I am woefully behind in posting my book reviews. I was in the city today though so had train time to jot down some ideas.
I read Leading with Conviction - Mastering the Nine Pillars of Integrated Leadership by Shalom Saadar Saar.
I like leadership books.
The author claims leadership can be learned. I heartily agree.
The first pillar is Self. Self knowledge is power. Saar has done hundreds of 360 evaluations so knows a bit about people's perception of themselves compared to self perception. I know the better I know myself, the easier life is and the easier success comes.
The second pillar is balance. And everything is a balance. Home-work, work-workout, fun-maintenance, sleep-exercise etc. Generally I think balance is overrated and think sometimes the guilt associated with the attempt at balance is less healthy than actually being balanced. I have also often seen great results from people who lack balance.
My favourite pillar was change. I have long believed change allows entrepreneurs to flourish.
The final pillar is results. (yes, I deliberately skipped pillars figuring people who want to know can read the book themselves). In the end, it is the results that count.
Leading with Conviction explains the pillars and the steps on how to achieve them. Good book.
Now with some of the scandals going on like mayor of Detroit, Enron (ok so that is a bit old) etc, perhaps someone should write a book on Leading After Conviction.
Man, you read a lot. It seems like a book a week!
ReplyDeleteI would like to add that personal health/lifestyle is a very veyr important pillar in my own growth as an entrepreneur. I stopped "going out" and getting into shenanigans on the weekends that behavior decreases my effectiveness during the week.