Teaching by Heart: One Professor's Journey to Inspire

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. In examining how to lead and teach, author 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 failures than on our strengths and accomplishments. He deconstructs why this is so by dissecting and analysing his own experiences. The book's goal is to help readers learn what makes a great teacher and to impart lessons about how teachers can create magic during a class session. To do this, the author analyses the process of creating a curriculum, preparing for an 80-minute class, managing the 15 minutes before class begins, and evaluating the nature of the teaching experience. Along the way, he connects specific classroom behaviours with leadership issues - in organisations, teams, and one's own life. He also asks--and answers--some provocative questions, such as: What happens on multiple levels while I am teaching? What am I thinking and feeling as I process what students are thinking and feeling? How are my internal conversations affecting how I teach? How do I manage my biases, including having "favourite" students? Whether you're a teacher, student, business leader, or just someone fascinated by teaching, this book will instruct, entertain, and - like the best teachers - inspire.

About the Author :
Thomas J. DeLong is the Baker Foundation Professor of Management Practice in the Organizational Behavior unit at Harvard Business School. Since 1997 DeLong has taught over twenty thousand MBAs and executives, both on campus and around the globe, and is internationally recognized for his teaching, writing, and course development. The author of Flying Without a Net, DeLong teaches courses focused on leadership, organizational behavior, managing human capital, and career management. He received his PhD from Purdue University and was a visiting scholar at MIT. To learn more about the author, visit: hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=6445

Review :
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