Stand Your Ground - by Evan Offstein (Paperback)

About the Book

West Point is the ideal laboratory for studying the dynamics of character, honor, and leadership: first, it operates a comprehensive honor education and enforcement program that has been subjected to rigorous Congressional scrutiny; second, it builds all of its academic, athletic, and military programs on this bedrock of honor. As a result, West Point invests heavily in mentoring, training, and evaluation to ensure the leadership and character development of its 4,000 cadets. From Civil War General Robert E. Lee to astronaut Edwin E. Buzz Aldrin to basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, West Point has groomed leaders whose contributions far exceed the successful management of their immediate charges. By illuminating the principles by which West Point teaches leadership, Stand Your Ground not only provides a unique tour behind the scenes at this revered institution, but, more generally, imparts lessons of honor and character-building that can be adopted by any aspiring leader.

Management professor and West Point graduate Evan Offstein approached leaders at the U.S. Military Academy and the Department of the Army with two primary questions: (1) How does West Point develop its leaders?; (2) Can other individuals and organizations apply these methods effectively? Two years later, after conducting extensive on-site research at West Point and with business leaders in a variety of industries, he offers unprecedented access to the process of leadership development at West Point, and practical insights that can, indeed, be applied in any type of organization that strives to operate on the principle of integrity.

Book Synopsis

West Point is the ideal laboratory for studying the dynamics of character, honor, and leadership: first, it operates a comprehensive honor education and enforcement program that has been subjected to rigorous Congressional scrutiny; second, it builds all of its academic, athletic, and military programs on this bedrock of honor. As a result, West Point invests heavily in mentoring, training, and evaluation to ensure the leadership and character development of its 4,000 cadets. From Civil War General Robert E. Lee to astronaut Edwin E. Buzz Aldrin to basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, West Point has groomed leaders whose contributions far exceed the successful management of their immediate charges. By illuminating the principles by which West Point teaches leadership, Stand Your Ground not only provides a unique tour behind the scenes at this revered institution, but, more generally, imparts lessons of honor and character-building that can be adopted by any aspiring leader.

Management professor and West Point graduate Evan Offstein approached leaders at the U.S. Military Academy and the Department of the Army with two primary questions: (1) How does West Point develop its leaders?; (2) Can other individuals and organizations apply these methods effectively? Two years later, after conducting extensive on-site research at West Point and with business leaders in a variety of industries, he offers unprecedented access to the process of leadership development at West Point, and practical insights that can, indeed, be applied in any type of organization that strives to operate on the principle of integrity.

Review Quotes

"Drawing on research he conducted at the United States Military Academy at West Point and with business leaders in a variety of industries, Offstein gives access to the process of leadership development at West Point and offers insights that can be applied in any type of organization that strives to operate on the principle of integrity." --Reference & Research Book News

"[O]ne of the most relevant and applicable responses to recent leadership breakdowns at such places as Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, and Abu Ghraib. . . . Stand Your Ground delivers a message that began with our founding fathers, but which has been silenced in the last several years. In Stand Your Ground, Offstein provides compelling evidence that true leadership is first built on honor and that future leadership lapses well chronicled in the recent episodes occurring at Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, and GlobalCrossing, could never again occur if West Point's model of honorable leadership development is followed. Given the almost limitless amount of leadership books that offer hollow promises and which have accomplished little to improve our current state of leadership, Offstein's Stand Your Ground stands apart as one of the choice few books capable of transforming leaders at all levels and across organizations." --PR Newswire US

"This book is an excellent description of what an honorable leader should look like and how to get there. . . . It is recommended for any one who hopes to be an honorable leader, not one who looks only at the bottom line and is filled with greed." --Catholic Library World

About the Author

Evan H. Offstein is Assistant Professor in the Department of Management at Frostburg State University. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and a former military intelligence officer, he also served as an Instructor in the Department of Management, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). He has published articles on leadership, management, and corporate competitiveness in such journals as Business Communication Quarterly, the Journal of Managerial Psychology, the Journal of Engineering and Technology Management and Human Resource Management Review.