Teaching by Heart: One Professor's Journey to Inspire

by Thomas J. DeLong

Overview

The best teachers are leaders, and the best leaders are teachers.

Teaching by Heart summarizes the author's key insights gained from more than forty years of teaching and managing. 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, renowned Harvard Business School professor 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 missteps than on our strengths and unique talents. He explains why this is so by dissecting and analyzing his own experiences—using himself as a case study.

The book's goal is to help readers learn about the intricacies of teaching and managing, and to impart lessons about how teachers can create a unique teaching atmosphere. To do this, the author analyzes the process of creating a curriculum, preparing for an eighty-minute class, managing the fifteen minutes before class begins, and evaluating the nature of the teaching experience after the session concludes.

Along the way, he connects specific classroom behaviors with leadership issues—in organizations, in teams, and in personal relationships. He also asks—and answers—some provocative questions, such as:

• What happens on multiple levels when I teach or lead—with me, students, or professionals?
• What am I thinking and feeling as I process what students are thinking and feeling?
• How are my internal conversations affecting how I teach and lead?
• How do I manage my biases, including having "favorite" students?
• To what extent can I use teaching methods in the arena of management?

Throughout Teaching by Heart, DeLong discusses why empathy and authenticity matter. When teachers embrace this mindset, students have the opportunity to have a unique learning experience. Teachers and managers will learn how to create moments of transformation for students.

Whether you're a university professor, a student, a business leader, or just someone fascinated by teaching, this book will instruct, entertain, and—hopefully—inspire.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633698529
Publisher:	Harvard Business Review Press
Publication date:	01/14/2020
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.00(d)

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

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Utah, Wall Street, Harvard 7

Finding My Place as a Teacher

2 First Class 23

Anxious Thoughts, Preparations, and Patterns

3 The Worm Deck 47

Distance Matters

4 Teaching Individuals 65

Trying to Create an Equal Opportunity Classroom

5 The Ties That Bind 81

Covenant versus Contractual Relationships

6 The Rationale 97

What I Teach and When I Teach It

7 The Teaching Session Concludes 111

The After-Action Review

8 Reflections from a Room with a View 123

The Meta-Conversation

9 Life Away from the Pit-Musings on University Life 131

Connections and Disconnections

10 700 Sundays 143

Keeping Perspective

11 Why Managing, Mentoring, and Teaching Overlap 149

Leaders Take Notice

12 Five Warnings 161

Why This Ride May Be Hazardous to Your Health

13 Hungry for Feedback! Oh, Really? 171

14 Mr. Rogers 185

Improving the Teaching Neighborhood

Appendix A Preparing for Difficult Conversations 205

Appendix B Crucial Conversations 207

Bibliography 213

Acknowledgments 221

About the Author 225

Editorial Reviews

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

From the Publisher