Positive Leadership Book that Needed More Attention
352695
In Humanise, Anthony Howard explores human-centered leadership and attempts to lay out a template of how readers can become human centered leaders.  Human-centered leaders focus on leading and developing people and helping them become the best version of themselves they can be.  Howard focuses much on relational leadership that is guided by principles that would flow from a developed conscience and consciousness informed by beauty, truth and goodness.  For human-centered leaders, their networks and priorities flow outward through circles of relationships from an inner circle to a global community.  This type of leadership makes the greater good and the good in general its priority.  He initiates thought and discussion regarding meaningful elements of leadership and that contribute to healthy and purposeful lives.

Howard's goals and themes in this book are laudable.  I believe that a few shortcomings undermine the impact of the book.  The first is that I believe the book lacks a cogency and coherence that would facilitate a straightforward and easily grasped message.  I think the author tries to say too many things and goes in too many varied directions and so the message is not as clear as it could be.  I think this is on the level of a first or second draft of the book and needs to be edited and streamlined.

Secondly, the cover of the book seems to imply that the leadership styles and the human-centered characteristics of Ghandi, MLK Jr., Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela will be explored and processed throughout the book.  Besides brief paragraph length profiles of these leaders prior to the text of the book, they are rarely mentioned and then only in one sentence here or there.  What makes these leaders great is largely ignored.

That leads to a final criticism that is Howard seems to avoid taking a firm stand on the principles that make a great human-centered leader.  In his spotty mentions of MLK Jr and Mother Teresa he fails to mention their Christian faith and ideals at all.  Instead he opts for basing human-centered leadership on subjectives views of goodness, truth and beauty.  These have to be rooted in firmer stuff I believe like the Christian faith for example that influenced all four leaders on the cover.  Ghandi had a commitment to sacrifice and suffering.  Mandela had a commitment to forgiveness.  These attributes flow from a deep faith and adherence to something concrete.

All of Howard's assertions are helpful and will contribute to positive changes; however, I believe the book needed more work and risk taking to make a greater impact.
499797
MacArthur's book, Called to Lead, was an interesting, helpful and easy read. I thought the points covered will help any leader--especially leaders in the ministry. Sometimes he was a little redundant, overstating a point that the reader already captured and comprehended. It was like a preacher who overdoes the points of his sermon and the people are thinking under their breath, "Pastor, we got it the first time."
256633
I found this book fascinating, as much a memoir as a business manual. But if you are not into reading about the effort to gain human space flight, this will not be the book for you. I have read another great leadership book, First In Last Out by John Salka of the New York Fire Department. Like that one, this book is filled with the teams, jargon and mission of the dedicated staff, upon whom many lives depended. Unlike it, the managers at NASA did not expect to go into space themselves.

From Salka's book the motto is "Follow the smoke." From this book, the motto is "Plan, train, fly." Hill, a senior manager working his way up through the levels of Mission Control, to become Director of Mission Operations, tells us his mottoes and principles in the early stage of the book. He explains what they mean and why NASA found them so relevant.  By the middle of the book, successes and disasters have occurred, with the "Plan, train, fly" the most relevant motto.

Later in the book we see how problems accumulated. Rocket scientists had been hired because they were the ones who could get rockets off the ground. Now they were management and had generally not had training in management, budgeting, business systems or development. As NASA mushroomed in size, departments grew so big that they stopped communicating other than essentials with other departments, and internal complaints were not welcomed, and boat-rockers were told sternly to be seated.  State funded, unlike a regular business they did not have to innovate, learn competitive principles and manage better. This resulted in failures, disasters and loss of contracts.

The final section explains how new leadership from outside got to turn the group around, cut staff levels and costs, innovate and communicate. The particular leadership books chosen for and read by the senior managers are named and discussed. These include The Speed Of Trust; What Got You Here Won't Get You There; and Good To Great.

I enjoyed the read and I'm pleased that it is largely gender neutral (apart from 'manned space flight') although this does produce oddities like 'had a conversation with my direct reports' which turns out to be the managers who reported to Hill. The author took personality tests and recommends them for self-understanding; by this time he had already led successful departments.

Hill is showing that change will come, and should not be feared, but can be made into good by open communication. No matter how big your organisation, somebody somewhere is doing some part of your work, maybe in a more innovative way. Management studies and leadership have evolved since the second half of the twentieth century when NASA was tasked with taking on the space challenge. This honest, forthright book explains how NASA had to evolve too. All of us can take lessons away from the read, and I recommend starting soon.

I was sent a copy for perusal by the publisher, The Cadence Group and agent Rebecca Brown. I am delighted to have had a chance to look inside the world this book reveals. The paperback is a good solid read, well presented with a number of graphs and black and white photos. Notes and references on P337 - 341. I did not see any names that I could be sure were female.
This is an unbiased review.
780670
When I read the book the first part that I liked the most was emphasis that sustainable development goals can be addressed at community level, with the help of good leader, even when the government is not much promoting the idea. The book shows how it could be accomplished. The book emphasizes that new type of complicated goals need new approach that is different from the old standard approach. The book leads to the idea that modern leaders should be more open, inclusive and ets. First question that the book addresses was very problematic-why some goals fail what doesnt work and most importantly why it doesnt work? I liked that the open and positive approach to the goal implementation is shown in real examples of different countries. Suggested new approach to leadership is what we pay less attention engaging people their hearts spirit is the key to successful implementation and leadership. I found the book very useful, practical and easy to read and understand. It is a practical guide how to use new leadership approach in order to achieve the complex goals.
1355602
Review of The Transforming Leader.  Carol Pearson Editor in association with the Fetzer Institute. 2012

Reviewed by  Ginette Paris, Ph. D.

He is a force of nature.  No! He is a bully.
She is a compassionate leader. No! A neurotic pleaser.
He is a visionary.  No! A dreamer.
He is a genius! No! A financial illusionist.

  Contradictory perceptions reveal one thing: that leadership is as nearly impossible a task as parenting. Nobody can do it without mistakes!  But a `good enough" leader is a gift that can make a huge difference in our lives.

  A leader is daily confronted with situations that necessarily constellate unconscious reactions because the workplace remains, as much as the family, the place where the faults and frailties of our human nature rub against our equally human possibilities for competence, intelligence, generosity, heroism.

The book The Transforming Leader is a series of articles that examine the basic psychological competences for exerting "transforming leadership".

 I find this book useful and necessary, for the following reasons:
1) techniques of dominance eventually fail
2) A leader gets things done by relating to those who, in practice, gets those things done (hence the need to be psychologically savvy.
3) Finally I find the book interesting because so many of the new challenges in the developed world have to do with mental health and character issues (narcissism, bullying, immaturity, entitlement). To be a leader today, one must develop a psychological competence, which is what this book is all about.

The articles are of unequal intellectual depth, but all are aimed at creating a healthier culture of leadership, locally, and globally.
2860443
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this informative positive book! It is a must-read for anyone in a leadership role. I especially enjoyed the time-wizard tips with links to the templates so that you can immediately start implementing. It was a very motivating and enlightening read to re-think some of the methods you use on a daily basis in leadership.
2801702
Toto is a most stimulating book from a leading American medical thought leader. Contrary to most CEO like leader books, this is not a how-to with item list consistently applied. Instead the focus is on the character of the leader. It is on page 125 where we learn one early defining source of the authors narrative. He is standing on his father's family farm porch holding his father's hand, absorbing the hail storm disaster that just destroyed the wheat and the farm when his father with quiet resilient fortitude states "Well, I guess we should get on with the rest of our life". Dr Fickenscher's book points to the attributes of character which will guide leaders and their corporate ships through challenging waters. The 15 "Lessons" are qualities necessary for those who lead. Values of Integrity, Commitment, Excellence and Responsive are imperative. Two quotes define the essence of character: "in the end, keeping our integrity is most important part of being a successful leader" and It is important to embrace the world and have no fear. One of the more interesting chapters is On Courage where the author states "Courage is commitment" and "Commitment is the energy that feeds the soul of followers". Forty-nine times "commitment" is found in this chapter. The very last paragraph of the chapter tells us how to bind the cornerstones of commitment and faith by the leader offering hope, the "foundation for integrity of leadership". Dr Fickenscher is asserting that the inner qualities exhibited externally drives success for the team. He is spot on.
966755
Fred Greenstein provides us at Peabody Stybel Lincolnshire with a template with which to evaluate presidential leadership.
While his focus is on the U.S. Presidency, we find Greenstein's analysis appropriate for Nominating Committees of Boards seeking a template for evaluating CEO  candidates.
Greenstein is Professor of Politics at Princeton University  and Director of Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School program in leadership  studies.  Analyzing Presidential leadership from FDR to Clinton, he  articulates a six-factor model:
(1) Public  communication---effectiveness in communicating with key constituencies. (2)  Organizational capacity---systematic approach to management; ability to  forge a team and get the most out of it; proficiency in creating effective  system arrangements. (3) Political skill---using formal and informal  power effectively. (4) Vision---"event making" perspective versus  reactive perspective.  It also includes the ability to articulate  overarching goals for the enterprise. (5) Cognitive Style---conceptual  ability to cut to the strategic heart of problems versus nibbling around  the tactical fringes. (6) Emotional Intelligence.
We use these six  factors as frameworks for checking references of candidates.  You might  consider them as reference checking frameworks as well.
Standard job  descriptions tend to focus on variables 1,2, 4, 5.  It is rare that  variable 3 gets explicit attention in business.  But the CEO role requires  mastery in the art of power.  We have developed a series of reference  questions that focus on this issue.
In our work with corporations, we  find skilled communicators and highly organized managers overvalued by  Boards.
And yet factors 1 and 2 may not be the most important factors.  People may be great communicators in job interviews, highly organized, and  still be ineffective leaders!
Factor 6 is hardly mentioned in job  descriptions.  And yet we all know it is totally critical.  Presidents  Johnson, Nixon, Carter, and Clinton had emotional handicaps that impacted  the United States in extraordinarily negative ways. Haven't we all seen  emotional handicaps within a CEO crippling the total organization?
In our  retained search work, we find the best way to get a handle on emotional  intelligence is to carefully, carefully, carefully check references with  with former subordinates.  Good leadership creates good followership.  In  the case of U.S. Presidents since FDR, only Truman, Eisenhower, Ford, and  George Bush had subordinates who praised their leader without reservation.  Of the eleven Presidents evaluated, only these four stand out as  fundamentally free of distracting emotional perturbations.
There is a  correlation here!
How important is emotional intelligence as a factor in  selecting a leader?
None of the U.S. Presidents surveyed were paragons.  All had flaws in one or more of the six leadership variables.  Most  organizations can work around the leader's  inevitable human weaknesses.
Professor Greenstein reminds us that the United States has survived and  even thrived under less than perfect leadership.  In the area of emotional  intelligence, however,  "beware the presidential contender who lacks  emotional intelligence.  In its absence all else may turn to ashes."  It is  this critical that nominating committees tend to spend the least  attention.
485933
An easy read that identifies the key characteristic of transformational leaders (as well as transactional and pseudo-transformational leaders). This book puts some "social science" around the information that most of us have "gut feelings" about anyway. Those looking to improve their leadership skills will benefit from this book. The real shame is that those managers and supervisors who generally "suck" and are happy with mediocrity probably won't pick the book up, much less read it.
3658914
I personally believe there is no such thing as a bad book based upon Leadership. If it helps you to become a better person, overall, it is worth it. This book is no exception. It is a very good book which can be incorporated into both your business and personal life.

The book is easy to read and absorb the given information. The author breaks this book into what she exclaims as the Big Four: Dreamer, Thinker, Lover and Warrior.

However, the book lacks simple structure and is very repetitive. Overall, this 384 page book could probably have been condensed into at least 300 or less pages. Overlooking the repetitive nature of the book, it is a very worthwhile read. Improve yourself!
3138010
"A leadership parable" is the subtitle for this new book by James Galvin, and that's exactly what it is. Galvin presents his leadership principles in story form. It's the story of four young adults who are having difficulty in their work situations. They seek out the advice and counsel of a retired Army Sargeant and former missionary. The leadership ideas he presents are put into play in their specific situations, with varying and sometimes surprising results! The book is in two parts: the first is the parable; followed by a smaller section concisely stating a summary of the leadership principles. Galvin indicates in the introduction that he wanted to create a book on leadership that the younger generation would actually read. I believe his choice of presenting ideas in the form of a story is clever. The book reads more like a novel but is full of leadership nuggets. As a story it is somewhat shallow and unrealistic, but taken for what it is - a fleshed-out leadership model - it rates as one of the more interesting books on leadership I have read. The premise of Galvin's leadership principle is that everyone needs to learn how to follow well before they can lead well. I appreciated this perspective. I have run into many "bosses" who were "toxic" in their leadership, and wish I knew then what Galvin presents here about following well even when the leader does not lead well. It's a humble, servant-minded perspectve. I recommend this book for anyone who is in the early stages of their career, positioned under another's leadership, or already leading. There is wisdom here to keep us all learning and growing. 4 out of 5 stars. For more information on the book, you may visit [...]
830731
This is my first Mark Sanborn book, but I've heard him speak before and know he is a prominent voice in the area of leadership.  Even if I didn't know the author, the title of the book would have been enough of a hook to interest me in reading the book.  I like the concept that everyone can lead regardless of the name on the letterhead or your business card.  Since leadership is primarily about influence, a title is not required.

In the early pages of the book, Sanborn establishes that as a primary principle: <em>"The bottom line is, influence and inspiration come from the person, not the position."</em> His encouragement to the reader is that he or she can be leader, even if his or her title doesn't reflect a leadership position.

Throughout the book, he provides examples from his own experience and the experience of others to demonstrate how influence and inspiration can come from all different levels.  He refers to people who are teachers, bellhops in a hotel, insurance customer service agents and waitresses to give evidence of leadership.

One of his principles I highlighted was this:  <em>"Leadership is intimately linked to service."</em> Whether someone sits at the top, in the middle or at the bottom of an organization, he/she can still be a leader as he/she serves.

A critique I have of this book is that at times it seem a little disjointed.  I felt like he jumped from topic to topic within a chapter.  While the content was good, I didn't always feel like it connected within the chapter.

I really like the principles Sanborn lays forth regarding leadership and it would be a good read for anyone who seeks to be a person of influence.
2657899
A Leadership Kick in the Ass helps you learn from mistakes.  The books main message is important: good
leadership takes both confidence and humility  A theme that is reinforced throughout the book is that the greatest leadership lessons and your development as a leader comes from learning from mistakes, embarrassment,
and humiliation. Specifically, the most enduring and transformative leadership lessons result from a good kick in the ass.  The author, Bill Treasurer uses stories from his personal and coaching experiences to show the reader how to seize learning opportunities as they occur.  He shows that some of the most valuable lessons and growth leaders gets comes from learning from mistakes.  Bill offers insights, examples, and action plans throughout the book that will enable the humble leader to grow and excel.
1138750
It beats a lot of "how to be a leader" books out there because it learns from them and applies a highly objective criteria towards identifying what makes a great leader and what makes a terrible leader. I carry with me the "5 disciplines" wherever I go as a reminder of what is important to focus on when interacting with my team.
29802
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. It does rehash a lot of the same business and leadership advice that you'll find in other books like having values to guide your decisions and having goals. I also like the included 5 day planner.

There's an energy in this book that I enjoy. The author focuses on self-empowerment versus victimization, which I really like. In his section titled "Why Not Today," I felt particularly empowered to really think about my own  roadblocks and excuses. He's right in the fact that many of us get stuck in the details instead of moving forward in our goals. I thought about my own habit of creating lists of things to do instead of just doing the things I'd write on my list.

Like many other leadership books, the VOICE system asks you to create specific goals.

Some of my favorite words of wisdom from this book:

  80% of good leaders are trained
  Most leaders start with good intentions but are derailed
  Yelling or shouting doesn't establish leadership

While the book is geared toward business leaders, it can naturally apply to many other types of leadership, including a pastor or a teacher.

One of the topics that I thought stood out in this book over similar business leadership books is that of courage. While other books might mention courage, the term isn't used in the same way. In this case, courage reflects your decisions and willingness to have the unpopular view.
50086
The business landscape is littered with books on leadership. Diana Jones' new book stands out because she focuses on the personal characteristics and soft skills that can make or break a leader.

Each chapter is filled with case studies, as well as Jones' personal experiences from her decades of coaching leaders, and a set of questions to stimulate further discussion.

Well worth the read for leaders, those who manage them, and those who aim to be leaders in the future.

Linda Popky
Strategic marketing expert and author of Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing That Matters

(Note: I received a review copy in exchange for posting an honest review of this book.)
2204676
Next Generation Leader: Five Essentials for Those Who Will Shape the Future by Andy Stanley is a leadership book that offers mentoring and guidance for those who seek to stand out rather than follow.

The five characteristics are courage, competence, clarity and coachability, which all lead into character.

In this book you will learn how to gather and release your fears, find and work with a personal coach, find and use your strengths, take advantage of uncertainty and maintain morals while becoming and  being successful.

This book is short but powerful. There are historical and biblical examples of great leaders and a set of commandments of how to get from here to there without sacrificing faith, ethics or success. Other books on becoming a leader take a lot more verbiage to get to the point. This one does not need to.

What I liked the most is that the author explains that no man will ever have all the answers. And character is a must, whether you are a CEO of a Fortune 500 company or the CEO of your own business of one.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah in exchange for my review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinion here is entirely my own.