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SLOW LEADERSHIP by Adrian W. Savage

SLOW LEADERSHIP

Creating a Civilized Workplace

by Adrian W. Savage

ISBN: 0-9788467-0-2

A warm salute to conducting business with the brakes on.

Savage, who has toiled for years in the trenches of the corporate world, brings the enticements of the slow-food movement–to reflect upon deeply and savor what one is doing–to bear on another aspect of life that is equally quotidian: working. In the frenzy to meet the latest unreasonable bottom line, he says, we are burning out, compromising and ever-anxious–the perfect environment to encourage dubious behavior and practices. Business ethics–indeed, life ethics–have been shelved as we race for short-term results. Slow down, says Savage; good decision-making can’t be rushed. It requires a firm grasp of the situation, and that requires due time and thought: “Slow Leadership isn’t slow for the sake of slowness. It’s slow because worthwhile and healthful ways of conducting business–and especially dealing with the people involved–can’t be hurried…It takes time to consider information fully, think through alternatives and their consequences, and make certain that nothing foreseeable has been missed or ignored.” Finding a balance between work and life outside work is essential for your family, health and sanity. Everyone, from CEO to clerk, benefits from patience and restraint, trust, appreciation and gratitude. In such a milieu, Savage notes, creativity will have time to flower and hard work will be more than just window dressing. Decency and happiness breed good character, an important quality in business dealings that command respect in the pursuit of success.

Sure to be ignored by those who need it most, but Savage offers bright, humanistic business thinking.