My Fave Five … On Leadership

I’m not in Charles’s Fave Five and that's ok .... he’s not in mine!

(Note: this article was originally published in PMI Madison/South Central WI Quarterly Newsletter Fall 2010 - since I currently have no followers I don't think this will matter to most! However, if you have already read it there, my apologies!)

My Fave Five … On Leadership

I had a discussion the other night at a ballpark about leadership and started to explain about some of what I’ve done and read and I was told I should write an article on the subject. I said that I would. Afterwards I wondered if I am really the right person to write anything on this topic and there is certainly a voice inside my head that whispers “…you’re not” but I also remembered one of the keys to leadership is DWYSYWD, so here goes nothing!

In my limited experience it has helped me the most to educate myself, try to apply newly learned concepts, evaluate how it went, then, – lather, rinse, repeat…

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not an expert on Leadership but I have done more of the self-education than some and I’ve tried to follow my patented “shampoo” method for a long time in my career. In that time I’ve read a somewhat embarrassing number of books on leadership. Some of them I’ve got in the rolodex some of them I finished just so I can say I finished the book and never have to pick them up again and then others were the real gems. – the ones I want on speed-dial and which continue to connect with me on an ongoing basis – my favorites (Faves) that I will narrow down to Five. And so with all due pomp and circumstance (i.e. –none) the following are my Fave Five books on Leadership. I hope you will share yours too and comment on mine, and challenge them – Just like with a certain cell phone carrier, I can always make changes to them!

1)    Leading with Soul – by Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal

A great way to start because it reads like a novel and has great lessons that really hit home for me the first time I read it. The significance here is that I’ve read it more than once and in fact three times. I can count on three fingers the number of books I’ve read twice and this is my only three-time-reader. You see I’m the worlds slowest reader so by the time I get half way through a book I’ve got several more that I want to read next so it has to be really really good for me to open one up again.

About the book – often written up as a “love it” or “hate it” in book reviews without a lot of middle ground. The trip-up for the negative reviews usually starts with the word ‘Soul’ in the title and the assumption that this book has a religious bent. Well it doesn’t, but it assumes the reader believes in human spirit and is essentially on a spiritual journey. The authors try to address this head-on in the Prelude but my guess is that non-believers – well, they don’t believe it.

I think if you just read it as an engaging story you will pick up as much or as little depth and value as you are ready for at the time. The authors make this clear too – that the depth of the book comes from the reader. They state that many readers have “found messages that go well beyond anything we can take credit for”.

2)    The Leadership Challenge – by James Kouzes and Barry Posner

I think of this as THE body of knowledge for Leadership. With over 1.5 million copies sold and now in its 4th edition and sporting well over 400 pages of education, citation, and inspiration this is a true treasure. It’s not a light book and it’s not an easy one for a variety of reasons – starting of course with page count! This book is just like its title suggests, intended to be a challenge. You can read it without taking up the challenge but the author’s goal is for you to be motivated to take it on, challenge yourself and grow from it in more than intellectual ways.

Biggest Nugget – The one extremely simple and very hard thing that I took away from this book that has been the most powerful lesson is that Credibility is the Foundation of Leadership and the way you establish credibility is “DWYSYWD – Do what you say you will do”. Very simple, very hard. I hope you take up this challenge.

Of note – I have arbitrarily limited my Faves to one book per author but I need to mention that these co-authors have written several other books on Leadership. The book Encouraging the Heart is an excellent book that expands on the challenge with more details and examples of ways for leaders to reward and recognize others to inspire extraordinary performance.

3)    Primal Leadership – Daniel Goleman

This book is all about leadership and the connection between emotional intelligence and being a good leader. It covers the four critical aspects of Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, and Relationship Management and is pretty convincing that EI is a prerequisite to becoming an effective leader. The book has a lot of supporting data and is somewhat scientific and medical but you’ve been meaning to increase your vocabulary right? Another nice thing is that this book has great examples and stories that help demonstrate and validate the assertions he makes.

The big take away here is good news! You can improve your emotional intelligence and improve your leadership abilities!

4)    The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey

What can I add here that has not already been said and said better about Steven R. Covey or this book? He is the proverbial ‘Godfather’ of the self-leadership genre and this is the foundational book that provides incredibly insightful and revealing ideas and examples to guide your growth and learning. In reviewing the book for this article I realize I need to put it back on my stack for another read as it has drawn me in again.

Since I can’t add much more praise here I will give you one quote from the first chapter where he describes the need for self reflection/development/growth/leadership in order to move forward – he calls this the ‘inside-out’ approach.

“The inside-out approach says that private victories precede public victories, that making and keeping promises to ourselves precedes making and keeping promises to others. It says it is futile to put personality ahead of character, to try to improve relationships with others before improving ourselves.”

5)    Leadership is an Art– Max DePree

The book is a short read but a long think. This book is 148 pages of ideas, lore, musings and lists from a very experienced, successful and thoughtful businessman. The chapter headings of ‘roving leadership’ and ‘tribal storytelling’ as well as ‘pink ice in the urinal’ and ‘why should I weep’ give you an idea of how interesting, engaging and eclectic the stories, ideas and insights are in this book. You can skip the Foreward – it does not do the book justice and is not necessary for setting the stage. Max drives home the point that leadership comes out of our actions from our human state of imperfection and can’t be achieved by a prescriptive or wrote approach – it is an Art.

Overlooked?

Here are some more books that I’ve enjoyed that are directly or indirectly related to leadership and just did not make my top 5. Let me know what books you’d add to the Fave five, or the Overlooked list – or which ones you’d take off. Share your thoughts on the PMI-Madison Linked-in discussion page.

The Blind Men and the Elephant – David Schmaltz

On Becoming A Leader – Warren G. Bennis

Seeing David in the Stone – James Swartz and Joseph Swartz

Leading out Loud – Terry Pearce

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There – Marshall Goldsmith

The Speed of Trust – Stephen M.R. Covey

How Full is your Bucket? – Tom Rath & Donald O. Clifton


Do great things!


Ed Sullivan, PMP