Collaboration Skills for Educators and Nonprofit Leaders.

Hank Rubin is at it again. Collaboration Skills for Educators and Nonprofit Leaders, the first book in his "Building the Village" series, is a little volume with a potentially big payoff for thoughtful practitioners at the central office, in the principal's chair or in the classroom.

This is a book that can be the basis for collaborative efforts with volunteers, corporate partners and employee groups. This is not a book for Lone Rangers or for those who are cynical about the true value of and need for collaborative leadership.

Author Hank Rubin is a successful practitioner, community activist, teacher, theorist and collaborative leader himself. He brings to us the elements of effective collaborative leadership, not from large complex corporate organizations, but from the perspective of the world in which you and I apply our leadership knowledge and skills.

In doing so, Rubin presents practical dimensions of collaborative leadership that stress the need to build, manage and maintain relationships with other leaders in our communities.

The focus here is on accomplishing tangible results, making a difference and completing our work in the public realm. Rubin sees our jobs as revolving "around building villages of support to raise children." His book can help us be successful in that mission.

(Collaboration Skills for Educators and Nonprofit Leaders, by Hank Rubin, Lyceum Books, Chicago, Ill. 1998, 105 pp. AASA member price: $17 softcover. Available from AASA Distribution Center, P.O. Box 411, Annapolis Jct., Md. 20701-0411. Toll-free: 888-782-2272 or 301-617-7802. Stock # 238-001)