A solid handbook for managers in government and public service.
An executive coach guides managers in public service roles through leadership training.
Lybarger uses the structure of a coaching dialogue with a fictional client to explore areas of leadership and achievement applicable to government and other public service careers. Each chapter opens with a dialogue between the coach and the client followed by Lybarger’s more detailed exploration of the chapter’s themes (trust, accountability, strategic thinking) and ending with a list of recommended reading and tools for different types of assessments (including self-, team, and 360-degree assessments). The combination of fictional dialogue and theoretical discussion allows Lybarger to give concrete examples (for instance, the client struggles with leadership conflicts that result from his own insecurities) while also placing concepts in a broader context. The coaching advice includes both guidance on actions such as having a productive talk with an unmotivated employee as well as more internally focused tips, such as advice on practicing mindfulness. Lybarger, the co-author of Leading Forward (2014), is a thoughtful and patient guide, and his book covers a substantial amount of material on a wide variety of leadership topics in a relatively concise format. With its frequent references to other books and research, it is also a valuable tool for readers looking to expand their knowledge of coaching and leadership literature. The prose is sometimes laden with jargon from the business and counseling worlds: “We master aligned accountability by first fostering actionable trust—extending, strengthening, and rebuilding trust as necessary in all our relationships.” On the whole, however, the book is highly readable, and even mindfulness skeptics will find plenty of practical takeaways. The client’s evolution over the course of the text offers a plausible example of the benefits of improved understanding of oneself and others in a professional context. Appendices provide further resources and templates, including a list of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s 22 “leadership competencies” referred to throughout the text as well as coaching documents from the International Coach Federation.
A solid handbook for managers in government and public service.Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5320-8000-5
Page Count: 210
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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