the Kouzes and Posner discussion, the book concludes with less than two pages of integrated learning. From two respected education scholars, the reader expects more integration, synthesis and interpretation. However, having made that point, the book makes no claim to greater aims. The book is about ten prominent Australians telling their stories. This stated aim is achieved in an easy-reading and useful format. If you feel good about these Australian leaders, then by all means read about their experiences and what leadership means to them.
At the end, I am still none the wiser on what this thing called leadership actually is. The title of the book suggests an answer to this question, but the answer appears to be absent. There is no index, which is disappointing because an index is useful to seek out key ideas or issues.
It is a useful book for an Australian audience, but probably of little interest or use to most people from other countries. I can see it as an excellent and inexpensive source of case studies for students of education, sociology, history and business studies, whether at the undergraduate or graduate level. To that extent, this book will be a useful acquisition for an educator.
