Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
-28% $21.62$21.62
Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com
$6.02$6.02
FREE delivery May 20 - 24
Ships from: ThriftBooks-Chicago Sold by: ThriftBooks-Chicago
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
OK
Why It Matters: Reflections on Practical Leadership Hardcover – October 25, 2022
Purchase options and add-ons
Amazon Best Seller in Communication in Management
Amazon Best Seller in Business Management Science
Amazon Best Seller in Strategic Management
Amazon Best Seller in Management Science
Amazon Best Seller in Business Mentoring & Coaching (Books)
Teachers are Leaders and Leaders are Teachers
In Why It Matters, John A. White draws on a wealth of expertise acquired across his six-decade career as a corporate leader, chancellor, dean, educator, engineer, and consultant to create a thorough and thought-provoking treatise on leadership philosophy. Based in part on Leadership Practices and Principles, the award-winning course he designed and taught at the University of Arkansas, Why It Matters brilliantly weaves Dr. White's inspiring personal story and observations on leadership with a treasure trove of leadership philosophy from some of the nation's most respected corporate, military, and political leaders.
After stepping down as chancellor of the University of Arkansas, Dr. White was encouraged by faculty colleagues to offer a course on leadership. Though he'd been an engineering educator for forty-five years by then and had never taught a course that wasn't based on equations, he was intrigued by the idea of sharing his leadership journey with students. For the following nine years, Dr. White taught Leadership Practices and Principles to seniors and graduate students from every discipline, introducing them to fifteen guest leaders over the course of each semester and holding in-depth, frank, and often emotional conversations about the challenges, joys, heartbreaks, and diversity of approaches to successful leadership.
Dr. White recounts dozens of these conversations in Why It Matters while reflecting on his own leadership journey in business, government, nonprofit organizations, and universities. Drawing on numerous challenging leadership experiences while serving on six boards of directors for publicly traded companies and leading the University of Arkansas, Georgia Tech's engineering college, National Science Foundation's engineering directorate, and numerous professional associations, he provides practical guidance on navigating your leadership journey. Why It Matters is required reading for current and aspiring leaders alike, as well as anyone with an interest in a plainspoken and truly comprehensive compendium of leadership thought and philosophy.
- Print length336 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherGreenleaf Book Group Press
- Publication dateOctober 25, 2022
- Dimensions6 x 1 x 9.25 inches
- ISBN-101626349584
- ISBN-13978-1626349582
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Frequently bought together
Customers who bought this item also bought
Editorial Reviews
Review
“John White has captured a lifetime of personal and professional practical leadership experiences and delivers Why It Matters with the precision of a renowned industrial engineer and the compassion of a most humble servant leader. Personifying all the roles of teacher, coach, mentor, role model, and evaluator, John has captured the reflections of dozens of leaders across the spectrum of politics, business, sports, the military, and academia while revealing their singularly unique styles, and, at the same time, their unforgettable regrets. This fabulous compendium of leadership reflections really does matter, not only for future aspiring leaders who are engaged in the process of becoming successful but also for the rest of us whose opportunity for self-reflection enables us to continue enjoying the journey―the joy of leadership.” --
―Martin R. Steele, Lieutenant General, US Marine Corps (retired)
Product details
- Publisher : Greenleaf Book Group Press (October 25, 2022)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 336 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1626349584
- ISBN-13 : 978-1626349582
- Item Weight : 1.4 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,228,357 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #315 in Corporate Governance
- #689 in Management Science
- #1,300 in Leadership Training
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
The North Central Association of Colleges and Universities called the decade of the author's leadership of the University of Arkansas transformational, noting significant improvements occurred in all dimensions of the university. During his 6-year service as Georgia Tech's engineering dean, the college advanced from being ranked 11th to being ranked 3rd by U.S. News & World Report. SysteCon, an engineering consulting firm he co-founded, changed the way material handling systems were designed for manufacturing and distribution from experience-based to requirements-driven by employing computer-based design and analysis algorithms. White's leadership of NSF's Engineering Directorate resulted in his receipt of its Distinguished Service Award. His leadership experience includes membership on boards of directors for Eastman Chemical Company, J. B. Hunt Transport Services, Logility, Motorola, Motorola Solutions, and Russell Corporation, as well as leading the American Association of Engineering Societies, Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers, National GEM Consortium, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Foundation, Council of Presidents of the Southeastern Universities Research Association, and Southeastern Conference, among others. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, the author's bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees are from the University of Arkansas, Virginia Tech, and The Ohio State University, respectively. He holds honorary doctorates from George Washington University and Katholieke Universitiet of Leuven in Belgium.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
It's full of witty advice, humorous life situations, aha moments, and long-term thinking!
As an immigrant female myself, it has been incredibly encouraging how Dr. White emphasizes the inevitability of promoting diversity in leadership circles! Dr. White was supporting diversity/female leaders way before it was a cool thing to do.
Dr. White's book called me out on a few things which I found so helpful for work productivity, one of the things being keeping the to-do list short (busy vs productive).
As a former student, I thought I knew Dr. White's biography well, but it was fun to uncover the unknown chapters of his life in the book.
Besides the wisdom shared in Why It Matters, there are so many amazing book suggestions mentioned in the chapters for further reading that Dr. White quotes from.
Overall, the most precious part about this book and what it relays is that --- after all the challenges and hardships, Dr. White stayed human, kind, compassionate!
Being smart and successful is not that impressive anymore, but staying human is.
Waiting for part II of Why It Matters!
His insightful analytical comments from his frequent interaction with giants in the business world……presents the reader with a unique opportunity to experience an in-depth analysis as to the how they deal with difficult management decisions…. presented by an individual with just a remarkable history in academia and industry.
His insights are remarkable!
But I would like to add a little known significant element to John’s storied career …. which hopefully will help the reader better understand the phenomenal achievements of this unique individual…and why his thoughts in this wonderful tome are made even more meaningful, considering the additional context.
We are in the energy business in California……our 40 year old medium size company, Inland Energy led the development of the High Desert Power Plant…...the first combined cycle power generation facility in California…...830 Megawatts……$650 MM….located in Victorville…. recipient of the 2003 Power Magazine Power Plant of the Year…. which created a close association with Southern California Edison (SCE)…. the nation’s largest electric utility…. our “customer”. We also developed five other plants in California…..and two in Africa.
We also were working with various developers on major wind projects in Wyoming…. with the objective of long transmission to LA……transmission cables became a focus.
We were contacted by one of the world’s largest transmission cable manufacturers…. Hengtong Inc. in Hangzhou China……. both electrical and fiber …… wanted to crack the US markets.
We reached out to SCE…… …. who advised, consideration/acceptance of any “new” transmission cables must have a “NEETRAC” (National Electric Energy Testing, Research and Application Center) seal of approval.
Then we learned ……most transmission cables in the US…. both electrical and fiber.…. to be “approved for use"…. must be “tested, evaluated, and endorsed” by NEETRAC.
NEETRAC is an affiliation of Georgia Power and the College of Engineering at Georgia Tech…. formed in ’96….. which, uniquely, sets the standard for quality transmission standards for the US…as well as recognized in much of the world. Most US utilities and all large US cable manufacturers are members.
We learned from Edison President, Ron Nichols, “Obtain approval from NEETRAC, then….we are “receptive” to the proposed cables”.
John White joined the Georgia Tech Engineering faculty in ’74, becoming Dean in 1991…. where he served until 1997.
NEETRAC executives (led by Dr Nigel Hampton) credits John as having the vision to propel the association to national and international significance.
Today, the Global standard for “Quality” in transmission and fiber optics cables……is NEETRAC.
John White was instrumental in establishing those standards.
John was an undergraduate with me in Industrial Engineering at Arkansas in the 60’s.
In the world of electric power generation and transmission……his elevation of NEETRAC to national/global stature is a seminal moment in setting the quality standards for the power industry.
NEETRAC seal of approval is now the unequaled global standard for quality transmission assurance.
Enjoy his book…...knowing …..this amazing individual….in addition to his many other recognized achievements …...unimaginably elevated the quality standards of the global transmission industry.
Wm Buck Johns, President, Inland Energy Inc, Newport Beach CA.