Jesus CEO: Using Ancient Wisdom for Visionary Leadership

Laurie Beth Jones is President and founder of The Jones Group, an advertising, marketing, and business development firm whose mission is "to recognize, promote, and inspire divine excellence." With her partner, Mary Ellen Dempsey, and a team of highly energized experts, they specialize in health care marketing.

Listed in the International Who's Who, Laurie is a former president of the El Paso chapter of American Women in Radio and Television, was among the first Most Notable Women of Texas, was named an Outstanding West Texas Scholar, and is an alumna of Leadership El Paso and Lead San Diego. She has won numerous awards in design, copywriting, poetry, speech, and racquetball. She lives in California.

This book may surprise many readers, who, from the title, might expect one more contribution to the genre of religious handbooks for corporate success (meaning, how Jesus can make you wealthy). But the book delivers an often insightful series of meditations on Jesus' interpersonal style, focusing on what set him apart as a leader. In a nonacademic way, Jones has contributed to an academic tradition of leadership studies that focus on characters from the so-called great books. To my knowledge, Jesus has not been a popular subject for such studies, but the success of the movement with which he is associated makes him a plausible candidate. This book's strength lies in its ability to surprise two very different groups of readers: those put off by a title slanted toward corporate success and those attracted by the title's promise of a step-by-step guide to such success. To the extent that Jones comes from left field to surprise both groups, she practices what she preaches. Along the way, she dispenses practical and pithy advice for anyone (whether CEO or not) who works with other people to get things done. Steve Schroeder