Bill George
The Discover Your True North Fieldbook
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Copyright © 2015 by Bill George, Nick Craig, and Scott Snook. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
George, Bill (William W.)
The discover your true north fieldbook: a personal guide to becoming an authentic leader / Nick Craig, Bill George, Scott Snook. – Revised and updated.
pages cm
Includes index.
ISBN 978–1–119–10355–4 (pbk.); ISBN 978–1–119–10356–1 (ePDF); ISBN 978–1–119–10357–8 (ePub)
1. Leadership. 2. Organizational effectiveness. I. Craig, Nick, 1960- II. Snook, Scott A., 1958- III. Title.
HD57.7.G458143 2015
658.4′092 – dc23
2015013777
DEDICATION
Bill George dedicates this book to his colleagues Nick Craig and Scott Snook, who have devoted their lives to enabling leaders to discover their True North.
Nick Craig dedicates this book to the authentic leaders in his life, who showed him the way by being just themselves.
Scott Snook dedicates this book to his wife Kathi, and their five children, Sean, Kyle, Megan, Robby, and Jessica.
PREFACE
WHY AN UPDATED FIELDBOOK?
Since writing the original version of this fieldbook, we have had the privilege of working with over 10,000 individuals on their journey to becoming more authentic leaders. Our experience has ranged from teaching the Authentic Leadership Development MBA course at Harvard Business School to running custom True North programs with senior executives with global responsibilities.
In the process, we have learned a great deal about how people discover and implement their True North. Having worked with many of these individuals over an extended period of time, we have come to understand their long-term journey and what it takes to stay the course.
As Bill said in the Preface of the first edition:
“Leadership matters. It matters a great deal – to our organizations and institutions, to the people who work in them, and to the people who are served by them. For our society to function effectively, we need authentic leaders who can encourage people to perform at their best and step up and lead themselves.”
“I wrote True North because I have a passion to see more people in all walks of life lead authentically and because I wanted to help people like you discover your authentic leadership.”
In conjunction with Discover Your True North, we have amassed our insights and learning to create a significantly updated guide to assist you on your journey to authentic leadership. As you navigate the unchartered territory of the twenty-first century, we hope our fieldbook assists you in becoming a highly effective – and authentic – leader, one who follows your True North and stays the course!
Why This Book Is For You
One of our greatest learnings since writing the first edition is that everyone can lead. When you call a help desk and your issue isn't in the dropdown menu for the person on the other end, they have a choice in that moment to lead or not. We all know how it feels when they do and when they don't.
In our view, any time you face a decision that impacts others, you are leading. Thus, whether you are a student, parent, bus driver, army officer, CEO, grandparent, or citizen of the world, we all have the opportunity to step up and lead.
We wrote this workbook based on the assumption that we are all on a journey to become more authentic leaders. This book is for those who wish to deepen their connection to the magic of who they are so that when they have the opportunity to lead, they will be more likely to step up, lead effectively, and live a meaningful life.
Discovering Your Authentic Leadership
Becoming an authentic leader is hard work. The process is not much different from becoming a world-class musician or a successful athlete. To become great at anything, you must leverage the unique strengths you were born with, while acknowledging and learning from your shortcomings.
In Bill's case, he had to work very hard to become a leader, enduring disappointing defeats and rejections in high school and early college years. As General Electric's CEO Jeff Immelt describes it, Bill had to make the “leadership journey into [his] own soul” in order to find out who he was, where his real passions lie, and how he could become more effective as a leader. He didn't have a fieldbook like this one to help him, so he made up a plan as he went along. With the help of his wife Penny, close friends, and some important mentors along the way, Bill not only grew and flourished, but he also captured hard-won lessons along the way. Lessons we share with you here.
After searching for a role model for many years, Bill learned that he could never become a great leader by emulating someone else or by minimizing his shortcomings. As “Director of the Year” Reatha Clark King says, “If you're aiming to be like somebody else, you're being a copycat because you think that's what people want you to do. You'll