James Lucas – författare

Today's managers and leaders are faced with paralyzing challenges. There is never enough time or resources to get everything accomplished, and every organization is constantly being pulled in multiple directions. Every decision has consequences—some immediate, some longer-term. Add to these challenges the politics of corporate culture, where issues of power, influence, and authority are constantly in play. Whether you are a CEO, business owner, department head, team leader, or in any other managerial position, you need to learn how to navigate these treacherous shoals—to be flexible and decisive, supportive and commanding, tactical and strategic. In this fascinating analysis of business life, James Lucas identifies over a dozen fundamental paradoxes of leadership and demonstrates how the greatest leaders embrace, rather than avoid, them. From exercise authority and share power to encourage cooperation and encourage conflict, Lucas shows readers how to pursue seemingly incompatible goals simultaneously and thrive in a world of ambiguity. Whether you are formally in charge or find yourself in a position of de facto influence, this book will open your mind to new ways of solving problems, overcoming inertia, and turning uncertainty into opportunity. For more information and resources, please visit www.paradoxbasedleadership.com.Today's leaders are faced with paralyzing challenges. There is never enough of anything to get everything accomplished. Every decision has consequences—some immediate, some longer-term, all serious. Every organization is constantly being pulled in multiple directions, and our frustration can swell as we see value in all of them. One authority instructs us to take charge, while another tells us to empower our employees. We're instructed to challenge our people with high expectations, and to allow for human error; to tightly align our organizations, and to open them organizations up to all possibilities. We face one crippling dilemma after another. Are we going to do A or B? The answer is yes, we're going to do it all. We're going to have high expectations and high tolerance; strong leadership that takes a back seat; crisp alignment with anarchic creativity. Whether you are a CEO, division or department head, team leader, or entrepreneur, you're going to learn how to navigate these treacherous shoals—to be flexible and decisive, supportive and commanding, tactical and strategic. For more information and resources, please visit www.paradoxbasedleadership.com.Great leaders understand that leadership is a both/and, not an either/or game. In this groundbreaking book, James Lucas demonstrates how to pursue seemingly incompatible goals and thrive in a world of ambiguity. You'll see that, while a paradox seems to require irreconcilable actions, it is only an apparent contradiction. The value comes from seeing through the illusion. You will explore twenty fundamental paradoxes of leadership, culture, talent management, and strategy. You'll learn how to embrace, rather than avoid, these unavoidable paradoxes, examine both sides find practical techniques for avoiding common pitfalls, and ultimately discover creative solutions that reconcile apparently conflicting priorities. Whether you are formally in charge or find yourself in a position of de facto influence anywhere in your organization, this book will open your mind to new ways of thinking and allow you to turn uncertainty into opportunity. You've always sensed that these paradoxes were there. With this book, you'll be able to bring them into the light and make them work for you.

The remarkable and courageous war record of the famous Das Reich 2nd SS Division, a fearsome unit which saw heavy fighting throughout the war, from France to the Eastern Front and back to Germany.The 2nd SS Division was an elite, highly trained, volunteer fighting force, the premier Division of the Waffen SS and far removed from the more familiar SS Nazi Police role. Driven always by the military virtues of courage, duty and loyalty, it saw action in some of the bloodiest battles of the war, in particular on the Eastern Front. It fought a hard war, suffered terrible casualties, and set new standards of battlefield excellence. Through extensive research, James Lucas tells a gripping story of close quarter hand-to-hand combat, of commanders who led from the front, of camaraderie and unit pride.This is a book about the best of soldiers in the worst of times.

Unstoppable and deadly, this is the gripping story of some of the most feared soldiers in the warThe daring, courage and skill of the highly-trained men who spearheaded German assaults in the blitzkrieg of 1940, dropping from the air to seize and overwhelm key invasion points, showed to an alarmed world that a new dimension had been added to the science of warfare.One spectacular success was the invasion and capture of Crete in May 1941, all be it achieved at a terrible price. The German paratroopers were an elite, justifying again and again their great reputation for courage and hard fighting in Russia, North Africa and Italy.Bestselling military historian James Lucas has researched deeply in Allied and German archives and interviewed many of the leading members of the Fallschirmjaegar who survived the war. This is an unmissable and dramatic account of the Second World War's most frightening elite, perfect for readers of James Holland and Max Hastings.

The generals that defined the Nazi WarJames Lucas, military historian and British Army veteran, spoke with many veterans of both Axis and Allied armies, digging deeper into the question of what it is that makes a good soldier. His studies of German forces are some of the most insightful and significant ever undertaken, showing why they were such formidable foes.Here he has selected fifteen of the leading players in Hitler's war effort, including men at or near the top, and describes their role in the German military hierarchy and their performance at strategic or battlefield level.They had, Lucas suggests, an extra dimension, an additional qualityadministrative skill, the ability to motivate, great tactical awareness, originality of thoughtwhich set them apart from others of equal rank. Here his subjects include iconic names like Kesselring, von Manstein, Model, Nehring and Rommel in a riveting book about command, control, military tactics and the hard realities of soldiering.Perfect for readers of Max Hastings or Ian Kershaw.

The year the once all-conquering German army was finally defeated.By the summer of 1944, Germany was in crisis. The Allied landings had forced another battle arena upon an army already fighting on the vast Eastern front. The July bomb plot attempt on Hitler's life made the dictator even more paranoid and suspicious of his own military commanders.In this absorbing study, James Lucas examines the army's changing structure and weaponry throughout this final year of war, and reveals the often surprising measures taken to confront a situation Hitler had never contemplated, and never really accepted.From D-Day to the Battle of the Bulge and on to the Fall of Berlin, the author examines the last battles fought by the German army which had by no means given up its struggle as the Allies swept across Europe, charting the very unique experiences of a military force moving from dominance to defeat.Perfect for readers of Antony Beevor and Max Hastings.

Dawn on Sunday 22 June 1941 saw the opening onslaughts of Operation Barbarossa as German forces stormed forward into the Soviet Union. Few of them were to survive the five long years of bitter struggle.A posting to the Eastern Front during the Second World War was rightly regarded with dread by the German soldiers. They were faced by the unremitting hostility of the climate, the people and even, at times, their own leadership. They saw epic battles such as Stalingrad and Kursk, and yet it was a daily war of attrition which ultimately proved fatal for Hitlers ambition and the German military machine.In this classic account leading military historian James Lucas examines different aspects of the fighting, from war in the trenches to a bicycle-mounted anti-tank unit fighting against the oncoming Russian hordes. Told through the experiences of the German soldiers who endured these nightmarish years of warfare, War on the Eastern Front is a unique record of this cataclysmic campaign.