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Leadership Is an Art

max depree

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In what has become a bible for the business world, the successful former CEO of Herman Miller, Inc., explores how executives and managers can learn the leadership skills that build a better, more profitable organization.

Leadership Is an Art has long been a must-read not only within the business community but also in professions ranging from academia to medical practices, to the political arena. First published in 1989, the book has sold more than 800,000 copies in hardcover and paperback. This revised edition brings Max De Pree’s timeless words and practical philosophy to a new generation of readers.

De Pree looks at leadership as a kind of stewardship, stressing the importance of building relationships, initiating ideas, and creating a lasting value system within an organization. Rather than focusing on the “hows” of corporate life, he explains the “whys.” He shows that the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality and the last is to say thank you. Along the way, the artful leader

• Stimulate effectiveness by enabling others to reach both their personal potential and their institutional potential

• Take a role in developing, expressing, and defending civility and values

• Nurture new leaders and ensure the continuation of the corporate culture

Leadership Is an Art offers a proven design for achieving success by developing the generous spirit within all of us. Now more than ever, it provides the insights and guidelines leaders in every field need.

148 pages, Paperback

First published February 1,1987

This edition

Format
148 pages, Paperback
Published
May 18, 2004 by Crown Currency
ISBN
9780385512466
ASIN
0385512465
Language
English

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About the author

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max depree

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Max De Pree was an American businessman and writer. A son of D. J. De Pree, founder of Herman Miller office furniture company, he and his brother Hugh De Pree assumed leadership of the company in the early 1960s, with Hugh becoming CEO and president in 1962. Max succeeded his brother Hugh as CEO in 1980 and served in that capacity till 1987; he was a member of the company's Board of Directors until 1995. His book Leadership is an Art has sold more than 800,000 copies. In 1992, De Pree was inducted into the Junior Achievement's U.S. Business Hall of Fame. He was involved with the Max De Pree Center for Leadership at Fuller Theological Seminary (established in 1996 as the De Pree Center) since its establishment. He died at his home in Holland, Michigan in 2017.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
31(31%)
4 stars
42(42%)
3 stars
27(27%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
100 reviews All reviews
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madsin92
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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I’m giving this 5 starts, yet I understand why others have not. This is a kind of leadership for the artist (hence the title!). This book is for the thinker more than than the doer, the philosopher more than the worker. Those looking for really practical things will struggle with De Pree’s eloquent, even poetic, approach to leadership. As a pastor, I find De Pree’s perspective on inclusive leadership to be very helpful.
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Nikoran
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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This book was mentioned by my pastor in a sermon. The author, former CEO of Hermann Miller, Max De Pree, describes it as a series of essays. Specifically as a "compendium of ideas about organizational leadership". Indeed, it is a book of ideas and not practices, as he claims.

Although I agree with many of his statements, the book's structure seemed random, without a clear direction. At times, the leadership related terminology used was not familiar (e.g roving leaders, giants) and seemed to be of the author's own making. Also, given the way it was written, it's hard to remember any "take aways". I'm thinking that a month from now I'll probably have forgotten that I read it!

Regardless of its flaws, here are a few of the thoughts that I liked:

-"The measure of leadership is not the quality of the head, but the tone of the body." p. 12
-Contrary opinions are an important source of vitality.
-Having a say differs from having a vote. p. 23
-Style is a consequence of what we believe; what's in our hearts. p. 24
-Leadership is a condition of indebtedness. p. 59
-Leaders are liable for what happens in the future rather than what is happening day to day. p. 102
-Today's performance from a leader succeeds or fails only in the months or years to come
-Leaders tell why rather than how. p. 120

He also speaks of the three key elements in the "art of working together" as how to: deal with change, deal with conflict, reach our full potential.

Beyond these isolated tidbits (which are generally not elaborated on in the writing), I see little value in the book for those reading in the leadership literature. Partially, this may be a function of it's age. We've learned a lot about leadership since 1989. But, it is also it's style. I found it to be weak in it's use of stories and examples. I also found myself not understanding the author's point, regularly. I often re-read paragraphs feeling that it was Confucius-like!
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buastete
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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Highlight, write in the margins, use post its to mark important pages. Whatever you do, this is a great read for anyone in a leadership position or looking to gain a leadership position.
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Eisei-Asuka
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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I actually liked this much more than I thought I would. I'm tired of leadership books with a Christian bent, but this dude seemed really human and open to diversity (though this was written in the 80s, who knows where he would land today). As an anti-capitalist, I was pretty turned off by his love of capitalism...until his explanations. Labor class as owners of the company and involved in the decision-making/management processes? Sounds pretty close to the masses owning the means of production to me.

Ultimately, there is stuff to enjoy in this book, about relationships, honesty, openness, and treating employees as whole people with rights, needs, and talents that they can bring to the table. Unfortunately, the writing is sophomoric, with topics jumping around inconsistently, an overwhelming Christian flavor, and no real information to act on, just thoughts on humanity and how workers can fit into the capitalistic framework of a corporation.
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Inukanura
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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I read this book as a requirement for a class. This is not a book I would have read on my own. I'll start by saying that the book was a very easy read. The author used vocabulary that I could understand and stories that really engaged me in the reading. I did not think that a book on leadership could have sucked me in the way it did. I paid attention to every word.

As for the content itself, the author did an excellent job of expressing leadership as an art which has to be learned and crafted over the years. He backed every principle and point with an example from the company he ran and the examples made sense and did not feel like it was a stretch.

One of the most important things I learned early on in the book is that there is a difference between a manager and leader. The author lays out all of the qualities needed to be a leader with the examples to back them. I feel equipped to identify the qualities of leadership I possess and those I need to work on and how to sharpen those skills.

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breakingnotes
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 1,2025
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While the intention behind this short book is admirable, and DePree's leadership style likely worthy of commendation and emulation, it's hard to know exactly where to put some of his pronouncements. There isn't a lot of depth given to the examples and principles, but there's quite a lot of repetition.

I would have liked him to delve deeper into counter-examples: for instance, his disdain of "pink ice" to use at urinals at an exhibition. Taken in isolation, sure, his point stands that this is frivolous, but... is it? I mean, if it's advertising with the logo, why not? It could be an area others have ignored, maybe Herman Miller is already using every other possible avenue for brand building/recognition, etc.

Without the full context, we have to trust DePree that this is a "tip of the iceberg" type of thought that reveals budding corporate entropy and irrelevance underneath. Has he earned that trust within the context of this book? It is difficult to say, and that's why it's difficult to take some of these lessons as profound or self-evident.

As with describing any "art," there is a decent amount of high-minded piffle. *Because* leadership is an "art," should we just accept that this will always be the case? I thought business leadership was supposed to be about logic, perseverance, and the bottom line. So while I appreciate his softer take on the genre, I remain unconvinced by his mostly-superficial examples.
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