On Mission: Your Journey To Authentic Leadership
A Smart, Practical Book on Leadership that Everyone in Your Organization Would Benefit from Reading, and Applying.
On Mission on Target
Why do we write leadership books? It doesn’t seem to have any impact on the quality of leadership in business, government, communities, and homes. Surely, you aren’t happy with the state of leadership in our world today. If you are, then you should tell us why.
I don’t know the last time I read all the way through a book on leadership. I find them repetitive, dated, and incoherent. In many respects, the world of leadership is on a journey to discover a 21st-century view of what it means to be a leader. This is my goal. And why I am honored to celebrate the publication of …
On Mission by John Buford, Ph.D. and Sean Georges, J.D. / L.L.M.
On Mission is one of the best books on leadership that I have read in 40 years.
I really like this book. It compares to James Kouzes and Barry Posner’s The Leadership Challenge: How To Get Extraordinary Things Done in Organizations first published almost 35 years. Now in its seventh edition.
Both books are clear about what leadership is and what leaders do. From On Mission.
Leadership is who you are and what you do to influence others to commit and act in alignment with the mission.
A leader is one who carries a personal responsibility to serve others in support of a shared mission.
You lead through relationship in service to others in pursuit of a shared mission.
They expand upon Robert Greenleaf’s classic leadership text, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness. From On Mission.
“The servant leadership perspective is actually quite simple to understand. Your commitment and dedication to your teammates in the context of your team’s mission must be unquestioned. Authentic leaders are the first to show up in the morning and the last to leave at the end of the day (or completion of the mission). No task is beneath them. The team’s work is not to improve the leader’s lot. Authentic leaders serve in many ways, ensuring their teammates are properly selected, trained, prepared, and supported for what lies ahead. Authentic leaders neither seek nor accept perks for themselves; instead, they seek such advantages for their teammates, when appropriate. Authentic leaders never take the credit as if it belonged to them individually; they shine the light on their teammates, deflecting the credit to its rightful owners. Authentic leaders don’t think or talk in terms of I; they think and talk in terms of we. Without exception, authentic leaders think and plan and work in their teammates’ best interests rather than their own. Authentic leaders sacrifice and subordinate their own needs and desires in service to their teammates in support of the team’s mission.”
Like my book Circle of Impact: Taking Personal Initiative To Ignite Change, On Mission is a human-centered manifesto for leadership in the 21st century. It is for everyone in your organization, household, neighborhood, and community. John and Sean provide a more personal understanding of the leader’s journey and show how we learn to take initiative to create impact that makes a difference that matters. As I read their book, I realized that they filled in many of the gaps the focus of my book caused.
On Mission Interview
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to interview John and Sean. Having known them for almost twenty years, I have the highest respect for them. It is my honor to celebrate their book’s entry into the world and the impact that will come from it being read and applied.
On Mission Connections
Learn more about On Mission at OnMissionBook.com and at OnMissionLeaders.com.
The book will be released on Tuesday, August 2.