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 through cultivating the heroic arts.

Ellsworth’s interest in heroic leadership began when he joined a fraternity in college and experienced hazing. He then promised himself that he would work to end hazing in his fraternity; when that didn’t pan out, as he shares on these pages, he vowed to take it to a higher level. Today, he 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 integrate them.

After sharing his own personal story of hazing in Build Without Tear Down, Ellsworth asks all of us to speak up when we see what’s wrong in 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 begin our own personal hero’s journeys. He points out that change in an organization has to start with the individual, quoting Gandhi’s famous phrase “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” As Joseph Campbell describes among the key elements of any hero’s journey, the hero must first learn something about himself, and then return with the new knowledge about himself to share with others. Ellsworth explains how to undertake that heroic journey for ourselves so that we are stronger, wiser, and better equipped 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 said, that “where your talents and the needs of the world intersect, your calling is found.”

Building Without Tearing Down is divided into five parts: Breaking Out of the Hazing, Challenging the Status Quo, Applying the Heroic Arts, Confronting the Forces Against You, and Changing Your World. Next, each part is divided into several chapters. For example, Part IV: Facing the Forces Against You is divided into chapters on facing your enemies, facing your fears, falling flat on your face, deciding to get up, and breaking through. Ellsworth guides us through each step or process on the journey to becoming a hero in our own lives. Each chapter also contains exercises with reflective 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’ll just mention a few highlights here. One thing about Build Not Tear Down that really interested me was the experiences of the Ellsworth fraternity. Having 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 to help society. usually. He says the original founders of the fraternities “believed that if the idea succeeded, it would create a lasting movement that would feed the hungry, clothe the poor, and provide comfort and medicine to the sick, all while providing life-changing services.” “. experiences to people within the movement.” Unfortunately, the hazing is a sign that many of these organizations have strayed from that ideal, but Ellsworth is working to change that, and we can all do the same, whether it’s a fraternity to the we belong to or 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 solace in their less than flattering moments. For example, he shares with us how during the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King, Jr. was 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 tear down the Berlin Wall achieved nothing, but when ordinary people decided they were going to walk through the gates of the wall, despite being told they would be killed, they banded together and finally exerted the social pressure that caused the fall of the wall.

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

Ellsworth argues that not only can each of us be a hero, but the world needs each of us to be a hero, citing the story of a sweatshirt he recently received that features more than 90 different superheroes. He loves the shirt because it reminds him that “the challenges facing our world 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 facing our world.” In other words, we can’t wait for someone with Superman or Wonder Woman abilities to save us. Each of us must do part of it to make this world a better place.

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