Apples Are Square: Thinking Differently About Leadership

Your 7-step prescription for creating a compassionately competitive work culture

For centuries, leaders have been operating within a “control and compete” mindset. But times are changing. More and more, at the helm of successful companies, you’ll find a different sort of leader. Collaborators, not controllers, they are “square apples,” bold men and women who dare to create success by reshaping the workplace in unexpected ways.

In Apples Are Square, innovation consultants and celebrated authors Dr. Susan Smith Kuczmarski and Thomas D. Kuczmarski share with you the secrets of how to become a square apple in your organization. To develop their groundbreaking strategy for success, the authors interviewed dozens of leadership pioneers, including Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist; Mary Ellen Weber, former NASA astronaut; and NFL star Chris Zorich, whose personal story inspired the title of this book. With the tools in Apples Are Square, you’ll be able to take any bruised environment and reshape it into a positive force.

Publishers Weekly

The Kuczmarskis, a pair of business consultants, trainers and authors, deliver a lackluster primer on the personal and managerial strategies of 25 people from many walks of life. A few are famous, such as Dean Kamen (inventor of the Segway scooter), Craig Newmark (founder of Craigslist, the Internet classified ad service) and actress Susan Anton. Most are less well-known CEOs, political activists, educators, arts administrators and someone who calls himself an "esoteric healer." But for such an eclectic group, there are few unusual insights. Most of their ideas come across as platitudes about the importance for leaders of such traits as humility, compassion, transparency and inclusiveness. Many of the anecdotes and inspirational homilies are retreads, though a few are intriguing-for example, the story of how Rep. Jan Schakowsky got started in public life as a crusader for freshness dating on food packages. But even interesting stories often lack a compelling point-Schakowsky's tale, for example, appears in a chapter about encouraging one's colleagues. This attempt to offer "chicken soup for the leader's soul" provides thin gruel. (July)

Susan Smith Kuczmarski, Ed.D., is an educator, lecturer, and authority on values-based leadership. She was recently selected for inclusion in 500 Leaders of World Influence, Outstanding People of the 21st Century, 2000 Outstanding Writers of the 20tth Century, and has been listed in Who’s Who in the World for 12 years. Thomas Kuczmarski is founder of Kuczmarski & Associates, a nationally recognized innovation management consulting firm. He has been an adjunct professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management for 27 years, and is regularly quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Newsweek, the Chicago Sun-Times and other leading business publications. They live in Chicago.