Customer Reviews

Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I first read this book 4 years ago, the way it just appeared on my kitchen table one day was itself an experience of Synchronicity. I'll never forget my first thought about it, "What could some attorney from Houston have to teach me about leadership?"

But upon cracking its cover, I was transformed. It's impact was enough to inspire me to start my own business within six months with it as a guide. It occupies a prized section of my desk with few other books that have helped me to define myself and what contribution I can do my best with to serve humanity. It is quite simply the best buisness book I've ever read and as such I refer to it regularly.

May we be able to attain its goal of, as page 118 states, "finding the resources of character to meet our destiny, of finding the wisdom and power to serve others."

Rarely I find a book that compells me to read it cover to cover. This one did. I came away from this book feeling as though I made a friend in Joe Jaworski. I shared many of the same stops on my journey - Richard Bach (Johnathan Livingston Seagull), Leo Basgalia (Bus 9 to Paradise), Hugh Prather (Notes to Myself) which I guess made it feel so familiar...I laughed and I cried with this book. "Synchronicity" touched my heart. It speaks to the deepest part of authentic communication. Read it.

My colleagues and I have been designing and facilitating leadership development programs for about 20 years. I've also served as a VP of three Fortune 500 companies. I recommend this book to everyone who is a leader or who wants to be one. Not only does it contain THE secret to true leadership, Mr. Jaworski has written his account so that it reads like a good mystery novel. You wonder what will happen next. And he has written this book from his heart. I hope our paths cross one day soon.

I read the book on the recommendation of a coworker. For me, it opened up my eyes to finding my type of leadership-in my case servant-leadership. His journey of personal reinvention is a joy to read especially as he learns what is truly important in life.

Ideas of Grandiosity.
I would suggest that the individuals mentioned in this book be interviewed for their version of the experiences. Then determine if this book has taken some "fictional" license. But wouldn't we all like to paint a fantastic autobiographical picture of ourselves especially if our lineage had someone truly outstanding in it.

This book should carry the title "Autobiography of Joe Jaworski".
I bought the book because I wanted to know more about Jung's Synchronicity, it is not... I give it 2 stars as a book on synchronicity (for good articles check out the Namaste newsletters by Deepak Chopra) and 4 as a autobiography, that's why the 3 stars on average (no rocket science here).
The conversations with David Bohm are the parts I liked in particular. The rest is the story of a remarkable and impressive career.

I really enjoyed the journey with Mr.Jaworski.Compared to many such management and philosophy books, this one has a personal touch and the contents are magnificient.
After reading this I tried to live each and every moment in my life to get and give maximum output.
It was really an experience and with this I feel the world will definitely become a better place to live.

Just the introduction of this book is enough to change your life. Senge talks of creating "predictable miracles". It's chilling. The notion of not pursuing, of becoming what it is we're looking for, and then letting events unfold is so profound. Jaworski talks of a world of passion without the need to control. He brings that little voice from the bicameral chamber of the mind to the forefront. Get passionate. Go do things. Then listen to the little voice and be available when opportunites or change come your way.

Talking of dreams, magical moments with animals, following hunches and coincidences, dealing with the pains of personal history, talking about life as if it were an adventure story of wonder and self-discovery; you could say this is no way to write a book about business leadership. But thank goodness Joseph Jaworski, with the help of friends and a visionary editor, had the courage to do just that. Because the result is as profound as it is compelling. Dialogue is at the heart of Joe’s leadership philosophy, and the style and integrity of his writing is such that it draws the reader’s mind into just that state. His words are no dry treatise, they leave the page and make a direct emotional connection. Some day, more books will be written this way, and the world will be wiser for it.

Joseph Jaworski was a practicing litigator when he learned about the concept of the "servant leader." Inspired, he left his legal practice and created the American Leadership Forum (ALF), which trains corporate leaders in using the servant-leader model. Synchronicty, which recounts Jaworski's journey, aspires to novelistic drama, and in fact, Jaworski describes the tale in terms of the traditional literary hero's quest. While not exactly the labors of Hercules, anecdotes in which Jaworski talks his way out of a mugging and meets his wife by passing her in an airport are entertaining, but less informative than the author might hope. The book contains a lot of New-Age jargon and collective-consciousness sermonizing. Nevertheless, for managers who want to be something more - leaders - we [...] recommend Synchronicity not as a useful how-to, but rather as a business leader's inspirational biography.