Product Description

A behind- the- scenes analysis of twenty key principles of leadership, illustrated with stories and examples from the life of Billy Graham, whose fingerprints are on many leading Christian institutions and organizations, with transferable applications to people serving in a leadership role in business, educational, church, or parachurch settings.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #180858 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Business leadership is not necessarily the first word one thinks of to describe Billy Graham, as authors Myra (president and CEO of Christianity Today, Inc.) and Shelley (executive editor of Leadership Journal) admit. But they demonstrate convincingly that Graham has been an amazingly effective "business" leader for more than 50 years. In a project that draws together interviews with Graham's colleagues, written materials both by and about Graham and the insights of leadership classics such as Jim Collins's Good to Great, they provide an intriguing exploration of his skills. They begin by examining the foundations of Graham's organization, covering topics like team formation and mission. They then look at periods of growth and development, including financing, vision casting and expansion. The section on the challenges and difficulties Graham and his organization have faced contains inspiring discussions of handling failure and criticism. The authors then look at how Graham's ministry became networked with many other ministries, movements and businesses, while still maintaining a focused mission. They conclude by revealing what Graham and others feel are the true roots of his leadership abilities—humility, prayer, love and openness to innovation. This book will prove a tremendous resource for churches and many businesses, distilling much-needed leadership wisdom and weaving it into the life example of a trusted and beloved man. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Download Description
A behind-the-scenes analysis of 21 essential leadership principles from the life of Billy Graham Billy Graham looms large as one of the twentieth century's most influential and innovative leaders. Most people are unaware of his remarkable effectiveness as not only preacher and pastor, but as a CEO and a global leader as well. The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham is full of transferable applications for leaders in the church, parachurch, academia, government, and business. Lively interviews with his closest associates illustrate 21 principles that have driven six decades of visionary impact. First-hand accounts reveal stories of courageous leadership and growth through painful lessons. Graham's relentless application of core beliefs and leadership principles have resulted in, among many honors, being listed in Gallup's ten "most admired men" thirty times, more than anyone else. Time magazine named him one of the top ten leaders of the twentieth century. This book asks: How did this happen? What are the essentials he embraced to achieve such extraordinary results? What can we learn from him and apply to our own leadership roles? This book is dedicated to those readers . Who sense the pressing need in today's world for inspired leadership . Who rise to leadership's high calling and are willing to carry its weight . Who are determined to deepen and expand their capacities and effectiveness

From the Back Cover
A behind-the-scenes analysis of 21 essential leadership principles from the life of Billy Graham
Billy Graham looms large as one of the twentieth century's most influential and innovative leaders. Most people are unaware of his remarkable effectiveness as not only preacher and pastor, but as a CEO and a global leader as well.
The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham is full of transferable applications for leaders in the church, parachurch, academia, government, and business. Lively interviews with his closest associates illustrate 21 principles that have driven six decades of visionary impact. First-hand accounts reveal stories of courageous leadership and growth through painful lessons.
Graham's relentless application of core beliefs and leadership principles have resulted in, among many honors, being listed in Gallup's ten "most admired men" thirty times, more than anyone else. Time magazine named him one of the top ten leaders of the twentieth century. This book asks: How did this happen? What are the essentials he embraced to achieve such extraordinary results? What can we learn from him and apply to our own leadership roles?
This book is dedicated to those readers
. Who sense the pressing need in today's world for inspired leadership
. Who rise to leadership's high calling and are willing to carry its weight
. Who are determined to deepen and expand their capacities and effectiveness

Customer Reviews

The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham
Awesome book! Full of fantastic leadership hints and real-life examples. I would recommend to anyone interested in improving themselves and/or improving relationships with others.

Full of illustrations and nuggets
I teach a leadership course and tell my students I will read and review the business or leadership books they recommend. I was skeptical at first, most attempts to create Bible oriented business books fail. However, in this case the authors chose to use Good to Great, one of the best business books of the decade, as a primary focusing lens and there is a single Bible verse at the end of each chapter.

The story begins with the observation leaders are often forged in the furnace of life. Billy got off easy this once. His furnace experience was being rejected for marriage by Emily, saying "I just don't see any real purpose in your life yet." The statement stung and after months of consideration, Billy decided to be fully committed to God. The story then moves to Theodore Roosevelt, who was also pursing his life's true love. He got the girl, but only for three years, soon after his father passed away, his mother and wife died at his home within hours of one another.

Billy's calling as an evangelist was tested, he was offered movie contracts, even a million dollars a year, ( this is the 1950s, so that would be more like 6 million today using the Consumer Price Index).

The book pours you through history, not just Billy's experiences, but those of his friends. Billy had to face the growth pains of the nation, trying to serve both Catholics and Protestants in divided cities like New York and Boston. They discuss the civil rights movement where he was pressured to hold segregated meetings; he did not. I am not overly emotional, but I cried during many of the historical passages as I remember this nation's history, the author's tell the story well.

He was friend to Presidents and others in power including friends that fell including Nixon and evangelist Jim Bakker. He gave Nixon's Eulogy and conducted the memorial service for the Oklahoma City Bombing and the National Cathedral service for the 9/11.

The book does a great job of covering his management style; he built a great team and gave them a lot of freedom to act. If there is one place a bit more depth would have helped, it would have been more information on his health struggles, how did Billy Graham balance life and mission.

The bottom line, this is a good book whether or not you believe in the Christian faith. It deserves at least two readings, there are so many illustrations and nuggets it is impossible to get them all the first time through.

Accurate Biography but Not a Good Guide for Leadership
A lot of the adivce in this book is cliche and common sense. But some of the advice as to how to be a great leader like Billy is wrong and misleading. For example the author points out that prayer is a big factor, however he records that the advice of a Welsh pastor inspired Billy Graham to become a better preacher, and shows that Billy and the Welsh Pastor thought that this was accomplished merely by a prayer and to be broken like Paul. However a single prayer and being broken is not going to make you a great preacher. Rather wisdom and the desire to be perfectly obedient to God and continuous prayer are the keys.

Billy said he felt that he was filled with the Holy Spirit upon his prayer with the Welsh pastor and was so excited he kept talking about it afterwards and crying. Think about it, why would one prayer and not the others work? Billy already shown he was broken so why would praying to be broken again do anything?

The fact is many people become great leaders because they pander (whether purposely or not), are tall, decent looking or good looking, have a good speaking voice, speak well, and are the the right places at the right time. As shallow as that may seem it is true. The author rather implies it is because of Billy's humility towards God, when really, as I've discovered in my research, that it is Billy's humility towards man. Billy doesn't believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven, and he lets people know this, and that is why he is so widely embraced and supported.