The Arc of Ambition: Defining the Leadership Journey

Citation

Taylor, W. (2001), "The Arc of Ambition: Defining the Leadership Journey", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 206-206. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijem.2001.15.4.206.2

Ambition is not a concept that can be easily defined or examined by psychologists, and yet it is clearly a powerful drive in individuals. It is often to be found in the list of those characteristics appropriate to leaders in management texts, especially in the classical literature on management. However, attempts to describe this attribute are invariably superficial at best.

Therefore I found this text by James Champy and Nitin Nohria very welcome. They successfully explore and consider ambition in a social context, examining individuals who have achieved impressive results, despite having to overcome enormous difficulties often with a lack of resources, through their strength of character. I found this more informative than some Dweck‐like study on attributions.

The text consists of ten chapters exploring different aspects of ambition, and is a text that needs to be read from cover to cover, as opposed to simply dipping‐in. This is not a problem, as the authors’ style of writing is accessible and their arguments eloquently presented. This text is a must for those interested in leadership in the public or private sectors, and will be of considerable value to both the practitioner and students.