By James MarchThe author uses great works of literature to explore the problems of leadership including: War and Peace, Othello, and Don Quixote. He presents moral dilemmas related to leadership, for example the balance between private life and public duties, and between the expression and the control of sexuality. He encourages readers to explore ideas that are sometimes subversive and unpalatable but may allow organizations to adapt in a rapidly changing world. This is a book for leaders, and for those who watch leaders with appreciation, distaste, empathy, and frustration. He shakes the foundations of how we think about leadership. The book will not offer six easy steps to becoming an effective leader, but it will provoke, amuse, challenge, and irritate. It will force a re-think about leadership in ways that will destroy innocence.
Action to reduce the inequalities in health between groups of people is delivering results in some of the gap areas, but not in others. This report from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister focuses on the steps being taken to narrow the health gap by improving the health of the poorest fastest.There has been a narrowing of the gap in death rates from circulatory disease and improvements in death rates from cancer. There has been almost a 10% drop in the rate of under-18 conceptions from 1998 and taking a longer period from 1994 teenage conception rates in the most deprived top tier of local authorities fell faster than in other areas.
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The new action plans for Government Departments for tackling social exclusion will be based on feedback from almost 1000 people who were asked what public services could make a real difference to their lives. The research was part of the Social Exclusion Unit’s work programme to improve the life chances of the worst off in society. The Unit also asked those providing public services how they might make their services work more effectively for disadvantaged groups.Social exclusion is a shorthand term for what can happen when people or areas face a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, discrimination, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime, bad health and family breakdown. These problems are linked and each factor reinforces the other so that they can create a vicious cycle in people’s lives. The research provided an up-to-date picture of social exclusion and identified the key problems that are driving it. They are low educational attainment, economic inactivity, concentrations of worklessness, health inequalities, crime, poor quality environments and homelessness.