The Arc of Ambition: Defining the Leadership Journey

by James Champy

Book Overview

In business -- or in any endeavor -- ambition is the spirit of onward and upward, of striving for something worth achieving. It is the driving force behind all great experiments and risk-takings, triumphs and failures. For authors Jim Champy and Nitin Nohria, it is also the instinctive quality that makes the difference between mere management and leadership. Drawing from original interviews with contemporary figures from many walks of life -- including...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738204277
• ISBN13: 9780738204277
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Westview Publishing
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

The Arc of Ambition offers encouragement and entertainment.

Mr. Champy and Mr. Nohria have managed to weave a path through history, business, science, psychology and pleasure with this book. Offering insights and theories into the characteristics of ambition allows readers to see that achievement is possible for anyone willing to make the commitment, while the stories behind each stage in the arc show that success is not merely a "magic moment" that is reserved for or inherited by a select few.The Arc of Ambition is as entertaining to read as it is enlightening. The stories of other peoples' journeys take this well beyond Ambition 101 and integrate it into our everyday world. The book encourages each of us to carefully examine our dreams and ideas, and to consider the joy of creating something of value for the future.This is a must read for everyone, from young people entering college to those of us coping with the daily frustrations of the business world. It offers a path to making a difference.

Road Map for Successful Leadership

Champy and Nohria energize individual seeds of ambition by highlighting stories of a diverse group from Dhirubhai Hirachand Ambani, Michael Dell, Guiseppe Garibaldi, Akio Morita, Thomas Jefferson, Henry Ford, Napoleon, Alfred Sloan to Samuel Moore Walton. Those mentioned range from the self-centered to the selfless, all defining a future in their own way. As an example, the authors tell the pivotal Rosa Parks-like incident that transformed an ordinary Indian barrister into an avowed crusader to end discrimination of every kind, a crusade that would transform India. The barrister with the first-class ticket, who protested the demand that he move to the car for the "colored" people, was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The "Mahatma" (great soul) as he came to be called, fought and won an unselfish battle against unjust deprivation of human dignity for people of India, eventually winning independence for India from British rule in 1947.Champy and Nohria lead here a call to action that anyone can come forward and invent the future, someone needs to do it, and anyone can be that someone.Bravo!

Travelling the Arc

Nohria and Champy do an admirable job of examining the power and potential of ambition. Not easy ground as ours is a culture that is almost embarrassed by the word. Ambition is negative. Ambition consumes. Ambition is selfish.History shows otherwise and Nohria and Champy use historical case studies to dramatic effect. Yes, ambition has been at the core of some figures we could have done without. But, so too did it burn in many who made massive contributions to mankind.It was downright merciful of the authors not to bury us in the typical motivational pap that usually greets us when matters of business and character meet.Overall, a clever treatment of a tough subject that manages to both educate and entertain.

The Tension of Human Ambition Unresolved

Humans have a natural distaste for experiences of tension. We tend to want to resolve the tension by giving into one of the forces. The topic of ambition, particularly in America, is one fascinating tension: we believe deeply in the power of the individual to rise above humble means and yet, we tend to resent those who have achieved great wealth, e.g. Bill Gates. Ambition has its seemy side and its positive side. Ambition implies that there is competition and in that competition, there will be some who come out on top. This is the tension of ambition in a capitalistic society and economy. As a result, any author who dealt with ambition would be tempted to slide toward either extreme: ambition is good or ambition is evil. Champy and Nohria successfully fail to resolve the tension for the reader. They lift up the amazing trait of ambition with biographical examples and describe the occasionally ambiguous trait with other essential traits without questioning the motives or ethics of ambitious people. Their thesis is that ambition is the driver for success in the world. Fortunately, they use a broad definition of success by profiling artists, businessmen, social activists, religious leaders, etc. They describe the three phases of the arc of ambition: the upward incline with its accompanying struggles, the peak of success and the inevitable decline that eventually occurs in each ambitious person's life. Their profiles help the reader understand each phase, the supporting experiences and traits and the opportunities and risks of each one. The authors have written a business book that is not written with common, stale prose. While it is not as exciting to read as a Tom Peters book, it is definitely far from a Peter Senge anesthetic. They also assume an intelligent reader who can draw his or her own conclusions about the nature of ambition. After reading this book, I have been very encouraged and excited about where I am currently at on my arc of ambition. I have a better understanding of what I am doing and how I am wired. This is a worthwhile read.

That distinguishing quality....that defining moment.....

Generally,a healthy sceptic of management philosophies - especially when it comes to implementing them in real life -I found the book provocative and eye-opening.Champy and Nohria have managed to effectively pinpoint that "ineffable quality", possessed by leaders, across time and chosen paths. The creativity of ideation, the pioneering courage to follow it through and also, importantly, the ability to let go. Teaching, demonstrating and implementing leadership principles is at best an elusive, challenging process. The book coalesces similarities possessed by leaders(fleshed out by invorating examples from the political, business and social spheres), and lays them out in a crisp, easy to understand fashion. The title says it all. The reader after having read the book, is strongly tempted to pick it up and read it again.Some day more management books will be written this way.