Humanity at Work: Encouraging Spirit and Truth to Flourish in the Workplace

by Santo J. Costa

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1597150487
• ISBN13: 9781597150484
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: Chapel Hill Press
• Length: 163 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Humanity At Work

Excellent read! Humanity at Work will help you develop from a manager into a leader. Sandy has the courage to speak from the heart and can inspire others to be better bosses. This is a smorgasbord of inspirational and valueable lessons and stories that can be used in your organization to change your department or company into a team. Practice what's here and you will be viewed as a down to earth, inspirational leader. Internalize what is here and you will be a better person. An important read for anyone but a must read for a high potential manager that has to improve their people skills. This could change their life. While you are reading it, you'll wish he were your boss. After reading it, maybe that's what people will think of you.

Humanity Works

With the bookstores replete with business, management and leadership titles, it is difficult to separate the insightful from the insipid. With "Humanity at Work", Sandy Costa provides a fresh perspective on the personal qualities necessary to succeed in business, but more importantly to succeed in life. Mr. Costa emphasizes that leaders are great communicators. With "Humanity at Work" he gives us a glimpse his strengths as master communicator in his letters and essays on wide ranging themes. In sharing his thoughts on such topics as empathy, stewardship, loyalty and compassion, Mr. Costa passes on lessons that transcend the business setting and are equally, if not more, important in our relationships outside the office. All of this is done with great humility (another recurring theme in "Humanity at Work"). In the end as Mr. Costa points out, what matters are deeds, not dialogue. Throughout his professional career at Quintiles and other stops along the way, Mr. Costa has practiced what he preached, and the organizations and colleagues he led were the beneficiaries of his unique perspective. With "Humanity at Work" the rest of us can now share in his knowledge and wisdom to the benefit of us personally, and (hopefully) to the benefit of the organizations we manage and lead. I strongly encourage one to read, and reread, "Humanity at Work".

Outstanding Insight

Sandy's book is an amazing look at the greatest words, both biblical and leadership bound, that speak to how the human spirit works and plays. Throughout the read, which will captivate you to read it in one sitting as I did, you'll find a richness in the inner most thoughts exposed by his authorship. Great moments will abound as the reader examines his/her relationship with family, employees, company leadership and even the stranger on the street. If a person is struggling with what is life, love and work about, this book will bring many answers. Having known Sandy for several years the true beauty of the book is that it (the book) is exactly as he really lives. Rich in inspiration, long on dedication and heartfelt in every respect.

Heartfelt Insight

Wisdom, Heartfelt, Integrity, Insight, Humor, Depth .... these are all words that describe this book and its author. You might use this book, one story at a time, to encourage and spark your own personal thought processes as to how to effect Humanity At Work. You might use it to inspire discussion among a group or to convey a concept to a colleague. However you use it, you will probably have favorite passages. As a recipient of these letters over several years, I have two personal favorites. "Miracle" by Phillips Brooks has been a continual item in my email inbox for 10 years. I keep it there to remind myself of how to approach a difficult time. The other, Sandy's musings on pelicans in "A Time to Fly", never fails to put life into perspective and to bring a smile to my mind's eye.

Well worth your time

In their classic work on leadership, The Leadership Challenge, James Kouzes and Barry Posner identify five fundamental practices of exemplary leadership: challenging the process, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, modeling the way and encouraging the heart. In Humanity at Work my former colleague Sandy Costa accomplishes all of these with an extra dose of encouragement. Originally composed as a series of letters to all employees during his tenure as president of Quintiles Transnational Corporation and later continued as an occasional letter to his many friends and former colleagues these are thoughtful and beautifully written essays laced with humor and wisdom. Sandy is remarkably well-read and his considerable knowledge of great, and sometimes obscure, literature comes through throughout. He is also a great storyteller. The letters are arranged in six chapters: Character and Self-Worth, Comprehending the Incomprehensible, Fear and Courage, On Love and Humanity, Faith and Principled Leadership. The chapters on character and self-worth and fear and courage alone are more than worth the price of the book. His candor and self-examination are rare among senior executives in today's world and should serve as a model for those who want to instill a culture that values integrity. This book is well-worth your time.