This is a wonderful 'tip of the iceberg' book for your spiritual quest. It's beauty and simplicity speaks directly to your soul. My thanks to the author for writing it.

Lance Secretan hits home with a well-timed and easily understood description of the lack of morality and spirituality present in business today. He also does an excellent job of showing us what is working in business today, and although rare, examples of daring business leaders that have envisioned a business capable of operating on higher ground, and capturing the elusive human spirit as a core competency in a world too frequently dominated by technology, and lawyers. Lance shows us ways to reclaim our own personal spirituality, and how to transmit it throughout our organizations to recapture fun, passion, excitement and creativity. A quick read, but with a message that will be touted more and more as the average Joe searches for meaning in his life and his work.

I read this book for the first time in portuguese version by the 70's and many other times during the last 25 years.
It has really influenced my whole life.

Thanks Secretan

Reclaiming Higher Ground

Executive Summary - Critique

Reclaiming Higher Ground seeks to take a holistic approach towards motivating employees in the workplace. According to the theories set forth within this book, organizations that seek to motivate employees through the distribution of extrinsic rewards can only hope to capture about 5-10 % of an employees potential. Only after an organization gains a deeper understanding of the values that "motivate the soul" in a highly individualistic manner can the organization, as well as, achieve their real potential and capture the some of the remaining 90-95% of human potential.

The books fundamental beliefs, although very novel when taken all together, appear to be sound and grounded in existing motivation, leadership, team, and organizational paradigms. The manner in which an organization actually goes about the task of identifying intrinsic rewards that are meaningful and to apply them in highly individualistic way causes some difficulty for the practitioner. Clearly, the soul cannot be ignored once at work and the work place is a powerful institution in which to motivate the individual in "soulful" ways. The practicality of implementation in a real and meaningful way is left to the reader to determine.

- We would recommend this book to certain individuals with reservation, probably only to those at the self-actualization stage of Maslow's hierarchy. "Feelers" may appreciate this book more than "thinkers." - We liked the book because it had great ideas and was easy to read. - On the other hand, we disliked the book because the author was very subjective, and he failed to present an action plan for readers to utilize his ideas or test his "values bicycle" model. We felt that his model might worked in non-profit organizations where there were fewer conflicts between profits and employee needs, or start-up companies where the culture was newly shaped.

Reclaiming Higher Ground uses words and proposes ideas that are radical to the business environment of today. The old language is motivation, team, service excellence, strategies, service excellence. Reclaiming Higher Ground proposes mastery, chemistry, grace, soul and sanctuary. These are truly step changes for the better in business, or even family, today. The concepts in this book are breaking through barriers that have not even been created yet.

For many years, the best leaders have been articulating ennobling purposes that inspire people about their work. In the volunteer world, this has long been the key to attracting time and effort from people who have already put in a full day at their paying work. Increasingly, paying-work leaders have found this area to be the cutting edge of attracting and retaining an excited and effective group of people. Lance Secretan has articulated a process here whereby leaders can find these purposes and share them with colleagues at work. The book is helped by many heart-warming stories. On the other hand, the book is flawed by an incomplete process for extending noble purposes to all stakeholders of an enterprise. The book is also filled with typos and annoying errors that suggest a lack of commitment to the purpose being described here.

I really wanted to love this book, but Mr. Secretan's approach kept pushing me away . . . despite the fact that I think that having an ennobling purpose for work is the right way to go, and the way that I conduct my life. Here are a few examples of the problems I am describing. First, he uses many metaphors that didn't work for me (including astrology, parceners -- someone who shares an inheritance with others -- a legal term, and movie scenes that I didn't like when I first saw them). Second, the book itself doesn't seem to manifest its own message. For example, an inspiring leader is supposed to be serving the parcener. I didn't feel served in the book. I mostly felt lectured to and exhorted. Third, there is a distinct hostility towards quantitative methods, mission statements, planning, positive feedback, and many other standard business methods. Why can't these activities also serve an inspiring purpose? Fourth, there is a tendency to categorize people as fitting into the model or not. Life isn't that simple. Most of us have our moments when we inspire and times when we don't. Thomas Jefferson is cited as a role model, but there's not a word here about his role as a slaveowner. Surely, that's an example of the type of mixed-up people we really are.

I suspect that it is easier to articulate Mr. Secretan's message by describing one's own activities as a leader than by ascribing it others. It seems very derivative to refer to others in isolated examples. Mr. Secretan's examples of his own leadership style (especially bugging the franchisee to fill out reports for months) usually didn't make me feel like that's what an inspiring leader would do. His most positive example is hiring a passionate helicopter pilot, but not knowing what role the person was to pursue. Mr. Secretan and the man worked it all out fine, but many people wouldn't feel inspired by a leader who is that unfocused.

The book contains a seven step process:

1. Self-define the leader's destiny.

2. Define the cause that the leader wants to serve.

3. Help parceners find what calling they feel most aligned with.

4. Align the individual's calling with the organization's cause.

5. Serve parceners.

6. Focus people on what they do best.

7. Create an environment in which people are inspired by both encouraging each other and by the physical surroundings.

This list was good because it articulated a process of human interaction that would allow everyone to feel better, have more energy, and aid one another. Leaders do need to start with themselves, before they can help others.

I kept looking for customers, partners, suppliers, shareholders, and the communities the organization serves. They were mostly missing. The notion seems to be that if the parceners are inspired and supported everyone else will do well, too. That may be true, but I haven't seen it done that way.

What I have seen done is to create an inspiring purpose that all stakeholders were delighted to support. I think of Habitat for Humanity as a good role model of this approach, and that organization has been one of the most successful (by quantitative measures) of any I have studied. In fact, I was astonished to read a book about inspirational leadership that talks a lot about Medtronic, but not about Habitat for Humanity. Well, no book is perfect.

If you are interested in inspiring leadership, you can find better books to help you. As General Schwarzkopf once said, "Be the leader you would like to have."

After you read this book, make a brief list of the best leaders you have known. Where did their inspiration come from? How did they inspire you and others? What were the benefits? How could more have been accomplished? How could the leadership have been better?

Learn from the best . . . and extend on towards the limits of human potential!

This book presents a new story and vision for managers and leaders in the 21st Century. It is a simple read that provokes thought, questions, and most of all, change. I am a big fan of Lance's work, but this one really breaks new ground.