Book 340

"Nanus and Dobbs have written a seminal book about a long-neglected and key area of American life: the leadership of not-for-profits.... It's a first and should be read by all those concerned about not-for-profits: board members most especially, but volunteers, executives, benefactors, and academics as well."
--Warren Bennis, University Professor, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, and coauthor of Organizing Genius

"These authors have made a remarkable contribution to social sector nonprofit leadership. It's a valuable resource by two great authorities on a critical need."
--Frances Hesselbein, chairman of the board, The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management

"If there's one thing that today's nonprofit sector needs more than anything else, it's leadership.... Burt Nanus and Stephen Dobbs illustrate the qualities that do 'make a difference' by telling real-life stories of exceptional nonprofit leaders--few of them household names--and examining the lessons these men and women learned the hard way."
--Dorothy S. Ridings, president and CEO, Council on Foundations

There are many books on leadership, but few that focus specifically on the unique role of nonprofit executives. For the CEOs and directors of more than one million U.S. social sector organizations--as well as those who aspire to these positions--best-selling author Burt Nanus and colleague Stephen M. Dobbs have written the first comprehensive and authoritative book on nonprofit leadership.

The authors show how leaders build successful nonprofit organizations by developing key relationships to improve their performance and move them toward a greater good--such as much higher levels of service to their clients and community. They describe the six key roles that effective leaders must play--Visionary, Strategist, Change Agent, Coach, Politician, and Fundraiser--and present inspiring examples of how their actions in these roles have been crucial to the success of large and small nonprofits flourishing across the nation. Leaders Who Make a Difference offers proven lessons on strategy, team building, fundraising, advocacy, board relations, and much more. Grounded in real-world practice, the book champions the potential of all nonprofit leaders to greatly improve the performance of their organizations and realize their visions of better communities.

Visionary Leadership

by Burt Nanus

Published 2 October 1992
Warren Bennis writes,the bookfills me with equal amounts ofadmiration and envy. For the first time ever, Nanus defines for uswhat 'the vision thing' is all about.

Successful leaders know that nothing drives an organization like anattractive, worthwhile, achievable vision for the future.Leadership expert and best-selling author Burt Nanus finally showswhy vision is the key to leadership and demonstrates how any leadercan use a logical, step-by-step process to create and implement apowerful new sense of direction in his or her organization.

Designed for individual leaders to develop their own visionstatement, this book guides readers through the mechanics offorming a vision, guidelines for developing the scope of thevision, and processes for implementing that vision.

Visionary Leadership is an indispensable guide for leaders at alllevels, from top executives to heads of divisions and departments,from large corporations to small businesses, from manufacturing andservice organizations to government and nonprofit institutions.

This workbook by bestselling author Burt Nanus presents his field-tested program for creating and implementing a powerful new sense of organizational direction. You'll need one workbook for every Visionary Retreat program participant. Complete program tools also include Nanus' book, Visionary Leadership, and The Vision Retreat Facilitator's Guide for program leaders.