On Leadership

(Paperback)

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Description

The definitive analysis of what it takes to be a great business leader, written by one of the UK's top businessmen and based on interviews with leading figures from every walk of business life. There have been many books on leadership, but here at last is one that actually draws on the wisdom of those in the know. Acting on his belief that you get the most done in the first twenty minutes of a meeting, Allan Leighton invited Britain's top businessmen and women to spend just twenty minutes talking about their views on leadership. And he has talked to an astonishing range of them - the established giants such as Philip Green and Rupert Murdoch; the new generation of leaders, such as Andy Hornby at HBOS and Justin King at Sainsbury; and entrepreneurial figures who include James Dyson and Gulam Noon at Noon Foods. He has gone further too - interviewing the nation's top financial journalists, whose views can help make a company soar or sink; the money men, whose support is critical for investment and acquisition; the politicians, who help create the climate in which businesses can thrive or falter. The result is a fascinating, 360 degree view of what it takes to be a business leader in today's cut-throat global economy - thought-provoking, often surprising, always insightful.

Reviews

On Leadership is immensely readable. It will provide a welcome resource for those wanting to tell others stories about leadership and for those who want to relate their own experience to the collected wisdom of many of today's brightest business leaders -- Paul Walsh * Management Today *
The best connected man in the business world * Guardian *
There's only one Allan Leighton * The Times *
He takes us on a breakneck tour of the hot topics of business in 2007 ... the contributors of the book are impressive and interesting, and the book barrels along at such a pace, with such enthusiasm, that we are breathlessly carried along ... On Leadership is a profoundly hopeful read - informed by the almost palpable joy Leighton feels in inspiring and leading others * World Business *
The best management book I've read in a long while -- Chris Blackhurst, City Editor * Evening Standard *

Author Bio

Allan Leighton made his name at supermarket group ASDA, transforming it from a e500 million company to one sold to US giant Wal-Mart for e6.2 billion in 1999. In 2002 he was personally appointed by the Prime Minister to turn around the loss-making Royal Mail, and he has achieved that task in only four years, bringing about a revival in the Royal Mail's fortunes that few experts felt to be possible. He has sat on the board of many leading companies, including lastminute.com and BSkyB, and is widely regarded as one of the UK's top business leaders. He lives in West Yorkshire.