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Book Review by Cathy Hand, CES Professor
Emotional Impact; Passionate Leaders and Corporate Transformation
By Philip Channer and Tina Hope
When I reached the final page of “Emotional Impact, Passionate Leaders and Corporate Transformation,” my mind was racing with comparisons to public sector leadership, even though the book is written from a corporate approach. Though the book’s title suggests corporate transformation, the book is perhaps more about the recognition that effective or successful organizational transformation cannot occur without sensitivity, passion, and compassion on the part of the leader, which often requires personal transformation.
Authors Channer and Hope are British business consultants who have worked with the Hay Group in the United States. They note that the book is about the connection between leadership and what it feels like to be responsible for leading and changing an organization, saying, “Our experience is that sensitivity, both to a leader’s own emotions and to those of others is an essential competence for any business leader, particularly one who seeks to change an organization, since this requires winnings hearts as well as minds.” They readily admit that the book is not intended as research or as a step-by-step template to guide others to successful organizational transformation. They state, “It is intended to strengthen the argument that we should be more emotionally literate in business—that we should be more open to and about the whole topic of emotions.” They claim their approach is based on the fact that most accounts about leading organizations through turbulent times focus on the organization and don’t include what the impact of the transformation is on the leader.
It was that claim that drew my attention to the book. Indeed, they do include mini case studies of sorts about five prominent British entrepreneurs, and the chapters do relate the rigors, and sometimes anguish, experienced by the leaders as they went about transforming their organizations.
While I was drawn to the book due to the stated purpose of “what it feels like to be responsible for leading and changing an organization,” I didn’t find that as a strength of the book, perhaps because the narratives included quite a bit of historical information about the British companies that I found lessened the forcefulness or the focus of the stories.
Whether intentional or not, the real power of the book tends to come from the lessons learned by the leader upon reflection of the transformation and the ties the authors make between the reflections and current leadership research. The “way ahead” section that discusses the challenges faced by leaders today and how they must personally change is particularly focused. The book is written in an informal (British) style for a general audience, (i.e.; easy to read,) and is organized into four sections that build effectively on each other.
Part 1 provides background into traditional and evolving models of leadership. Part II offers the five leadership narratives. Part III provides a summary of the commonalities of the five stories and how the expectations of leaders are changing. Part IV offers insight into what a leader can do to begin transformation.
Channer and Hope cite recognized authors and researchers in the field of leadership, including Warren Bennis, John Kotter, and the late Bernard Bass, and they skillfully weave their work into the context of the narratives, providing clarity between the real-world examples and the work of the leadership scholars. It is here that the book blurs any distinctions between the public and private sectors. While the purpose and missions of the public and private sectors may be different, leading transformation through personal influence is the same.
Emotional Impact: Passionate Leaders and Corporate Transformation is well worth reading. It provides a short review of leader theory, relates why change is hard, and offers insight into effective transformation through perceiving, understanding, and managing emotion. After all, the more we understand how our stakeholders feel about a given change, the better we can communicate with them in a way that they can relate to, influence them to follow, cooperate with them by listening, and support them through the transformation.
Book Review by Deloris Willis
Learner-Centered Teaching
by Maryellen Weimer
Maryellen Weimer is very well known to educators for her research on effective teaching. She is editor-in-chief of The “Teaching Professor” newsletter, editor and author of numerous issues in the “New Directions for Teaching and Learning” monograph series, and author of “Teaching on Solid Ground” (1995) and “Improving College Teaching” (1990).
Her most recent literature is devoted to examining the context of what “learning” really is. The focus, as she states, is primarily on teaching skills. The author provides an instructional methodology to help promote more and better learning, with a focus on action learning, self-directed learning, constructivism and reflective practice.
Weimer (2002) feels that today’s faculty is more focused on whether they covered all the material within the allotted time rather than if the students walk away really learning and understanding the material. She believes the focus in teaching should be more about learning than teaching. When teaching is learner-centered, the role of the teacher changes from the traditional role of lecturer to a more guided role in the process. No longer is the teacher the center of giving information but becomes very instrumental in providing learning experiences, whereby students can discover their own information. Teachers become designers of learning experiences rather than dispensing information and becoming a center point of providing their expertise. The student then becomes the focus of action in the learner-centered environment through activities that are integrated throughout the curriculum.
Weimer (2002) believes that in order for classrooms to become learner-centered, instructional methodology needs to focus on five key changes for faculty to practice to become a learner-centered teacher. This book covers those five key changes required to transition to learner-centered teaching. It is divided into two separate parts as follows: Part One: What Changes When Teaching Is Learner-Centered? This part discusses topics pertaining to the balance of power, function of content, role of the teacher, responsibility for learning and the purpose and processes of evaluation. Part Two: Implementing the Learner-Centered Approach. This part covers responding to resistance, taking a developmental approach and making learner-centered teaching work. This section really addresses coming up with a plan to make it work and provides guidelines on how to make improvements during the implementation phase.
This book is written in a scholarly manner. There are numerous references based on research that can justify the author’s methods in this type of instructional methodology. It has valuable references, examples of a syllabus, learning activities, learning logs and assessments for increasing your knowledge on this important subject. The material is well-documented and referenced. A major strength of this book lies in the practical application of what you will need to do or not do to make learner-centered teaching effective.
Overall, this book is a valuable resource for anyone involved in adult education. The practices, examples and guidelines presented are extremely useful. I would suggest that organizations involved in adult education use this book as a guide when adopting the approach to learner-centered teaching.