Lead Now!

Two experts in teaching leadership skills and organizational development offer tips, exercises and opportunities for self-assessment.

Leadership takes a variety of talents—intelligence, certainly, but also other abilities, such as foresight, listening, delegating, strategic thinking and organizational savvy. While this may seem obvious, the vast number of bad bosses in existence is a testament to the fact that many lack at least one, if not more, of these essential skills. The authors have condensed their expertise into this easily digestible volume divided into four leadership quadrants—Create Purpose, Deliver Excellence, Develop Self and Others, and Lead Change—with chapter-length subsections in each quadrant. Each chapter contains a series of tips, a self-assessment section and a place for note taking, as well as answers to specific questions related to the chapter. Fortunately for busy executives strapped for reading time, this book replaces blocks of text with short, punchy, numbered tips written in plain English, allowing harried executives to stop reading at any point and pick up later where they left off. The self-assessment section provides a quick way for leaders—if they’re honest with themselves—to see how they rate in terms of taking important actions. In the Action Planning Notes section, the book contains plenty of white space for readers to scrawl whatever thoughts, ideas and inspirations come to mind. The book’s digestible size enables it to be easily slipped into a pocket or briefcase without trouble. Some of the information presented may seem obvious—i.e., take care of your customers, avoid jumping to conclusions, listen without judgment—but plenty of leaders still need the type of advice expertly laid out here.

A quality guide for busy executives seeking self-improvement.