4-Dimensional Leadership

Set your phasers to "bore," and prepare to visit Planet Leadership by way of Infomercial Station. Based on a workshop created by former NASA physicist Charles Pellerin, this expensive set is "not a how-to list, but a system designed to give us new insights into the most profound aspects of leadership, and the means to improve our leadership skills." Via the usual talking heads, re-enacted scenes of corporate crises, and portions of Pellerin's seminar, we learn in the first volume that leadership (which apparently differs from the somewhat bureaucratic, task-oriented management) is a state of being that starts from inside and works its way outward, and that there are four components to the leadership template. Volumes 2-4 delve into personality types, decision-making and organization culture, among other topics. Like the vast majority of self-improvement materials, this series seems to be 1-part definitions to 2-parts common sense, with a ½-part New Age ethos as its hook. Perhaps in deference to Hubble-scientist Pellerin, this first tape contains many, many outer-space trappings, from its use of words like "countdown" and "launching pad" to its background graphics of stars and hurtling planets to its twinkly space music. Despite the producers' insistence that their series constitutes a "breakthrough" system to a "brave new world," these tapes really add nothing new to leadership literature. Not recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Glaser)