Leadership in the workplace, says Max DePree, is like playing jazz; it's more an art than a science. Today's successful managers are attuned to the needs and ideas of their followers and even step aside at times to be followers themselves. As a result, they spark vitality and productivity from their work force. They culivate communication and spontaneity, diversity and creativity, and the unique potential of every person in the organization to contribute to the success of the team. In Leadership Jazz you'll learn

-How to hold people accountable but still give them space to make mistakes.

- How to balance the needs of your employees with those of the company.

- How to inspire change and innovation and maintain a sense of stability.

- How to practice the art of delegation.

- How to work constructively with creative people.

- How to assess candidates for senior positions.

- And much more!

Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent service
Comment: I received the product I ordered within a few days. Excellent service, the product was priced just right and I would recommend family and friends use this site to purchase products.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: This Book Is About the True Spirit of Leadership
Comment: If you really wish to understand the true "spirit" of leadership, this is a simple, from-the-heart book that will lift your commitment to those you serve, so you can lift their spirits in turn. Mr. DePree's wisdom is profound. The notion of "Jazz" may be confusing to some. This book is not "jazzy." It's about the process of leading others in a way that encourages them to improvise and harmonize as jazz musicians do.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Leadership Vapor ...
Comment: I received a copy of this book from upper management as part of an offsite planning retreat. Reading it later, it struck me that "there is no there there." Max DePree may be a nice guy and maybe was an effective CEO for Herman Miller, but trying to climb down from the clouds to distill his advice to a day to day operational level is like nailing Jell-O to a wall.

Come to think of it, "Leadership Jazz" may be somewhat like chicken soup for the management soul. It certainly won't hurt and just may help.

Perhaps the best thing about it is the fact that it is a quick read. Platitudes, sermonizing and bromides about servant leadership abound. I'm not saying it's bad, just a bit ethereal.

If this is leadership "jazz," I'm not sure I want to riff with that band ....

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Waste of time
Comment: I had to read this book in graduate school. As I read it - all I could think was 'how much did the publisher pay my school to make me buy this book?' With so much good material and real life examples about leadership - this book is not a significant source of inspiration and continually states the obvious.
Good points -
*Short *Easy to read *Inexpensive

Bad Points-
*Incomplete *Boring *Outdated

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Undeveloped Metaphor
Comment: Jazz is the right metaphor for business today.

I have long thought that the popular metaphor for business leadership of an orchestra conductor is wrong in the rapidly changing conditions of today. To say that a CEO's job is like an orchestra conductor's -- to keep every one at the same place on the same page -- assumes there is a score that all of the musicians have to follow. There isn't.

Jazz demands improvisation. It gives individual musicians the freedom to create and to respond to each others creations. Max De Pree recognizes this and states this metaphor accurately at the beginning of his book.

"We have much to learn from jazz-band leaders, for jazz, like leadership, combines the unpredicability of the future with the gifts of individuals." (page 9)

But, De Pree doesn't develop this metaphor further. The title of the book, "Leadership Jazz", implies more than the book delivers in development of the metaphor.

The book does deliver very good advice on leadership. It is an excellent description of the power of "servant leadership" which is the real metaphor of the book, and, judging from the many stories De Pree relates from his years as the CEO and Chairman of Herman Miller, Inc., it is the metaphor for his life. Leaders do need to read this book.

I just wish De Pree had developed the richness of the jazz metaphor.

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