DELIBERATELY DIFFERENT

A pair of executives from different generations explores the concept of leadership.

In their debut nonfiction collaboration, von Seldeneck and Alexander draw on their very different experiences in the world of executive recruitment. In the 1970s, von Seldeneck founded Diversified Search Group (DSG), which Alexander later joined, and the book alternates between exchanges of dialogue between the two and a shared narration of their evolving leadership ideas informed by their pasts. Von Seldeneck got a job as a typist in President John F. Kennedy’s Department of Commerce and lived through the turmoil of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement; Alexander was on active duty in the United States Army during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and entered a very different corporate world than that of her co-writer, one in which many glass ceilings for women had already been shattered. “If our stories prove anything,” they write, “it’s that there is no single right way to lead,” and yet the two authors agree on many commonalities of good leadership. “If you don’t leverage your position and power to do the maximum amount of good for the maximum number of people,” they write, “you’re ignoring one of your greatest assets – and a crucial component of true leadership.” Belying the fact that the book is a collaboration, the uniform tone throughout is very convincing. The sense of listening to two friends and colleagues hashing over the lessons of their lives is both vivid and enormously instructive. The give-and-take feels natural: “You used your power position to help me out, and I trusted you right away because of it,” says Alexander. “That’s a win for me, then,” von Seldeneck responds. Their shared leadership principles are wonderfully human: “Leaders shouldn’t be gatekeepers,” they write, “we should be gate openers.” Readers will want much more of this dialogue.

An arresting and inviting colloquy on the qualities of real leadership.