About the Book
What if your team or organization could create the same effortless synergy that enables flocks of geese to travel thousands of miles in coordinated, efficient formations?
Leadership expert Jacquelyn Freedman reveals the key to supercharging your company's performance: updraft - the aerodynamic lift that comes off a bird's wingtips and enables them to make their amazing migration journeys.
Updraft: The Aerodynamics of Great Leadership offers powerful tools for leaders seeking to create environments where individuals and teams operate synergistically, generating a continuous "updraft" that lifts everyone's performance. Freedman teaches leaders to think of themselves not as commanders but as the catalyst that transforms groups into committed, passionate, forward-thinking teams. The result is smoother collaboration, reduced friction, and the amplified power of collective effort.
You will find Updraft to be both an inspiring read and a blueprint for actionable change. The book is particularly relevant today as leaders focus on reimagining organizations to create modern, inclusive workplaces that inspire a multi-generational workforce. Her fresh approach focuses on leadership's impact, emphasizing that it's the environment you create that dictates your team's potential for success.
Updraft: The Aerodynamics of Great Leadership is a refreshingly uplifting look at how great leaders inspire great performance. Through real-life examples, thought-provoking exercises, and a refreshing dose of humor, you'll learn how to reach and exceed your organization's loftiest goals.
Wondering how you go about creating updraft in your organization?
First Understand the Aerodynamics: As the lead bird, it is imperative that you create updraft. To do that, you need to understand what it is and how critical you are, both as an individual and as a leader, in creating it.
Then Achieve Liftoff: To harness the power of updraft, your organization must get off the ground so you need to create a culture that can fly. Be prepared to shed the beliefs and behaviors that may be undermining your efforts.
And finally Determine your Heading: To remain aloft, you need to know how to inspire the kind of forward motion that spurs progress and generates thrust.
Updraft is an enlightening and entertaining guide that will transform your approach to leadership and inspire you to take your organization to new heights.
About the Author :
JACKIE FREEDMAN's fascination with great leadership started early. In her very first position, she was responsible for a staff of over 125 and saw firsthand how leadership's attitudes and behaviors affected people's performance and corporate results. Now, as a leadership consultant, she works with leaders and their teams, equipping them with the knowledge and insights they need to successfully navigate organizational growth. She has had the pleasure of working with a wide variety of organizations including Merck & Co., J.P. Morgan, Dun & Bradstreet and Morgan Stanley. Jackie lives with her wonderful husband and a small menagerie, right in the path of the Canada geese's Atlantic Flyway.
Review :
"A provocative read on how any organization, including yours, can perform at the highest levels. Updraft brings you face-to-face with the real reasons why your organization isn't performing at the level you want, and fixes it. Get your whole leadership team reading this book -- your company's success depends on it."
-- Mike Michalowicz, Author of Profit First
"Freedman delivers an engaging, insightful, fresh look at great leadership. Updraft is a terrific read for anyone interested in taking their organization to the next level."
-- SHAUN VAN VLIET, Managing Director, Consilium Associates, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc.
"Successful organizations require superior leadership. Those who aspire to lead can acquire leadership skills the hard way through painful mistakes. Or they can read Updraft, a thoughtful, fresh, often entertaining book, based on the author's extensive consulting experience. I enthusiastically recommend the latter course!"
-- HUGO SONNENSCHEIN, President Emeritus, University of Chicago
"A valuable book for anyone interested in effective leadership. Updraft contains a remarkable collection of proven strategies and true-life examples from the author's experience as a facilitator, advisor, consultant and coach working with business owners and executives. Through clever and often humorous writing, the reader is encouraged to self-evaluate, grow, learn and most importantly empower others to achieve. This is a powerful tool. It demands your attention, gives practical advice, steps to follow, and guidance so that you too can become a great leader, enjoy the process and soar to great new heights."
-- LEI LEI, PhD, Dean, Rutgers Business School, Rutgers University
"Every company is trying to figure out how to increase creativity. In Updraft, Jackie Freedman highlights the connection between leadership, engagement and innovation and explains why innovation may not be at the levels you want. Moreover, she shows you what you can do to create a culture that fosters creativity, leading to the innovation that will keep your organization growing."
-- RICHARD BRANTON, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Merck & Co., Inc.
