Marshall Goldsmith

"The Organization of the Future presents the latest and best thinking of acclaimed visionaries and practitioners who ponder the future of human enterprise everywhere -- in government, business, and community. Supported by two giants -- Peter Drucker opens the book, and Charles Handy closes it -- the authors within provide their own perspectives on tomorrow, in thoughtful, to-the-point chapters. Together they underscore where, when, and how organizations and their leaders must evolve, not only to survive but also to prosper. In The Organization of the Future, the contributors show:"

"People who believe they can succeed see opportunities where others see threats."

"Ten years ago we had a very simple yet powerful idea—call many of the greatest thinkers in the world, ask them each to write a chapter sharing their vision for the future of leadership, and put together an edited book titled The Leader of the Future."

"The Leader of the Future 2 is divided into five parts. In Part One, our book begins where it should, with Peter Drucker’s vision of leadership... Part Two, "Leading in a Diverse World," begins with the recognized world authority on building a learning organization. "Systems Citizenship" presents MIT’s Peter Senge at his best, as he challenges us to understand systems, implement systems intelligence, and build partnerships that are a mandate for the new millennium... Part Three, "Leading in a Time of Crisis and Complexity," begins with Ron Heifetz of Harvard’s Kennedy School. Ron describes new approaches to solving leadership dilemmas as he challenges leaders in "Anchoring Leadership in the Work of Adaptive Progress"... Part Four, "Leading Organizations of the Future," shows how changing context has an impact leadership needs, demanding changes in leadership styles. Charles Handy is one of the great social philosophers of our time... Part Five, "The Quality and Character of the Leader of the Future," begins with one of the most influential thought leaders in history, Stephen Covey. In "Leading in the Knowledge Worker Age.""

"The more we are committed to believing that something is true, the less likely we are to believe that its opposite is true, even in the face of clear evidence that shows we are wrong."

"Successful people become great leaders when they learn to shift the focus from themselves to others."

"The Great Western Disease is that we fixate on the future at the expense of enjoying the life we're living now."

"If we can stop, listen, and think about what others are seeing in us, we have a great opportunity. We can compare the self that we want to be with the self that we are presenting to the rest of the world. We can then begin to make the real changes that are needed to close the gap between our stated values and our actual behavior."

"Lasting goal achievement requires lots of time, hard work, personal sacrifice, ongoing effort, and dedication to a process that is maintained over years."