Eric H. Kessler

The desire to be seen as a Very Important Person (VIP) is one of the driving factors behind humankind's professional, societal, and spiritual aspirations. In Being a True VIP, management scholar and author Eric H. Kessler illustrates the nature of importance and how it relates to our success as employees and individuals. Through a clear and focused theoretical framework, he follows the paths that lead to importance, who determines it, and how it affects employee engagement and performance. Readers will be able to understand, personalize, and apply these lessons to manage themselves and others to be true VIPs.

This book explains how to bridge the divide between theory and practice in a specific, concrete, and easy-to-relate manner, drawing on real-life personal accounts of how students have used classroom-taught theories and skills in their jobs. Practical guidelines are included to help the reader use these lessons in their everyday lives.

This book explains how to bridge the divide between theory and practice in a specific, concrete, and easy-to-relate manner, drawing on real-life personal accounts of how students have used classroom-taught theories and skills in their jobs. Practical guidelines are included to help the reader use these lessons in their everyday lives.

"A brilliant and comprehensive introduction to the most seminal component of leadership: wisdom. The diversity of the readings and wisdom of the authors make this a most original and valuable addition to the management canon."—Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor of Management, University of Southern California and author of On Becoming a Leader"This wonderful compilation proves that management is as much art as science, and that deep thinking can inform and inspire practice to be more humane, ethical, and, yes, wise."—Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School Professor and best-selling author of Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End"If you'll forgive a pun, this is a wise book about organizational and managerial wisdom. It shows what's possible when some of our best thinkers turn their collective attention to such timely subjects as EQ, negotiation, global politics, and individual and organizational ethics."—Steve Kerr, Chief Learning Officer, Goldman Sachs, and Past President of the Academy of Management"One of the 'most promising' forthcoming management books."—EUROPEAN ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT"To wade into the topic wisdom is to see organizing differently. To wade into this volume is to see wisdom differently. Both forms of effort embody a wonderful moment of wisdom itself."–Karl E. Weick, Distinguished Professor of Organizational Behavior and Psychology,University of Michigan Some interesting issues emerge when one views organizations from a wisdom-based perspective. Does technology promote or inhibit wisdom? How do HR systems, organizational forms, management practices, and operational capabilities relate to wisdom? What are the ethical and social dimensions of wisdom? What makes a wise leader? Can wisdom be developed and utilized strategically? Do conceptions and manifestations of wisdom vary across cultures? Can one teach wisdom? Editors Eric Kessler and James Bailey have produced a ground-breaking compendium of globally renowned thinkers in the Handbook of Organizational and Managerial Wisdom. This Handbook systematically explores the characteristics of understanding, applying, and developing organizational and managerial wisdom. Key FeaturesOrganizes wisdom around the five primary philosophical branches—logic, ethics, aesthetics, epistemology, and metaphysicsApplies wisdom in organizations and management through international examples that synthesize a set of practical principles for academics and practicing managersOffers an outstanding collection of world-renowned scholars who give profound insights regarding wisdom