Cohesive and impassioned; a bold, engaging path to effective leadership.
This debut manual/workbook focuses on self-directed leadership enrichment.
Some business leadership processes concentrate on organizational dependencies that could possibly impede personal development. Hardy’s methodology is decidedly different. She puts the responsibility for leadership squarely on an individual’s shoulders, suggesting that one must undergo a transformation by “engineering disruption in your life to become a better leader.” The approach is aptly named “crossing meridians” by the author, whose own development as a leader is emblematic. She rose from family poverty in the Mississippi city of Meridian to earn a law degree, hold senior positions at major insurance companies, and eventually form her own global consulting firm. This excellent work shows novice and experienced leaders alike how to chart a course through a deftly organized process of discovery, planning, and acting—with the ultimate goal of sustaining personal leadership excellence. The metaphorical use of meridians to represent both personal and organizational lines that must be crossed is very appropriate. It also serves to anchor the book around a strong, memorable concept that cleverly links the text to Hardy’s hometown of Meridian, a “symbolic origination point.” “Beginning Meridian” signifies a familiar, comfortable place from which any leadership journey starts. While it is easy to get too caught up in the volume’s “meridian” terminology, the approach is both logical and practical. During the author’s superb explanation of her self-improvement system, she recounts pertinent examples from her own life and cites several client illustrations to make the process come alive. A section on racial justice/workplace diversity is particularly timely and enlightening. Hardy stresses the importance of “empathy, openness, and resiliency” as “the bedrock—the ballast—of leadership.” She also highlights “leadership fluency” (the ability to “fluidly and continually navigate across divides” within organizations) as well as the need to build a distinct, personal “leadership brand.” Such concepts raise the content to a strategic level while the workbook integrated into the volume allows individuals to dive into the details and execute their own unique leadership development plans.
Cohesive and impassioned; a bold, engaging path to effective leadership.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-66551-261-9
Page Count: 200
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: April 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Harris still has plenty to learn, but he provides an informative study of why the millennial generation faces more struggles...
A millennial writer talks about the coming crises his generation will face.
Millennials—defined by the author as those born between 1980 and 2000—have been sold on the idea that if they work hard in school, forfeiting play and creative time for work and sports, and go on to a four-year college, where they continue to work hard, then a solid, well-paying job awaits them once they graduate. But as Harris (b. 1988), an editor at New Inquiry, points out, many in that age group have discovered there is no pot of gold at the end of that particular rainbow. In today’s competitive economy, he writes, “young households trail further behind in wealth than ever before, and while a small number of hotshot finance pros and app developers rake in big bucks…wages have stagnated and unemployment increased for the rest.” Those who manage to attend college are often burdened by high student-loan debts, forcing them to work any job they can to pay the bills. Athletes who attend college on a sports scholarship pay with the physical wear and tear on their bodies and the stress of high-stakes games alongside a full academic schedule. Harris also evaluates how millennials interact with social media (a topic that could warrant an entire book on its own), which creates a never-ending link to nearly everything every day, never giving anyone a chance to unwind. Professional musicians, actors, and other performing artists face strong competition in a world where anyone can upload a video to YouTube, so those with genuine talent have to work that much harder for recognition. After his intense analysis of this consumer-based downward spiral, the author provides several possible remedies that might ease the situation—but only if millennials step forward now and begin the process of change.
Harris still has plenty to learn, but he provides an informative study of why the millennial generation faces more struggles than expected, despite the hard work they’ve invested in moving ahead.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-51086-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An earnest self-help work, but one that may not appeal to all audiences.
Attorney, mediator, and coach Schick walks readers through her conflict resolution approach.
The author created the Third Ear Conflict Resolution Program, which essentially encourages people to listen to their “h-EAR-ts” when they approach conflicts. The method urges the readers to first make seven choices, including “Forgive yourself for having conflicts,” and “Assume that you know nothing about anything,” in order to create a “clear space” to take “Five Actions”: “Define the conflict,” “Identify the interests,” “Play with the possibilities,” “Create the future,” and “Plan, Act, Revise, and Repeat the action steps until you eliminate or transform the conflict.” The chapters are structured in a way that describes a specific conflict, applies the Third Ear Conflict Resolution Program to the solution, and then summarizes how the latter can be applied more broadly to the reader’s life. Schick powerfully describes her own experience of violent assault, and in doing so, effectively shows how the program may be applied to trauma. Her account of her approach to recovery illuminates the ways in which she continues to use her program to heal herself and others. The layout of the book makes the content more actionable; every chapter in Part 1 starts with a situation and ends with “Practices” that ask readers self-reflective questions, which allows readers to readily put new lessons into action. Additional examples and workbook content in Part 2 also clearly encourage readers to embrace the author’s practices. However, readers may take exception to a section that seems to highlight the benefits of discounting medical professionals’ advice when faced with a catastrophic health issue.
An earnest self-help work, but one that may not appeal to all audiences.Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-45-662557-3
Page Count: 132
Publisher: eBookIt.com
Review Posted Online: Aug. 10, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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