LEADing Small Business: Business Growth through Leadership Development

'The top 50 US corporations lose $50 billion a year through failed strategy implementation, i.e. poor leadership. Without effective leadership, even the most outstanding growth strategies will fail. But whilst no one has succeeded in defining precisely what leadership is, there are nonetheless common elements that this book has brilliantly identified in the context of SMEs. The two ingredients of profitable growth are: a robust, customer-centred strategy and inspirational leadership. They go hand in hand. They are inseparable. I will recommend this excellent book to all my SME clients.'
- Malcolm McDonald, Cranfield University School of Management, UK

This is one of the first books to fully value and realise the connection between leadership and learning in SMEs. It provides a real-life narrative, encapsulating the development of business people on a leadership programme for SME managers, whilst explaining the key theories, models and techniques that underpin the leadership methods and approaches deployed at each stage of the delegate's journey. The book follows three owner/managers over a ten-month period. Each chapter splits into two - an aesthetic narrative on the learning journey and a 'theory sandwich', which draws the reader's attention to the theories, models and debates underpinning the learning at each stage of the delegate's journey.

Academics as well as students will benefit from the research-based examination of leadership learning in the SME context, as it will allow them to stand in the shoes of owners or managers. Policy makers and practitioners will also find the narrative both revealing and informative.