About the Author: Richard G. Lazar,
Dr. Lazar developed the New American Leadership System (NALS) as a character-based, complete, systematically planned program of training and development for leaders and their teams in large and medium sized enterprises. The New American Leadership System was refined and implemented in over thirty years of solid successes within organizations across the United States. It has now been translated into an online, on-demand, remote learning system for an entire enterprise. NALS has helped produce billions of dollars in revenue and saved billions in wasteful expenses and conflicts. As an entrepreneur of three small, profitable businesses he practices what he preaches and teaches.
Dr. Lazar is well known as the developer and a leader in Team Excellence. He is nationally known as an executive coach and he certifies coaches in his methods. One emphasis has been on exited military members who want to start businesses and creates jobs. The New American Leadership System has been used at IBM, Aspen Tech, Tandem Computers, Genentech, American Express, Satellite Business Systems, Credit Suisse Bank, and Burlington Northern Railroad among others. He has worked with managers and their start-ups to get their products produced and their research and development executed properly. He has an impressive string of successes with a wide range of industries that include financial people, high technology teams, sales persons, branch office managers and senior executives. His most famous successes have been within the Federal Government and with State and County governments. One such success became the subject of a Harvard Business Review study. His unique system has been deployed in governmental agencies, non-profits, hospitals, education and religious organizations.
In 1970, he recognized that there was a need to find ways to develop collaboration within organizations and competition outside of them. He found that many organizations compete internally in ways that harm the team and the individuals. He returned to NYU to work with Peter Drucker to complete his PhD, and built a management model around the team concept of winning sports teams. The New American Leadership System technology evolved and has since worked successfully for more than 45,000 leaders and managers worldwide. In 1971, his concepts found in the New American Leadership System were readily absorbed by Japanese technology and manufacturing managers. He became sadly aware of how much harder it has been for some leaders in the United States to advance these morally predicated concepts within their own organizations. In 1994 he was invited to Russia to help teach his communication and conflict resolution techniques to help facilitate the new emerging Russian society and economy.
Influenced by Carôn, they transformed their life work to focusing on the qualities and attributes of character needed to develop future managers and leaders, sustain and improve present managers and leaders, and to direct the country back to its character-based roots. He is Adjunct Professor of Management and Organizational Behavior in Long Island University's MBA program. Dr. Lazar holds a BBA in Industrial Psychology from City University of New York, an MA in Psychology from Syracuse University, and a PhD in Human Development from New York University.
Carôn Caswell Lazar is a true Renaissance woman. She is a historian, world traveler, CEO, explorer, publisher, writer, educator, folk-story teller and quantum physics enthusiast.
As entrepreneurs she and her husband-partner have founded and run profitable businesses in art and history publications, educational resources with a focus on character, and consulting in organizational and economic improvement.
Her family history on both sides is notable in American success founded on their innovation as far back as their landings on the Mayflower and James. She has had a front row seat to wealth, power and their loss in her family legacy when the innovation stopped. Carôn's sense of duty and obligation to her country and her compassion for her fellow Americans led her to contribute her spiritual wisdom, historical sagacity and practical experience to the elegance and integrity of this book as co-author and as muse and guide to Dr. Lazar.
Character is the knowledge, which opens a treasure chest to the kingdom of life and love and life afterward. Our insights and writing is likened to Napoleon Hill's great book Think And Grow Rich. Our secret key to human character is that it is not psychological, per se. It is a blend of morals and ethics. Therefore think of it simply as thinking and doing good, right, helpful and better. Values shape character. Character isn't everything yet it affects everything in almost every phase of life. It is mentioned after selecting the wrong people for important positions, assuming high character without the evidence in prior history. We see it in sports, government, management and leadership, education and teaching, families and in our opinions about all of it.