Genres: Leadership, Management, Business.

Rating: 3/5

Recommend to: Start-up founders, Managers, Team leaders, CEO, Entrepreneurs, People in sales.

Number of pages: 270 pages

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE BOOK:

If we take a look at the past and present leaders we can see that most of them have had good and bad experiences on their journey and most of them got better because of them. I believe leadership is facing and helping others face different situations, solving them the best way you can and reviewing the whole experience for lessons so that the next time facing the same situation you and your team can perform better. A person in a leadership position can run an organization based on fear enforced with authority or based on motivation empowered with authority. If you are in business for the long haul then your goal is to be a leader that motivates, and not a leader that leads with fear. But being a leader is not about telling people what to do and how to do it. Well to a small degree it is, at the point when you are teaching them something new. But for the most part, leadership is being a dependable person who in good and bad times searches for solutions, opportunities, has experience, has a vision of where to go and how to get there, and most importantly takes care of his followers/team in a way, that they develop, learn, and get experience to become leaders themselves one day. By doing so a true leader builds trust, character, a culture in a team, an organization or a brand, that enables them to “move mountains” and get past any obstacle the world may throw at them. A true leader is trustworthy, dependable, straightforward, in search of solutions and not guilt, knowledgable and most importantly takes responsibility. Every leader has his flawless and makes mistakes, but he/she never makes excuses.

In the book, you will read how tribes live and how their leaders make decisions – in short, together as a team/tribe. And also how in today’s times being a leader is not just a position in an organization. You as a leader have a responsibility to build a thriving community in your organization, that breaths and moves together in the same directions. And no matter what, it always starts with you. Even if you are not in a leadership position in your organization, you can be… let me fix that, you are a leader. Your everyday actions influence your team and how they react, think and do things. A lot of times the boss is not the leader, and you can see that when times are tough. Just observe to which person most people turn too for help, advice or guidance, and right there you have a true leader that the team picked and not the “leader” the organization appointed to them. To develop leadership skills you have to work on yourself each and every day. If you look in the past, kings were born and raised to lead. The key point is raised to lead. They had the opportunity to watch and learn from their parents/leaders each and every day. Not a little bit today, and a little bit next month, but every day. Your everyday actions will define who you are, and what skills you develop. If you want to be a leader make sure you are developing into a person people want to follow.

I hope you enjoy the book review and if you have any feedback or you want to discuss the book I will be more then happy to talk to you in the comment section. I hope you enjoy the rest of my notes and other book recommendations.

MY NOTES FROM THE BOOK:

“Be the best of who you are” means focusing on your own unique strengths. Successful leaders build on strength, not on weakness.

The way to deal with weaknesses is not to focus on them, but to work around them.

No leader in history has been perfect. You do not need to be perfect either, because perfection does not exist in leadership.

As leaders, we have to find the context in which we can best flourish.

As a leader, how you behave determines how your team will react. Your team will pick up your style from both small and big moments of truth.

You will be remembered as much for how you deal with the problem as with the final outcome.

If in doubt, watch “the feet”, not the mouth. People’s actions do not lie.

Start with simple tasks and slowly move on to more and more challenging tasks time and time again. Slowly, the unfamiliar becomes familiar and the exceptional becomes routine.

You can and you should delegate tasks. You should also delegate some of your authority so that people can complete their tasks. But you can never delegate away your responsibility.

You can choose how you feel. You can focus on the bad things and setbacks in life, or you can focus on the good things and find the positives. If you can master the elusive art of being responsible for your own feelings, you cannot only lead better, you can live better.

You have to behave how you want others to behave.

Build respect, not popularity.

The fear-based workplace is one where you can ensure compliance but you cannot generate commitment. Compliance achieves minimum effect to avoid sanctions. But through commitment, you can achieve outstanding efforts and results.

The true currency of leadership is neither popularity nor fear. It is respect.

In the middle of a crisis, everything may seem out of control. The positive leader will not worry about what cannot be controlled. He will act on what can be controlled.

When you accept excuses you accept failure.

To lead is to live beyond the comfort zone. The art of leadership is helping others stretch themselves, develop and live outside their comfort zone as well.

To earn respect as a leader you should care for your team and your colleagues. You should be positive, especially when times are tough, be clear and consistent in your expectations. Also, you should have difficult conversations were needed, but make them positive, and always deliver on all your commitments.

Luck boils down to practice, preparation, persistence.

The essence of leadership is simple: It’s about people.

Recognition is not payment: it is about making sure each individual is valued and recognized for what they do. Peer group pressure and peer group respect are powerful motivators we want to look good in front of them and want to avoid failing them. Recognition is a powerful tool for leaders.

Visions are important. They give a sense of direction, purpose, meaning and focus. They are a rallying point for all in the firm.

A vision is a story in three parts: This is where we are, this is where we are going, this is how we are going to get there.

Leaders need allies, not adversaries. Even if you win a battle, you end up losing an ally.

Leaders trust people more than they trust a piece of paper. So if you are trying to persuade a leader, do not focus on having the most credible presentation. Focus on having a credible conversation that is supported by executives the leader is known to trust.

Success does not come from having the latest smartphone; it comes from building a team you can trust to perform.

Leaders focus on what they will achieve, not what they will do.

To achieve leadership control, leaders need to do two things. Create their own vision, and build a team which is willing and able to implement the vision.

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