Dilemmas of leadership Chapter one
The revisor’s dilemma. What to leave out
I’ve finished a careful examination of chapter 1 of Dilemmas of Leadership, edition 3.
Two important issues to be considered.
What to leave out
The basic chapter structure.
An unexpected dilemma. What to leave out? My notes already suggest clarifications and improvements. But I am contracted to produce a work of approximately the same size as the last edition, with an expected wood length of 125,000 words.
I see more clearly that the reader is expected to take in far too much unfamiliar information and concepts.
As I thought, the reader is not given enough explanations in the introduction to understand the importance of terms used throughout the book. There is a need to simplify the contents of each chapter which follow a similar pattern.
The shared framework could and should be simplified. This calls for a basic chapter redesign including the introduction.
This replicated structure could be achieved by simplifying the presentation of the concepts, and use of acronyms, particularly POUs and CMs.
This vital change is one where I would particularly make only after further study, and completion of an examination of all twelve chapters of the third edition.
My starting suggestion would be as follows.
STUDY MATERIALS
With two sub headings
Platforms of Understanding (POUs)
Contextual Materials (CMs)
Comments on both length and structure welcomed.
