Teaching by Heart summarises the author's key insights gained over 40 years of teaching. It illustrates how teachers can both lift people up and let them down. It proposes that the best teachers are also leaders, and the best leaders are also teachers.
The best teachers are leaders, and the best leaders are teachers.
Teaching by Heart summarizes the author's key insights gained from more than forty years of teaching and managing. It illustrates how teachers can both lift people up and let them down. It proposes that the best teachers are also leaders, and the best leaders are also teachers.
In examining how to lead and teach, renowned Harvard Business School professor Thomas J. DeLong takes the reader inside his own head and heart. He notes that, as teachers, we often focus more on our inadequacies and missteps than on our strengths and unique talents. He explains why this is so by dissecting and analyzing his own experiences--using himself as a case study.
The book's goal is to help readers learn about the intricacies of teaching and managing, and to impart lessons about how teachers can create a unique teaching atmosphere. To do this, the author analyzes the process of creating a curriculum, preparing for an eighty-minute class, managing the fifteen minutes before class begins, and evaluating the nature of the teaching experience after the session concludes.
Along the way, he connects specific classroom behaviors with leadership issues--in organizations, in teams, and in personal relationships. He also asks--and answers--some provocative questions, such as:
- What happens on multiple levels when I teach or lead--with me, students, or professionals?
- What am I thinking and feeling as I process what students are thinking and feeling?
- How are my internal conversations affecting how I teach and lead?
- How do I manage my biases, including having "favorite" students?
- To what extent can I use teaching methods in the arena of management?
Throughout Teaching by Heart, DeLong discusses why empathy and authenticity matter. When teachers embrace this mindset, students have the opportunity to have a unique learning experience. Teachers and managers will learn how to create moments of transformation for students.
Whether you're a university professor, a student, a business leader, or just someone fascinated by teaching, this book will instruct, entertain, and--hopefully--inspire.
Named a "Best Leadership Book of 2020" by Leadership Now
Advance Praise for Teaching by Heart:
"We should all know what makes teachers great, and how they can move us to think about our own roles as leaders. Tom DeLong is the right person to do this. I'm struck by his honesty and willingness to show, in captivating detail, his own vulnerability--a radical act that will alter readers of Teaching by Heart." -- Ophelia Dahl, Cofounder and Chair, Board of Directors, Partners in Health
"Tom DeLong lives at the intersection of the art and science of teaching and leading. Anyone facing leadership challenges will learn unique approaches on how to teach and lead to enhance their organization. Teaching by Heart is a must-read." -- David A. Thomas, President, Morehouse College
"Tom DeLong has written a beautiful, powerful, and inspiring book. It's both a memoir and an instruction manual--a how-to guide for great teaching and a testament to the unparalleled joy that both teaching and learning can bring. Every teacher, regardless of their students' age or the subject matter they teach, should read this book." -- Debora L. Spar, Professor, Harvard Business School; former President, Barnard College
"The one characteristic that all of Tom DeLong's classes have in common is the extent to which students are touched emotionally. All of us are lucky Tom has taken the time to share the secrets that come from forty years of masterful teaching." -- Leonard A. Schlesinger, Professor, Harvard Business School; President Emeritus, Babson College
"Teaching by Heart is both a compelling personal story and a feast of insights into teaching, learning, and leading. While I've been the beneficiary of Tom's perceptive advice over the last two decades, it was still thought provoking to experience the rich, holistic framework that underlies his wise counsel. You can't put this book down." -- Martha S. Samuelson, CEO and Chairman, Analysis Group
"I've never met another teacher like Tom DeLong. He possesses qualities rarely seen at any level in academia or the business world: a generosity of spirit, an eagerness for deep interaction, and a willingness to show his own vulnerability. This book will enable readers to learn the invaluable skill of leading, teaching, and inspiring simultaneously." -- C. Allen Parker, General Counsel, Wells Fargo
