Innovation and enchantment are back in the Second Edition of The Merlin Advantage! This faster and leaner version is perfect for leaders who want a fresh roadmap to unlocking high performance and human flourishing. Up-to-date content, new citations, quotes, and lessons learned re-ignite the powerful insights of the inaugural edition. For leaders eager to pioneer lasting organizational change, the journey begins with The Merlin Advantage.
If you missed the first edition, The Merlin Advantage introduces Integral Process Leadership (IPL) - a strengths-based, collaborative framework anchored in emotional intelligence, personality theory, and positive psychology. IPL explains that at a deep, neuropsychological level people naturally excel at different things – things which become most evident in leadership roles. Traditional leadership principles remain essential, but they are incomplete, even problematic, without the counterbalance of Integral Process Leadership.
Prepare to be enchanted, inspired, and challenged once again!
Praise for the First Edition....
John Van Dreal
5.0 out of 5 stars No wizardry here . . . just substance and realistic guidance for contemporary leadership.
Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2020Verified Purchase
Leadership is the most evergreen of business and public service topics, yet successful leadership remains difficult to master. With the Merlin Advantage, Seth Elliott has blended the musings of theorists, psychologists, and pragmatists to guide today’s leaders as they find their place navigating a workforce filled with diversity, job-surfing young adults, and ambitious employees empowered by technology and self-actualization. His writing is filled with examples, conversations, and anecdotes that are realistic and memorable, and his lessons range from broad and philosophical to specific and practical. Elliott’s book concerns itself with how organizations can balance leaders or shift a leader’s perspective and style to greatly improve the workplace environment, outcomes and performance, and job satisfaction while enhancing educational and personal growth.
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Humanware 3.0. Perennial wisdom for visionary leaders and daring organizations.
Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2020Verified Purchase
This is definitely not another paint-by-numbers leadership book anchored in the magical thinking that you can solve adaptive human problems using technical, strategic solutions. Elliott bravely and unabashedly dives into the messiness of human and organizational development with a fresh, courageous perspective that is both wise and pragmatically hopeful. If you’re at all interested in the cutting edge of sustainable human capital development and have wondered how you can take things to the next level for yourself and your organization...read this book!
Wow
5.0 out of 5 stars Impactful
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2020Verified Purchase
Revolutionary. In recent years I have noticed "emotional intelligence" becoming ever more popular/important in business and orginazations. However, after reading this book E.I. was just the beginning. This book opens ideas that will drastically increase an orginizations competitive edge by allowing them to leverage individuals strengths purposefully and consistently. Every orginization should read this book.
Quotes from the Book
“Integral Process Leadership holds new promise for the issues that continue to dominate the HR and leadership development landscape, including, but not limited to, culture, psychological safety, employee experience, innovation, engagement, creativity, and burnout.”
“…. unfortunately, organizations continue to accept character and competency-based development paradigms where one person, with the proper training, can embody and consistently demonstrate world class leadership across an array of skills, attitudes, and traits. Doubling down on this, it is believed that rock star leaders can be replaced through pipelines of similarly gifted unicorns to ensure founding culture remains intact, financial performance endures, innovation flows on, and high-talent employees stay engaged."
“I am not sure if Plato was being facetious, or clairvoyant, or if he was in conversation with Hippocrates about bodily humors and leadership potential. Nonetheless, he was clear that kings and philosophers were fundamentally different, and that good philosophy may be in short supply among leaders due to a seemingly intractable paradox. Similarly, Scott M. Peck once noted that people thought Adlai Stevenson was ‘an egghead’ and ‘would not make a good president precisely because he was a contemplative man, given to deep thinking and self-doubts.’ Those were the days.”
“That winners are followed, does not make them leaders.”
“Attempts to depersonalize, sterilize and control workplaces by minimizing social-emotional realities is a reflexive and ever-evolving attempt by the prevailing leadership class to outrun a lack of capacity for cooperative energy.”