Product Description

Cubs Fans' Leadership Secrets will change the way leaders think. The authors of this book take a hard swing at leadership from a truly unique perspective--a century of suffering and failure as die-hard fans of the Chicago Cubs baseball team. While dozens of other books approach leadership from the obvious and well-worn path of lessons derived from great and successful leaders, Cubs Fans' Leadership Secrets proves that people learn the most from mistakes, not triumphs. And what is a richer treasure trove of mistakes than the Cubs, who in 2008 "celebrated" 100 consecutive years without a World Series championship?

Leadership expert and bestselling author Kenneth Blanchard has contributed the foreword to Cubs Fans' Leadership Secrets. He recognizes that there is something new and different here, a message with a ready-made multitude of potential readers drawn not just from the large market for standard leadership/management books but also from the millions of Cubs fans all over the world. Blanchard knows that during these desperate recessionary times everyone can gain valuable insights by studying how the Cubs have gone so wrong for so long in so many ways. What's more, this book shows how leaders can do better, in all fields of endeavor...even those far removed from the world of baseball.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #905072 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-25
• Released on: 2009-04-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

From the Publisher
Our mothers always told us, "Don't wind up like that kid!" and they were right. Every leader can benefit from this study of the Cubs' superabundance of bad examples. After all, shouldn't some consolation prize be bundled with all that heartbreak?

You don't run into a George Washington or Abraham Lincoln too often, but all of us can see something of ourselves in the Cubs' struggles to get the most out of ordinary gifts. There is no richer treasure trove of mistakes than the Cubs, who in 2008 "celebrated" 100 consecutive years without a World Series championship. It took a lot of errors to amass that unparalleled record of futility, a bumper crop of bad choices and failed experiments for leaders to learn from.

Cubs teams have "choked" in the clutch because they had not done the groundwork to become immune to pressure. If leaders fail to think about and prepare for emergencies, their organizations become very vulnerable to panic and disaster when crises do materialize. The book introduces a new concept, the Coefficient of Panic Vulnerability, and explains how leaders can influence it positively.

The Cubs traded away young future Hall of Famer Lou Brock in a misguided and shortsighted episode of leadership ineptitude that haunted them for many years. Often, teams do not recognize diamonds in the rough when they are right among them. This book demonstrates how to develop effective programs to identify and nurture future top performers in any line of work.

Organizations can become comfortable with failure, with losing ingrained in their culture. This systemic sickness is simultaneously one of the results of prolonged failure, and also fosters repetition of those unsatisfactory outcomes. Cubs Fans' Leadership Secrets explains that the proper response to failure includes an attitude that losing is not a permanent condition and that we have the power to reverse any curse.

Winning teams don't tolerate blaming other people, or "curses," or any outside factors for their own mistakes, whether individually or collectively. They own their negative experiences and learn from them. This book explores and provides a solution to the Cubs' long history of blaming their losses on billy-goat curses, black-cat bad luck, bad umpires, poor weather, their teammates, and everyone but themselves.

Leaders ensure failure when they refuse to take a hard look at themselves. There are many common Achilles' heels that cause leaders and their organizations to stumble, but they can only be corrected if they are first noticed and acknowledged as areas needing work. This self-assessment is not always a pleasant process, but it is essential, and Cubs Fans' Leadership Secrets explains how to do it.

From the Author
If leaders are supposed to learn from making mistakes, you can get a Ph.D. in leadership by studying the Chicago Cubs. For a full century the Cubs have been breaking their fans' hearts and breaking records for futility, but now leaders can learn the secrets that will let them break the good kind of records.

The Cubs have given us 100 years of advanced leadership lessons from their own special brand of Ivy League--within the leafy outfield walls of beautiful Wrigley Field. They have conducted a century-long experiment in finding every possible way to fail, and now leaders can use the results to eliminate panic from their collection of strategic tools. During the current economic crisis, that could come in handy.

About the Author
John Charles Kunich is Professor of Law at Charlotte School of Law in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Richard I. Lester is Dean of Academic Affairs at the Eaker College for Professional Development, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama.

Customer Reviews

Great book!
This is a critical book for anyone who wishes to look within and learn new ways to improve- whether it be in the classroom, the board room, or on the field. It's a quick read and its anecdotes and interesting facts will keep you interested the whole way through. I recommend this book as a must-have summer read.

Cubs and Leadership is Synonymous?
This incredible masterpiece about Leadership is applicable to any organization or group begging for what still is a key ingredient to being successful and effective-many leaders at all levels throughout including those"in training". As a long suffering CUBS fan, the lesson that is foremost in my mind is that despite all the adversity the CUBS have endured they have still been very successful at many other levels-but of course not in obtaining the ever elusive world championship-but they're still our beloved CHICAGO CUBS, contenders and not the MONTREAL/WASHINGTON CUBS!!!!

Hubba Cubba
Chicago Cub fans have had little to look foward to in the last 100 years, and they still don't. However, this book is an enjoyable read with a few eternal truths that we all knew somewhere down in our gut (or maybe that was that last brat I ate) but couldn't articulate as well as these guys. I would definitely take this to the ball park, especially sometime after late July/early August when you need something to keep your mind off the game.