by John Stahl-Wert and Ken Jennings
“Ten Thousand Horses brings us a stirring message of the power of trust, of love and of hope at a time when building trust is the greatest challenge before us. We are grateful for this new resource on “how to be a leader” for leaders across the sectors.” — Frances Hesselbein, Founder and President, Leader to Leader Institute
Matt James is in trouble. Recently promoted to head his division, he’s delivered two years of divisional losses in clients, market share, and profits. He knows his workers are talented and creative, but they don’t respond to his efforts to lead them, and he’s on the brink of being fired.
In desperation, he reaches out to an old mentor, David Butler, who now works with wild mustang horses and hard-to-place foster children on a ranch in Colorado. David agrees to work with his former student but only on the condition that Matt comes to him – to the ranch. Matt has no idea what the ranch could possibly have to do with his problems, but David assures him that if he spends some time there, he’ll learn exactly what he needs to know.
Through David’s unorthodox tutelage, Matt discovers that leaders who succeed in engaging their worker do so because they see their day-to-day work as an opportunity to build an organizational culture of engagement. The engagement model is illuminated as Matt comes to understand its components piece by piece – and ultimately discovers how to engage those on his team as well as in his life.
In this inspiring leadership fable, John Stahl-Wert and Ken Jennings draw on their years of experience as consultants and chief executives, as well as on findings from Gallup’s groundbreaking Q12 survey of 4 million workers from 360,000 workgroups, to lay out an innovative leadership model that will turn employees from dutiful drones to committed contributors. But Ten Thousand Horses is also a story of personal transformation. Beyond specific practices and techniques, Matt must learn a whole new way of relating to his employees – because, as he discovers, leading and engaged workforce is as much about who you are as what you do.
Praise for Ten Thousand Horses
“This is a book I couldn’t put down. A book aimed at the heart where all good leadership starts. Stahl-Wert and Jennings have integrated leadership, wisdom, the pain of un-adopted youngsters and the power of forgiveness—all courageously suffused in a lovely story.” — Max De Pree, Member of Fortune Magazine’s National Business Hall of Fame, bestselling author of Leadership Is An Art
“Ten Thousand Horses is vitally important for leaders who want to bring out the very best in their people. Stahl-Wert and Jennings have given us another deeply moving story that offers sure-footed guidance for becoming the kind of leader people want to follow. Read this book!” — Ken Blanchard, Author of The One Minute Manager
“I thought I would scan the book out of courtesy, got hooked and couldn’t put it down until I had read the whole thing, made some notes, and memorized portions. It made me really want to take care of issues I am facing in my real life. The manuscript is filled with gold. I want to thank God for using you to show how to take action with a plan.” — Roosevelt ”Rosey” Grier, Football Legend, Actor, Author, Minister
“Harnessing raw potential has long been a passion of mine. In this seminal work, the authors combine kids, horses, and serving leaders to reveal powerful truths that can change lives worldwide. What could be better than Ten Thousand Horses — all charging in the right direction?” — Laurie Beth Jones, author of Jesus CEO, The Path, and The Four Elements of Success
““It’s a rare business book that combines matters of the heart with great principles for your head. John and Ken have done just this. I loved this book. You will also.” — James H. Amos, Jr., Chairman Emeritus, MBE/The UPS Store, Chairman and CEO, Tasti D’Lite
“Leaders who read this book will learn from a compassionate story about who people are and what motivates them to achieve.” — C. William Pollard, Chairman Emeritus, ServiceMaster
“Ten Thousand Horses is, in one simple, powerful book, the whole story of worker engagement and how to ignite it!” — Fred Harburg, Former Chief Learning Officer and President, Motorola University
“Stahl-Wert and Jennings have captured through this poignant story what it takes to enable high employee engagement that produces sustainable high performance. I heartily recommend this newest work for those who seek to enable uncommon engagement to produce extraordinary results.” — P. Douglas Wilson, Vice President, Global Merger Integration, Boston Scientific Corporation
“Ten Thousand Horses is an inspiring story of a business manager facing failure both at work and at home. Managers from either the private or public sector will find Ten Thousand Horses helpful in improving their leadership capabilities and in transforming their organizations. — William Sterling, CEO and Chief Investment Officer, Trilogy Global Advisors
“In this time of great economic change, every business must outperform its competition and execute as flawlessly as possible. Ten Thousand Horses forcefully addresses that task head-on, and should be read by every leader who wants to make a great impact in their work. Stahl-Wert and Jennings have again brought us a powerful business book and a moving story that will benefit those who use it to improve their operations.” — B. Joseph Pine II, Co-Author, The Experience Economy
“We put Stahl-Wert and Jennings first book, The Serving Leader, to very effective use throughout our company. Their new book, Ten Thousand Horses, is an inspiring roadmap to worker engagement, and will help leaders at every level to help others succeed. Read this book, and hang onto your hat!” — Paul Klaassen, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Sunrise Senior Living
“Leadership is one of the toughest jobs there is. Stahl-Wert and Jennings show that by engaging the employee’s mind, heart and hands in the workplace, the ‘true’ leader can unleash a self-renewing wave of energy, creativity and achievement that ultimately results in a vastly improved bottom line. Enjoy this book. Reflect on its teachings. But, most importantly, use its age old wisdom and make a difference in your life and the lives of people you affect.” — Stan Geyer, Former Chairman and CEO, Entegris, Inc.
“John Stahl-Wert and Ken Jennings “Engagement Equation” of Tx3C=E can be to business leaders what Einstein’s revolutionary equation of E=mc2 was to the scientific community. In Ten Thousand Horses, they share their innovative equation with business leaders of every type of enterprise and organization. It’s an equation that is sure to get workers fully engaged with their job—and keep them engaged!” — Paul J. Meyer, Founder of Success Motivation International, Inc. and 40 plus
other companies, New York Times best-selling author
