PRINCIPLE-CENTERED LEADERSHIP-A BOOK REVIEW

Abstract

The legacies of the ‘Industrial Revolution’ continue to linger in contemporary societies, because some people hold dearly to traditions and the challenge of changing human behaviour. Change is an unknown concept which ignites fear, apprehension, intolerance, resistance and disgust because of its nature. The issue of change does not come with a prescription of the stated reality as it is embedded in the unknown or a futuristic outlook that is concretized in finite results. Change which is “the move away from a present state toward a future state†(Rashid, et al., 2003, 161) is not only labeled in perception as is the fear of the unknown.The Industrial Revolution was fashioned in a paradigm of manufacturing, control of human resource – coordinate, feedback, strategic thinking, and tough conversation –therefore peoples’ thinking was framed around this paradigm (Rodden, 2011). While it was brought to forefront of mainstream thinking by way of major transformation of societies(Rodden, 2011), it is an old paradigm dating back to 800s and early 1900s.  The Industrial Revolution saw a quantum change in manufactured product and what evolved therefrom was a paradigm – principles, procedures and thinking – that focuses on production, control, performance, productivity, and profitability. Although the Information Revolution has occurred after, the legacies of the Industrial Revolution are dominants in organizations and human operations. It is paradigm of the Industrial Revolution that explains, power-over people in management and leadership, the bottom-line (profitability) and production over character ethic such as justice, equity, honesty, integrity and fairness, which Covey believes dominates the Information Revolution (Covey, 1991). He contends that this old paradigm has its remnant in 21^st Century thinking and most organizations and people recognize that there has to be an alternative paradigm as this one is obsolete and is not working. Hence, Covey offers a new paradigm entitled Principle-Centered Leadership which is an alternative to the traditional paradigm. The Principle-Centered paradigm is detailed in the book of name ‘Principle-Centered Leadership’.