by Ken Wilcox ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 26, 2020
An illuminating bird’s-eye view of leadership.
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A former bank CEO offers forthright advice in this debut business book.
As CEO of Silicon Valley Bank for a decade, Wilcox faced a series of daunting challenges. He writes in this candid work that “tech was in the doldrums and interest rates were among the lowest in the history of the Fed.” The author had no choice but to lead through tough times, and his experience led him to craft a practical “field manual” to guide other executives. In three succinct but informative parts, Wilcox expounds on leadership principles and qualities, building teams and managing during change, all anchored by a strong emphasis on corporate culture. The book begins with an exploration of leadership motivation; the author asks penetrating questions about readers’ visions, delegation skills, and management styles. Wilcox wisely points out that leaders must not only be authentic and confident, but also vulnerable: “They’re willing to admit to their shortcomings and mistakes. Without this quality, no one can be a true leader.” The author references Gandhi and Lincoln as examples. In the first part of the manual, Wilcox stresses honesty, humility, and collaboration. Part 2 concentrates on leadership fundamentals, including building and steering a team, developing a corporate culture, sharing a vision, executing decisions, and communicating effectively. The author draws liberally on his own experiences, citing numerous examples of what to do and, perhaps more importantly, what not to do. Much of his advice is specific and actionable; for instance, he provides six recommendations for what kind of people to hire, engages in a captivating discussion about “the spectrum of human behavior,” enumerates “The Magic 12” (a list of 12 ways to cultivate trust), and shares “The Four Ds,” a useful process for making decisions.
Part 3 of the book, “Accomplishing Great Things: Revolutionary Leadership,” is a journey into more ambitious, cutting-edge goals. A chapter on managing change demonstrates the author’s deep understanding of organizational behavior. Wilcox writes that employees generally break into three groups when it comes to a company’s direction: those who like it, those who are neutral, and those who object. He wisely suggests that the time many leaders expend trying to convince the unhappy workers to follow the course would be better spent devoted to the happy employees because they’ll help steer the others. A discussion of innovation is insightful; Wilcox supplies eight salient ideas to foster invention, such as “Build a Culture in Which People Will Have the Courage to Speak Out” and “Praise Creativity, Avoid Criticizing Failure.” The appendix focuses on the experience the author had organizing a banking operation in China, delivering a personal, firsthand look at the unique challenges associated with doing business in the country. Wilcox’s perceptive observations about building a “shared culture” should prove invaluable to any leader who has global responsibilities. Throughout the book, he looks back over his senior executive experience with a critical eye, unafraid to reveal his own shortcomings. That, writes the author, is exactly what a great leader should do.
An illuminating bird’s-eye view of leadership.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-949003-35-2
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Waterside Productions
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Jeff Benedict ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2020
Smart, engaging sportswriting—good reading for organization builders as well as Pats fans.
Prolific writer Benedict has long blended two interests—sports and business—and the Patriots are emblematic of both. Founded in 1959 as the Boston Patriots, the team built a strategic home field between that city and Providence. When original owner Billy Sullivan sold the flailing team in 1988, it was $126 million in the hole, a condition so dire that “Sullivan had to beg the NFL to release emergency funds so he could pay his players.” Victor Kiam, the razor magnate, bought the long since renamed New England Patriots, but rival Robert Kraft bought first the parking lots and then the stadium—and “it rankled Kiam that he bore all the risk as the owner of the team but virtually all of the revenue that the team generated went to Kraft.” Check and mate. Kraft finally took over the team in 1994. Kraft inherited coach Bill Parcells, who in turn brought in star quarterback Drew Bledsoe, “the Patriots’ most prized player.” However, as the book’s nimbly constructed opening recounts, in 2001, Bledsoe got smeared in a hit “so violent that players along the Patriots sideline compared the sound of the collision to a car crash.” After that, it was backup Tom Brady’s team. Gridiron nerds will debate whether Brady is the greatest QB and Bill Belichick the greatest coach the game has ever known, but certainly they’ve had their share of controversy. The infamous “Deflategate” incident of 2015 takes up plenty of space in the late pages of the narrative, and depending on how you read between the lines, Brady was either an accomplice or an unwitting beneficiary. Still, as the author writes, by that point Brady “had started in 223 straight regular-season games,” an enviable record on a team that itself has racked up impressive stats.
Smart, engaging sportswriting—good reading for organization builders as well as Pats fans.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-982134-10-5
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Avid Reader Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
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by Jonah Berger ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 7, 2023
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.
Want to get ahead in business? Consult a dictionary.
By Wharton School professor Berger’s account, much of the art of persuasion lies in the art of choosing the right word. Want to jump ahead of others waiting in line to use a photocopy machine, even if they’re grizzled New Yorkers? Throw a because into the equation (“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine, because I’m in a rush?”), and you’re likely to get your way. Want someone to do your copying for you? Then change your verbs to nouns: not “Can you help me?” but “Can you be a helper?” As Berger notes, there’s a subtle psychological shift at play when a person becomes not a mere instrument in helping but instead acquires an identity as a helper. It’s the little things, one supposes, and the author offers some interesting strategies that eager readers will want to try out. Instead of alienating a listener with the omniscient should, as in “You should do this,” try could instead: “Well, you could…” induces all concerned “to recognize that there might be other possibilities.” Berger’s counsel that one should use abstractions contradicts his admonition to use concrete language, and it doesn’t help matters to say that each is appropriate to a particular situation, while grammarians will wince at his suggestion that a nerve-calming exercise to “try talking to yourself in the third person (‘You can do it!’)” in fact invokes the second person. Still, there are plenty of useful insights, particularly for students of advertising and public speaking. It’s intriguing to note that appeals to God are less effective in securing a loan than a simple affirmative such as “I pay all bills…on time”), and it’s helpful to keep in mind that “the right words used at the right time can have immense power.”
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063204935
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper Business
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
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