How This Book Came About

The DNA of Leadership came out of my undying need to understand human and organizational behavior. There was so much I didn’t agree with as I went through my education and training, and finding a new way to piece it all together has been an ongoing journey.

I was introduced to the “nature versus nurture” debate when I was a research fellow in human behavior and development at Drexel University. My graduate research clearly demonstrated that nature has to be nurtured for it to unfold. We studied children who lived in orphanages without a family core. What we found was that the circumstance of being abandoned was not as important as the atmosphere created by the caregivers. When social workers gave orders to children, punished them, or, even worse, ignored them, they developed poorly, both physically and psychologically. They withdrew, and focused solely on survival. On the other hand, when the environment nurtured the children and encouraged individual expression, the children were excited abo....