Hearts Touched with Fire: How Great Leaders Are Made

Gergen (Eyewitness to Power), a former White House adviser for four administrations, delivers a scattershot collection of leadership advice. Becoming an excellent leader, he writes, happens in three stages, akin to a hero’s path: the “inner journey,” in which one achieves self-mastery; the outer journey, as one “move[s] from internal preparations for leadership to rubbing up against the outside world”; and the active journey, as one puts what one has learned to work. To illustrate, Gergen offers brief biographies of dozens of historical and contemporary leaders, each paired with key characteristics for success: Ronald Reagan is a paragon of positivity, Ida B. Wells is offered up a beacon of flexibility, Ruth Bader Ginsburg showed grit and ambition, and John Lewis is an example of conviction and humility. Readers are urged to reflect on their own abilities, though the prompts he poses feel a bit phoned in and include “What Are Your Strengths and Weaknesses?” and “How Do You Learn? Are You a Reader or a Listener?” Gergen finishes with a list of takeaways that amount to limp aphorisms (“leadership starts from within,” “give 150 percent”), leaving the book feeling like something of a hodgepodge. This one isn’t worth the price of admission. (May)