Barnabas File

If you assume that Kim Cameron’s book is about making people happy at work, you are shortchanging this contribution to leadership literature.     Cameron’s thesis is this:     All human beings flourish in the presence of light or of positive energy. This is called the heliotropic effect.     The kind of positive energy that usually accounts for the flourishing of individuals and organizations is called relational energy.    In this book, Cameron explains how relational energy is created and enhanced through the demonstration of virtuous actions by leaders.   Those familiar with leadership literature will find a great deal of commonality with the work of others such as Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee in Resonant Leadership but Cameron offers another model for leaders to consider.  His contemporaneous engagement with the pandemic makes his writing especially fresh and engaging.  He reminds us, “In order to effectively mana...