Common Purpose: How Great Leaders Get Organizations to Achieve the Extraordinary

Advance Praise for Common Purpose

"Kurtzman writes with a glowing lucidity based on matters so important and meaningful, so indispensable and urgent this book will become the template of success for 21st century institutions. Kurtzman constantly reminds us of what's important: that in this uniquely turbulent and uncertain time, when every organization is more vulnerable to a fragmented incoherence, we must collectively and courageously be open to freshly imagine new and different organizational realities and forms. This book inspired me enormously because I know of no other that illuminates the darkness on the path to the recovery of WE in a world still dominated by an obsolete, I-dated dystopia." —Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor of Business Administration, University of Southern California and author, On Becoming a Leader

"Kurtzman's insight that there is no 'them' but only 'us' applies to all organizations—a company, sports team, orchestra, research lab, or university. It's a worthwhile message for our political leaders."
—Michael Milken, chairman, The Milken Institute

"Leadership is no longer about rank. It's about getting people to do the right thing on their own and then getting them to do it again. How do you do it? Not by ordering them around. Joel Kurtzman says—and shows—that you do it by building a sense of common purpose. I agree with him. Common Purpose is the blueprint for how tomorrow's leaders will lead."—Mike Abrashoff, author, It's Your Ship

"Common Purpose is an insightful and useful road map for piloting a company to its full potential through aligning individual and corporate interests, empowering subordinates' talents and ideas, communicating candidly and listening intently, and inspiring pride in the younger generations on whom our future depends. If you're trying to figure out how to lead your company to stay ahead by anticipating change and sustaining growth, read this book." —Rafael Pastor, chairman of the board and CEO, Vistage International, Inc.

"As organizations become flatter, our ideas about leadership must change. In Common Purpose, Kurtzman shows how values matter more than ever and how everyone at all levels must be encouraged to lead."—Gary Burnison, president and CEO, Korn/Ferry International

In this groundbreaking book, business and management expert Joel Kurtzman tackles the central question of leadership. What is common purpose? It is that rare, almost palpable experience that happens when a leader coalesces a group, team, or community into a creative, dynamic, brave, and nearly invincible we. It happens the moment the organization's values, tools, objectives, and hopes are internalized in a way that enables people to work tirelessly toward a goal. Common purpose is rarely achieved. But Kurtzman has observed that when a leader is able to bring it about, the results are outsized, measurable, and inspiring.

Based on Kurtzman's thirty years of experience working with global thought leaders and institutions, Common Purpose features personal interviews with some of the most dynamic, successful, and enduring leaders, including Joel Klein of New York City Schools, Simon Cooper of Ritz-Carlton, Ilene Lang of Catalyst, Steve Wynn of Wynn Resorts, Shivan Subramaniam of FM Global, Mickey Arison of Carnival Cruise Lines, Michael Dell of Dell, Inc., Richard Boyatzis of Case Western Reserve University, Tom Kelley of IDEO, and distinguished professor and author Warren Bennis.

In a world besieged by failures of leadership, leaders who hope to last must understand how to create sustainable, healthy organizations. With new insights on how to approach a leadership mindset, as well as how to implement it, Common Purpose sheds new light on the meaning of leadership, the crucial qualities of leaders, and most importantly, how to lead.

Publishers Weekly

A thoughtful—if somewhat long-winded—and ethics-based discussion of leadership in the modern age by lauded business consultant Kurtzman. The author takes an all-for-one-and-one-for-all view of management, stating that the heart and soul of leadership is the creation of common purpose. He advocates for flat organizations and the end of the traditional corporate hierarchy in the interests of forging a sense of identity and connection between leaders and led. He cites such successes as the long-lived Proctor & Gamble and the ever-lauded Apple, and failures like GM's former chairman taking the ill-advised private jet to ask Congress for a bailout as examples of how CEOs can save their companies by siding with employees—and fail by standing apart from them. A thought-provoking look at the behavior of young Gen X and Y leaders backs up his premise that leadership is evolving—for the better. He posits that in the years ahead, leaders will be kinder, more caring, and more empathic and are likely to create organizations superior to anything that has come before. While the material doesn't necessarily support an entire book's worth of encouragement, this is nonetheless a solid and readable look at “New Leadership.” (Mar.)

Joel Kurtzman is chairman of the Kurtzman Group, a research and consulting firm focusing on issues relating to knowledge management, strategy, economic development, global risk, and thought leadership. He is a senior fellow at the Milken Institute and publisher of The Milken Institute Review, a member of the editorial board of MIT Sloan Management Review, and a senior fellow at Wharton's SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management. He is also an advisor to the World Economic Forum and to the U.S. Council on Competitiveness. Previously, he was the editor of Harvard Business Review, founder and editor of strategy + business magazine, a columnist at Fortune, and an editor and columnist at The New York Times. For more than 30 years, Kurtzman has interviewed, worked with, and consulted to the CEOs of some of the world's largest companies.

For more information, please visit www.kurtzmangroup.com.