"My frustration over the years with buying and participating in leadership development programmes is not knowing which bits really work. Dr Doug MacKie combines his skill of being a first-rate leadership coach with a research-rich approach to cut through to what really matters. This book is equally applicable to practitioners as it is to leaders who want to practically understand what they can do to improve organizational performance."
(Guy Templeton, President and CEO, Asia Pacific
WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff)
"This is a book that needed to be written. It not only nails down the lid on the coffin of deficit-based leadership development, but provides a pragmatic and practical agenda for moving to a strength-based approach at both individual and corporate level. A must-read for anyone serious about building the capacity of existing and future leaders to manage in a complex and dynamic environment."
(Professor David Clutterbuck
David Clutterbuck Partnership)
"While many executive coaches are increasingly seeing the value from using a strength-based approach in their work with leaders, Strength- Based Leadership Coaching in Organizations takes both the science and the application of strengths coaching to another level! Based on the latest research, this is a must-read for any practising coach, both internal and external to an organization, looking to further develop their people and teams."
(Katherine Tulpa, CEO
Association for Coaching)
"This groundbreaking book provides a comprehensive and insightful discourse on strength-based leadership coaching in organizations. This is a tour de force on this important and contemporary subject."
(Professor Stephen Palmer, President
International Society for Coaching Psychology)
"Strength-Based Leadership Coaching in Organizations takes on some of the key frustrations in contemporary leadership development theory and practice, such as the focus on negative traits, lack of evaluation, lack of practical application and lack of evidence-based decisions, and, instead, offers a new approach. Most of all, the book offers hope. A hope that through focusing on a proven strength-based approach, leaders may more regularly inspire others, find their passions and deliver sustainable performance outcomes. This surely must lead to more authentic and courageous leadership and help us start to shift the sometimes demoralizing fear-of-failure-based, negative and judgemental approach to leadership, cemented in place following the global financial crisis.
The book will become an important guide for any serious professional working to develop better leadership at the individual, team and organizational levels."
(Rolf Moses, Director, People and Development
Norton Rose Fulbright, Australia)
"Strength-Based Leadership Coaching in Organizations provides a rare and timely combination of scholarly critique and pragmatic application on the topic of positive leadership development. The overview and critique of leadership development research, and strength-based approaches in particular, in the first half of the book is impressive in both its breadth and depth. The second half of the book, written for coaching psychologists, leaders and managers, and leaders of work teams, spells out clearly how to apply the concepts and theories introduced previously. The author concludes with well-considered cautionary comments and criticisms of strength-based coaching, illustrating his extensive experience as a researcher and practitioner in this space, and his credibility as the book’s author. The book represents a valuable resource for both researchers and practitioners who have few similar quality alternatives to consult in terms of combination of evidence-based and applied information."
(Sandy Gordon, PhD, FAPS, ICPR Co-ordinating Editor and Assoc. Professor, Sport and Exercise Psychology
The University of Western Australia)
