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New Book Offers Heroic Leadership Techniques for Individuals and Organizations

In Building Without Tearing Down, Chad Ellsworth reveals how important it is to cultivate positive ways to initiate people into our organizations and then help them become true leaders by cultivating the Heroic Arts.

Ellsworth’s interest in heroic leadership began when he joined a fraternity in college and experienced hazing. Then he promised himself that he would work to end the hazing in his fraternity; When that didn’t go well, as he shares on these pages, he vowed to do it on a broader level. Today, it works so that organizations of all types and levels are aware that we do not help our organizations or the people involved in them to be better and stronger when we use techniques that humiliate or belittle the people who make them up.

After sharing his own story of hazing in Building Up Without Tearing Down, Ellsworth asks all of us to speak up when we see what is wrong with our organizations and to help cultivate the Heroic Arts in ourselves and others. Drawing on the work of mythologist Joseph Campbell, Ellsworth asks us to embark on our own personal hero journeys. He points out that change in an organization has to start with the individual, quoting Gandhi’s famous phrase “Be the change you want to see in the world.” As Joseph Campbell describes among the key elements of any hero journey, the hero must first learn something about himself and then return with his new knowledge to share with others. Ellsworth explains how to take that hero journey for ourselves so that we are stronger, wiser, and better prepared to lead first ourselves and then others in creating improvements and a better experience within our organizations. In the process, we will discover, as Aristotle put it, that “where your talents and the needs of the world intersect lies your vocation.”

Building without tearing down is divided into five parts: get out of the hazing, challenge the status quo, apply the heroic arts, face the forces against you, and change your world. Then each part is divided into several chapters. For example, Part IV: Facing Forces Against You, is divided into chapters on Engaging Your Enemies, Confronting Your Fears, Falling On Your Face, Resolving to Get Up, and Breaking the Path. Ellsworth guides us through every step or process on the journey to becoming a hero in our own lives. Each chapter also contains exercises with thoughtful and action-oriented questions so that you can develop and apply the skills you learn.

I could say a lot about each section of this book, but I will only mention a few highlights here. One thing about Building Without Tearing Down that really interested me was Ellsworth’s fellowship experiences. Since I had never belonged to a fraternity, I always thought that the purpose of fraternities and sororities was just friendship and lots of partying, but Ellsworth shares with us that these organizations were founded to make their members better people and help society. usually. He says that the original founders of the fraternities “believed that if the idea were successful, it would create an enduring movement that would feed the hungry, give clothing to the poor, and provide comfort and medicine to the sick, all while providing a life change.” . experiences to people within the movement. ”Unfortunately, hazing is a sign that many of these organizations have drifted away from that ideal, but Ellsworth is working to change that, and we can all do the same, whether it’s a fraternity to the that we belong to a corporation, church, social club, or any other type of organization.

The call to be a hero is not easy. It’s scary indeed, but Ellsworth reminds us that all heroes are human and we can find comfort in their less flattering moments. For example, share with us how during the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King, Jr. came close to giving up and was afraid of appearing weak and cowardly to his followers. Ellsworth also shows us how we don’t have to be visible powerful leaders to affect change. He shares as an example how Ronald Reagan’s request to remove the Berlin Wall accomplished nothing, but when ordinary people decided that they were going to walk through the gates of the wall, even though they were told they would be killed, they united and finally joined. they exercised. the social pressure that resulted in the fall of the wall.

Throughout the book, Ellsworth provides some wonderful inspirational quotes. A very appropriate one for the Berlin Wall situation that it includes is that of JRR Tolkien: “Some people believe that only great power can contain evil. But that is not what I have found. I have discovered that it is the little things, facts. everyday lives of ordinary people who keep darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love. ” Another quote that emphasizes our connection and influence between us is from Martin Luther King, Jr. “We are all … tied in one garment of destiny … I can never be what I should be until you are what you are should be. And you can never be what you should be until I am what I should be. “

Ellsworth argues that not only can we all be heroes, but the world needs each of us to be heroes, citing the story of a recently received sweatshirt that features more than 90 different superheroes. He loves the shirt because it reminds him that “the challenges our world faces are far greater than any superhero can solve. We need a collection of superheroes from countless backgrounds with countless different strengths to meet the challenges our world faces.” In other words, we can’t wait for someone with the abilities of Superman or Wonder Woman to save us. Each of us must do our part to make this world a better place.

You may not know what your part is yet, but if you want to improve your life, your organization, and your world, reading Building Without Failing is a great place to start, and after that, the sky may be the limit. .

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