I must say I felt it was an honor to be allowed to enter your world, hear your passion and become completely absorbed in your messages. Many of your letters I went back to read two and three times.
Kind Regards,
Linda E. Amper Ph.D.
Vice President, Human Resources
OSI Pharmaceuticals
“Part philosopher, part storyteller, and part artist, Sandy Costa uses his words as an artist’s brush to paint us insights into ourselves, others, and the challenges of life. Humanity at Work is a thinking man or woman’s enjoyable read!”
Dr. Paul Hersey, Chairman of the Board, Center for Leadership
“The first task facing a leader is to get the people being led to embrace the cause they are working toward. I call this ‘embracing the genetic code of the organization.’ We must know what to believe and why it matters. The ‘genetic code’ is the values, standards, vision, and beliefs that make the organization what it is. Once everyone shares this commitment, everything is possible.
“Sandy Costa is an inspiring leader. Contained within these pages are the letters Sandy shared with his twenty thousand coworkers over several years. In these letters you will find a person of conviction and faith making an intelligent and sincere effort to raise others to their highest and best. This distilled wisdom is eminently readable. It is filled with quotes, references, examples, stories and principles that apply to all of us.
“One result of reading this book will be that you become a better person. Not because it might change you, but because every piece of it will draw out the goodness in you.
“The world owes its warm gratitude to Sandy Costa for taking the time to share these messages. We are a better people and the world is a better place when messages this courageously honest and eloquently clear are shared.”
Jim Cathcart, Author/lecturer, The Acorn Principle, St. Martin’s Press.
Founder of Cathcart Institute, Inc., Lake Sherwood, California
In these letters-Humanity at Work-Sandy Costa upsets stereotypes of CEOs by his deep humanity, obvious affection for his people, and hopeful insights for living. His letters allow us to walk his journey. He is open to his own emotions, explicit in his human analysis, and wise in his understanding of relationships, and I found myself eager to learn how one letter led inductively to the next.
This rich depository of insight for on-the-job learning will deepen your knowledge of good management. Leaders, you will want to immediately replicate his way of leading. His life-view reflects a healthy understanding of God’s good creation and opens our hearts to seek how we might best serve in our leading. This is one book you will want to buy for your leadership team.
Dr. Brian C. Stiller, President, Tyndale University College & Seminary,
Toronto, Canada
“The care and empowerment of employees is critical to success. When your people are enthusiastic about your organization and its mission, they perform beyond the expected. Sandy Costa offers a brand-new perspective on employee engagement from the inside out. As an extraordinary leader, he understands and articulates something we all need to learn—how to engage souls and inspire enthusiasm in the original sense of the word: EN-THEOS means IN-SPIRIT.
“As a leader and an employer you will have an eye-opening and heart-opening experience reading this book that can in-spirit and thus bring thriving value to your company or organization.”
Roger Dow, President and CEO, Travel Industry Association
Wisdom, Heartfelt, Integrity, Insight, Humor, Depth .... these are all words that describe this book and its author. You might use this book, one story at a time, to encourage and spark your own personal thought processes as to how to effect Humanity At Work. You might use it to inspire discussion among a group or to convey a concept to a colleague. However you use it, you will probably have favorite passages. As a recipient of these letters over several years, I have two personal favorites. "Miracle" by Phillips Brooks has been a continual item in my email inbox for 10 years. I keep it there to remind myself of how to approach a difficult time. The other, Sandy's musings on pelicans in "A Time to Fly", never fails to put life into perspective and to bring a smile to my mind's eye.
Pamela Olson
In their classic work on leadership, The Leadership Challenge, James Kouzes and Barry Posner identify five fundamental practices of exemplary leadership: challenging the process, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, modeling the way and encouraging the heart. In Humanity at Work my former colleague Sandy Costa accomplishes all of these with an extra dose of encouragement.
Originally composed as a series of letters to all employees during his tenure as president of Quintiles Transnational Corporation and later continued as an occasional letter to his many friends and former colleagues these are thoughtful and beautifully written essays laced with humor and wisdom. Sandy is remarkably well-read and his considerable knowledge of great, and sometimes obscure, literature comes through throughout. He is also a great storyteller.
The letters are arranged in six chapters: Character and Self-Worth, Comprehending the Incomprehensible, Fear and Courage, On Love and Humanity, Faith and Principled Leadership. The chapters on character and self-worth and fear and courage alone are more than worth the price of the book. His candor and self-examination are rare among senior executives in today's world and should serve as a model for those who want to instill a culture that values integrity. This book is well-worth your time.
Joel Dobbs