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Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership
What if you could decrease your stress and flourish ? What if the wisdom you need to succeed with your team or your boss is within your reach?
The good news is, leadership can also be one of the most rewarding and fulfilling endeavors . What if you could enjoy the rich rewards of leadership, and handle the challenging times with grace and ease ?
It sucks because real leadership is hard, requires selfless service , and because the buck stops here. Servant leadership or Level 5 leadership is uncomfortable, humbling, self-denying, painful, and counter-intuitive; nonetheless, Christian leadership is the only kind of leadership that brings lasting results, genuine happiness, and true self-fulfillment.
With 15 years of battle-tested leadership , Miles Anthony Smith delves into the ups and downs of his senior leadership experience, shares many funny, some sad, and other frustrating stories that will have you laughing and crying as you earn a leadership degree through his many mistakes and missteps. He paints a picture of leadership that is worth the fight to make it suck less .
Get this book now to decrease your stress and frustration with leadership. The wisdom in these pages is genuinely worth far more than the simple investment you will make. Pick up your copy of the book by clicking the BUY NOW button at the top of the page.
The good news is, leadership can also be one of the most rewarding and fulfilling endeavors . What if you could enjoy the rich rewards of leadership, and handle the challenging times with grace and ease ?
It sucks because real leadership is hard, requires selfless service , and because the buck stops here. Servant leadership or Level 5 leadership is uncomfortable, humbling, self-denying, painful, and counter-intuitive; nonetheless, Christian leadership is the only kind of leadership that brings lasting results, genuine happiness, and true self-fulfillment.
With 15 years of battle-tested leadership , Miles Anthony Smith delves into the ups and downs of his senior leadership experience, shares many funny, some sad, and other frustrating stories that will have you laughing and crying as you earn a leadership degree through his many mistakes and missteps. He paints a picture of leadership that is worth the fight to make it suck less .
Get this book now to decrease your stress and frustration with leadership. The wisdom in these pages is genuinely worth far more than the simple investment you will make. Pick up your copy of the book by clicking the BUY NOW button at the top of the page.
206 pages, ebook
First published October 14, 2012
62 people are currently reading
214 people want to read
About the author
Miles Anthony Smith
6 books29 followersMiles is a keynote speaker, author, and technology leader who helps organizations generate and nurture leads with advanced inbound marketing strategies.
You may have seen him on Search Engine Watch, Neil Patel, Robbie Richards, Growth Hackers, Mailup, Hubstaff, Digital Olympus, RevContent, Albacross, or Lead Generation Institute. Raised in Oklahoma, and living in Green Bay, he graduated from Oklahoma State with an MBA degree.
During his entrepreneurial career, he has successfully led marketing and lead generation campaigns for Forbes 100 companies and created digital marketing course curriculum for Rasmussen University.
Unlike other experts on digital marketing and technology, Miles is a true practitioner, having been in the trenches of running thousands of marketing campaigns and has the case study data from clients to back it up. With Miles‘s versatile background, he speaks about Why Stuff Sucks™.
You may have seen him on Search Engine Watch, Neil Patel, Robbie Richards, Growth Hackers, Mailup, Hubstaff, Digital Olympus, RevContent, Albacross, or Lead Generation Institute. Raised in Oklahoma, and living in Green Bay, he graduated from Oklahoma State with an MBA degree.
During his entrepreneurial career, he has successfully led marketing and lead generation campaigns for Forbes 100 companies and created digital marketing course curriculum for Rasmussen University.
Unlike other experts on digital marketing and technology, Miles is a true practitioner, having been in the trenches of running thousands of marketing campaigns and has the case study data from clients to back it up. With Miles‘s versatile background, he speaks about Why Stuff Sucks™.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 30, 2012
In Why Leadership Sucks, Miles speaks frankly and offers hard-hitting, cold-hard truths behind effective leadership. In short concise chapters, he covers all of the Ten Knowledge Areas of Leadership in a way that I have been struggling to pack into one body of knowledge. Miles captures the essence of leadership including Decisiveness, Sacrifice, Leadership-ettiquette, Risk-reward, Negotiation, Culture and Servant leadership to name a few. His insights are applicable at any level, from home-life to corporate Boards. - Albert John Cacace, Independent management consultant and Founder Ten Woods Institute.
February 24, 2013
No matter where you are in your career, you always wonder about leadership and its pros and cons, either when you look at your boss spending his hours or when you yourself are hard pressed with any management situation. Author Miles, with his decade worth of working and exploring experience has brought forth a book that’s about to answer Your questions.
Why Leadership Sucks, as the name suggests it’s a book on Leadership and life of leaders and thus is The fodder for all wannabee, newbie and truly Leaders.
Book goes on to explain, and prepare you to face general Hatred, Betrayal and Risks that every leader experiences, and then elaborates why to do it anyway! Because when it’s right thing to do, then it is right thing to do.
Book is filled with lots of compact chapters that have much more to deliver then they have words, and that’s why it’s one of The best book I read on leadership. There are lot of hands on tips that will make you more of a person to whom others what to follow (in essence a leader :)
The book ends with a great point that summarizes, why struggle is important in succeeding. In short without struggle, we have tendency to crumble under the stress and pressure. We all have a role to play, no one can play it for us, but some (like Miles) can surely make it much easier to be in the game.
The language used, is easy to understand and follow. The advice is easily acceptable. Miles description of various topics is expressed in his down to earth yet authoritative manner. Even the critical part of me is happy to have picked up this book. Thus a deserving candidate for 5 of 5 points.
Why Leadership Sucks, as the name suggests it’s a book on Leadership and life of leaders and thus is The fodder for all wannabee, newbie and truly Leaders.
Book goes on to explain, and prepare you to face general Hatred, Betrayal and Risks that every leader experiences, and then elaborates why to do it anyway! Because when it’s right thing to do, then it is right thing to do.
Book is filled with lots of compact chapters that have much more to deliver then they have words, and that’s why it’s one of The best book I read on leadership. There are lot of hands on tips that will make you more of a person to whom others what to follow (in essence a leader :)
The book ends with a great point that summarizes, why struggle is important in succeeding. In short without struggle, we have tendency to crumble under the stress and pressure. We all have a role to play, no one can play it for us, but some (like Miles) can surely make it much easier to be in the game.
The language used, is easy to understand and follow. The advice is easily acceptable. Miles description of various topics is expressed in his down to earth yet authoritative manner. Even the critical part of me is happy to have picked up this book. Thus a deserving candidate for 5 of 5 points.
December 9, 2012
As the title indicates, this book focuses on discussing authentic servant leadership, which as esteemed author Jim Collins designates as Level 5 leadership. The book is composed of four parts. Part 1 and 2, discuss servant leadership. Part 3 discussed humility, which is a key value for authentic leadership. Finally, the last part, part 4 includes common situations through which the previous learnings are applied.
Below are key excerpts from the book that I found particularly insightful:
1- " Jim Collins describes Level 5 leadership in his book Good to Great as a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will (fierce resolve). He goes on to write of the five attributes Level 5 leaders possess: They are self-confident enough to set up their successors for success. They are humble and modest. They have “unwavering resolve.” They display a “workmanlike diligence— more plow horse than show horse.” They give credit to others for their success and take full responsibility for poor results. They “attribute much of their success to ‘good luck’ rather than personal greatness.”
2- "Servant leadership is about caring for others more than for ourselves. It is about compassion for everyone who serves the group. It enriches everyone, not just those at the top. Servant leadership requires us to sit and weep with those who weep within our organizations. It requires getting down and dirty when hard work has to be done. There is nothing in my organization that anyone does that I should not be willing to do myself if it promotes the good of us all. HANS FINZEL, THE TOP TEN MISTAKES LEADERS MAKE"
3- "Great leaders ask great, thoughtful questions. We all have a strong desire to be understood, but we have a responsibility to our team to listen first."
4- "When making decisions, stop and ask yourself whether you are trading short-term gain for long-term pain. Also think of how this affects others, not just yourself. And when you choose to delegate, don’t reverse course. It does more damage than not delegating in the first place."
5- "We are either ignorant of the need for us to actively participate in empowerment, or we choose to be lazy, since true empowerment takes a lot of work. In order to empower others, we must define the power and authority they have in decision making. I liken this to setting guardrails on a task or project being delegated; it is our job as a leader to define what we want them to do— and more importantly, what we don’t want them to do. Then we must define what types of choices they can make without our involvement and what decisions they must bring to us for input. Then they have been genuinely empowered, since we have properly equipped and invested in them first."
6- "In the vacuum created by a lack of communication, people tend to dream up and believe in the wildest explanations of fact."
7- "We need to leave situations better than we found them. One of my goals in my career is to leave the organization better after my stewardship tenure than it was when I began. We should have the same goal in any relationship."
8- "Mutual responsibility is at the core of accountability; the onus is not solely on the manager to provide direction. It is equally the duty of the leader and team member to hold each other accountable."
9- "After we have done our part as leaders by coaching, we must step back and allow others the opportunity to make mistakes, even if it costs us or the company something of value in the short term."
10- "It is quite risky to let our guard down and make ourselves vulnerable with others by giving them the right— no, the duty— to call us out on our faults. But doing so allows us to prove our true leadership in the sense that we are comfortable in who we are, despite our shortcomings and insecurity. This leads to others recognizing and choosing to follow our trustworthy, genuine authority."
11- "But I learned a valuable lesson not to put absolute faith in any one person. It simply sets them up for failure and sets us up for disappointment when they make a mistake. Having said that, we do need leaders who will stand up and choose to do what is right, but leaders are human and all of them will make poor choices. Some of them will fail spectacularly. And even though leaders have failed me, I won’t stop trusting all leaders, just the ones who prove untrustworthy."
12- "Much as the wisdom of Solomon admonishes us that “there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven,” 14 there is a time to display emotion (sorrow, anger, etc.) and a time for a lack of emotional display."
13- "The best managers/ leaders can both inspire people (leadership) and hold them accountable for work that needs to be done (management)."
14- "Organizations who think they are maintaining/ holding ground are mistaken. You are either growing or dying. JIM COLLINS"
15- "Chris Zook and James Allen point to four key rules that companies should follow to increase shareholder value. Build intolerance for excess complexity. Compete for the long term. Focus on your greatest strengths. Make strategy a search for a repeatable model that can replicate and adapt your greatest successes again and again."
16- "All Level 5 leaders, it turns out, are hedgehogs. They know how to simplify a complex world into a single, organizing idea— the kind of basic principle that unifies, organizes, and guides all decisions."
17- "The company that quickly builds on the failures of the first-to-market company, learning from their mistakes and improving on their initial efforts, is likely to reap a majority of the market without having to invest the same R& D money."
A very light and educative read. The author's examples are on point to illustrate the concepts presented. Finally, the numerous references embedded within this book on leadership (servant and authentic) makes it a great starter within this field.
Below are key excerpts from the book that I found particularly insightful:
1- " Jim Collins describes Level 5 leadership in his book Good to Great as a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will (fierce resolve). He goes on to write of the five attributes Level 5 leaders possess: They are self-confident enough to set up their successors for success. They are humble and modest. They have “unwavering resolve.” They display a “workmanlike diligence— more plow horse than show horse.” They give credit to others for their success and take full responsibility for poor results. They “attribute much of their success to ‘good luck’ rather than personal greatness.”
2- "Servant leadership is about caring for others more than for ourselves. It is about compassion for everyone who serves the group. It enriches everyone, not just those at the top. Servant leadership requires us to sit and weep with those who weep within our organizations. It requires getting down and dirty when hard work has to be done. There is nothing in my organization that anyone does that I should not be willing to do myself if it promotes the good of us all. HANS FINZEL, THE TOP TEN MISTAKES LEADERS MAKE"
3- "Great leaders ask great, thoughtful questions. We all have a strong desire to be understood, but we have a responsibility to our team to listen first."
4- "When making decisions, stop and ask yourself whether you are trading short-term gain for long-term pain. Also think of how this affects others, not just yourself. And when you choose to delegate, don’t reverse course. It does more damage than not delegating in the first place."
5- "We are either ignorant of the need for us to actively participate in empowerment, or we choose to be lazy, since true empowerment takes a lot of work. In order to empower others, we must define the power and authority they have in decision making. I liken this to setting guardrails on a task or project being delegated; it is our job as a leader to define what we want them to do— and more importantly, what we don’t want them to do. Then we must define what types of choices they can make without our involvement and what decisions they must bring to us for input. Then they have been genuinely empowered, since we have properly equipped and invested in them first."
6- "In the vacuum created by a lack of communication, people tend to dream up and believe in the wildest explanations of fact."
7- "We need to leave situations better than we found them. One of my goals in my career is to leave the organization better after my stewardship tenure than it was when I began. We should have the same goal in any relationship."
8- "Mutual responsibility is at the core of accountability; the onus is not solely on the manager to provide direction. It is equally the duty of the leader and team member to hold each other accountable."
9- "After we have done our part as leaders by coaching, we must step back and allow others the opportunity to make mistakes, even if it costs us or the company something of value in the short term."
10- "It is quite risky to let our guard down and make ourselves vulnerable with others by giving them the right— no, the duty— to call us out on our faults. But doing so allows us to prove our true leadership in the sense that we are comfortable in who we are, despite our shortcomings and insecurity. This leads to others recognizing and choosing to follow our trustworthy, genuine authority."
11- "But I learned a valuable lesson not to put absolute faith in any one person. It simply sets them up for failure and sets us up for disappointment when they make a mistake. Having said that, we do need leaders who will stand up and choose to do what is right, but leaders are human and all of them will make poor choices. Some of them will fail spectacularly. And even though leaders have failed me, I won’t stop trusting all leaders, just the ones who prove untrustworthy."
12- "Much as the wisdom of Solomon admonishes us that “there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven,” 14 there is a time to display emotion (sorrow, anger, etc.) and a time for a lack of emotional display."
13- "The best managers/ leaders can both inspire people (leadership) and hold them accountable for work that needs to be done (management)."
14- "Organizations who think they are maintaining/ holding ground are mistaken. You are either growing or dying. JIM COLLINS"
15- "Chris Zook and James Allen point to four key rules that companies should follow to increase shareholder value. Build intolerance for excess complexity. Compete for the long term. Focus on your greatest strengths. Make strategy a search for a repeatable model that can replicate and adapt your greatest successes again and again."
16- "All Level 5 leaders, it turns out, are hedgehogs. They know how to simplify a complex world into a single, organizing idea— the kind of basic principle that unifies, organizes, and guides all decisions."
17- "The company that quickly builds on the failures of the first-to-market company, learning from their mistakes and improving on their initial efforts, is likely to reap a majority of the market without having to invest the same R& D money."
A very light and educative read. The author's examples are on point to illustrate the concepts presented. Finally, the numerous references embedded within this book on leadership (servant and authentic) makes it a great starter within this field.
October 25, 2012
Miles Smith’s book “Why Leadership Sucks: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership” is something that should be in the library of anyone involved in small business management. Biblically based, the title belies the underlying premise that to successfully lead, one must be the servant of the organization. Hard work, self-sacrifice and a willingness to assume the most modest roles, is part of Christ’s teaching. And, for one who may be looking for the easy route to success, this book’s recommendations, do, indeed, suck.
But for one who wants to start a new business or take a leadership role in an existing business, Smith lays out the true path to success. Succinctly written, the author identifies the proper way to become a leader with all of its inherent suffering. Be prepared to be hated, betrayed and vulnerable. In addition, be prepared to learn how to be a good steward and communicator as well as generous and genuine.
This work gives specific advice on being a capable manager while also giving excellent examples of being a great person. I highly recommend it for the latter alone. It will fit well with works by other great leadership authors such as John Wooden and Bobby Jindal.
But for one who wants to start a new business or take a leadership role in an existing business, Smith lays out the true path to success. Succinctly written, the author identifies the proper way to become a leader with all of its inherent suffering. Be prepared to be hated, betrayed and vulnerable. In addition, be prepared to learn how to be a good steward and communicator as well as generous and genuine.
This work gives specific advice on being a capable manager while also giving excellent examples of being a great person. I highly recommend it for the latter alone. It will fit well with works by other great leadership authors such as John Wooden and Bobby Jindal.
April 23, 2015
This was the first book I've ever read specifically on the subject of leadership and I honestly think it's honesty, accessibility, and practicality make it an ideal book for those with little or much leadership experience.
Step by step it takes the reader through the neccessary questions and considerations to build a foundation of good leadership- one based on listening to others and serving those with whom we work. The first three sections of the book discuss these concepts, while the last one gives practical situations in which his priciples can be applied.
The book also asks those who aspire to leadership to take a step back and assess in what capacity you are willing to lead. It gives you a straightforward way to look into your own life and gifts and reflect on the steps you will need to be the leader you envision. It also calls upon the reader to be an observer of those around- taking into consideration the talents and capacities of those with whom they work. All this in an honest language. This is a book everyone can learn from.
Step by step it takes the reader through the neccessary questions and considerations to build a foundation of good leadership- one based on listening to others and serving those with whom we work. The first three sections of the book discuss these concepts, while the last one gives practical situations in which his priciples can be applied.
The book also asks those who aspire to leadership to take a step back and assess in what capacity you are willing to lead. It gives you a straightforward way to look into your own life and gifts and reflect on the steps you will need to be the leader you envision. It also calls upon the reader to be an observer of those around- taking into consideration the talents and capacities of those with whom they work. All this in an honest language. This is a book everyone can learn from.
July 2, 2013
I've seen effective leaders and ineffective leaders. Smith has nailed down many qualities of effective leaders, and explains just why it's so hard to be an effective leader, writing in a style I found easy to read. There is some reference to his Christian faith, which I did not find to be overwhelming here.
I'd recommend this book to anyone in a leadership position. For those who are not doing well at it, this will point them in the direction to figure out more effective ways to lead. For those who are already good leaders, they will at least find the sympathy the author has for those doing what it takes to lead well.
I'd recommend this book to anyone in a leadership position. For those who are not doing well at it, this will point them in the direction to figure out more effective ways to lead. For those who are already good leaders, they will at least find the sympathy the author has for those doing what it takes to lead well.
November 12, 2013
I found a couple really good concepts in Miles's book. The first was requesting our direct reports to review our performance and leadership. What a great way to be vulnerable and deal with true reality! The second was stopping all false apologies. As Miles states, "I'm sorry you feel that way" is no apology at all. In addition to these points, the book is chock-full of many other good principals.
I think the book could be improved in a couple areas. To start with, I felt the book tried to cover too much with too little. What I mean is there were lots and lots of great principals, but many times little meat to sink my teeth into. On one hand, I think the book can be a great idea generator, making the reader aware of areas they should dig into with the help of other books. On the other hand, the principals in Miles's book could benefit greatly from strong, real examples. There are times in the book where Miles makes a strong-handed statement on a principal, but without examples to make it real I found it difficult to take the principal just at his word. As Miles increases in his business and leadership accomplishments, his words will carry more weight and can be more easily taken at face value, but in the short term examples would go a long way.
The only part of the book I didn't really enjoy was part 4. Titled "Specific Management Situations", I was looking forward to the specific examples that I had felt were missing while reading the first 3 parts of the book. Unfortunately, it instead contains miscellaneous rants on poor leadership, skills, and thinking. Though I truly agreed with many of what he talked about on those pages, I felt the tone was a bit too snarky to be helpful for would-be leaders who instead might walk away offended.
I can tell from Miles's book that he's an extremely well educated individual. He references many great leaders whose principals he has internalized, at least at the intellectual level. He obviously has a lot of discipline to put all of these principals on paper, for which I admire him. With the appropriate accomplishments to back up his head knowledge, I think Miles can go a long way as an author and a leader.
I think the book could be improved in a couple areas. To start with, I felt the book tried to cover too much with too little. What I mean is there were lots and lots of great principals, but many times little meat to sink my teeth into. On one hand, I think the book can be a great idea generator, making the reader aware of areas they should dig into with the help of other books. On the other hand, the principals in Miles's book could benefit greatly from strong, real examples. There are times in the book where Miles makes a strong-handed statement on a principal, but without examples to make it real I found it difficult to take the principal just at his word. As Miles increases in his business and leadership accomplishments, his words will carry more weight and can be more easily taken at face value, but in the short term examples would go a long way.
The only part of the book I didn't really enjoy was part 4. Titled "Specific Management Situations", I was looking forward to the specific examples that I had felt were missing while reading the first 3 parts of the book. Unfortunately, it instead contains miscellaneous rants on poor leadership, skills, and thinking. Though I truly agreed with many of what he talked about on those pages, I felt the tone was a bit too snarky to be helpful for would-be leaders who instead might walk away offended.
I can tell from Miles's book that he's an extremely well educated individual. He references many great leaders whose principals he has internalized, at least at the intellectual level. He obviously has a lot of discipline to put all of these principals on paper, for which I admire him. With the appropriate accomplishments to back up his head knowledge, I think Miles can go a long way as an author and a leader.
August 20, 2016
What is leadership? How do we define leadership? What is servant leadership? What are the most effective leadership characteristics? Do you wish your company had a leadership development program, or are you frustrated with organizational leadership? Do you wonder why some leadership styles suck? You are not alone.
So why does leadership suck? It sucks because real leadership is hard, requires selfless service, and because the buck stops here. Servant leadership or Level 5 leadership is uncomfortable, humbling, self-denying, painful, and counter-intuitive; nonetheless, christian leadership is the only kind of leadership that brings lasting results, genuine happiness, and true self-fulfillment.
MY REVIEW:
There is alot of helpful advice in this book for leaders. I especially liked the sections on empowering others and modesty (specifically humility). There is quite alot to unpack in this book that will take some time to re-read and apply all the habits and principles outlined in it. If you are seeking to be a better servant leader this book is a great resource and compilation of practical usable advice in doing so.
The book is divided into four parts:
Part 1: To serve or not to serve. Effective leadership characteristics require servant leadership.
Part 2: Do what’s best for your organization. Discusses various aspects of organizational leadership and culture
Part 3: Humility 101. Leadership principles of self-examination, apologies, authenticity, controlling and displaying emotions, and handling adversity.
Part 4: Specific management situations, focusing on business leadership competencies
Here is what you will learn from Miles and experience in Why Leadership Sucks?
Define leadership in general and the servant leadership style specifically.
Why christian leadership matters and is a better long-term strategy.
Develop leadership competencies with practical action steps.
Learn from real world examples from the author’s organizational leadership experience.
Quotes on leadership help highlight and introduce sections within each chapter.
August 23, 2013
There are a lot of leadership books out there, a lot of them airport books. You know the kind: you get through check-in, go through security, and there’s a bookshop selling the liquids you couldn’t bring through security, magazines, some popular fiction, a few children’s books and some grown-up looking books on business. Some of them are by recognised management gurus; others aren’t. Some were rushed through the press in the wake of the latest Enron; others were rewritten to remove all praise for Enron. Most take a top-down approach to leadership.
Smith is one of the few writers I’ve come across who looks at leadership from a servant perspective, a Christian perspective. That’s not to say that the leadership gurus who write airport books aren’t Christian: some of them are, and their ideas often reflect that. But it’s not front-and-centre in the way that Smith’s book is.
He makes a point, then provides a challenge to action that point: it’s like show-don’t-tell in novels. We need leaders who will guide us with less talk and more action. I liked that. Smith is well-read in classic and popular management texts and quotes from a number of well-known managers and leaders, and provides a reading list at the end (including Servant Leadership by Robert K. Greenleaf).
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power - Abraham Lincoln
I particularly liked his advice on naming your business (“unless you are a personality or public figure, name your business something other than your name”—or, as my bank manager said, use your business name to say what you do not who you are). He also has a list of commonly misspelled idioms, which is O for Awesome (sorry - that's a Kiwi joke. See
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define... and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaIZF8... )
There was one problem with Why Leadership Sucks: over-long paragraphs. Many were over a page long on my Kindle, and more paragraphs breaks would help readability.
Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review.
Smith is one of the few writers I’ve come across who looks at leadership from a servant perspective, a Christian perspective. That’s not to say that the leadership gurus who write airport books aren’t Christian: some of them are, and their ideas often reflect that. But it’s not front-and-centre in the way that Smith’s book is.
He makes a point, then provides a challenge to action that point: it’s like show-don’t-tell in novels. We need leaders who will guide us with less talk and more action. I liked that. Smith is well-read in classic and popular management texts and quotes from a number of well-known managers and leaders, and provides a reading list at the end (including Servant Leadership by Robert K. Greenleaf).
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power - Abraham Lincoln
I particularly liked his advice on naming your business (“unless you are a personality or public figure, name your business something other than your name”—or, as my bank manager said, use your business name to say what you do not who you are). He also has a list of commonly misspelled idioms, which is O for Awesome (sorry - that's a Kiwi joke. See
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define... and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaIZF8... )
There was one problem with Why Leadership Sucks: over-long paragraphs. Many were over a page long on my Kindle, and more paragraphs breaks would help readability.
Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review.
Read
January 25, 2013Pretty good read on servant leadership.
Based on Robert Greenleaf's servant leader concept, this text refers to a number of other management and leadership books to exemplify the basic good of giving oneself to one's team. Smith does a good job of highlighting the tough aspects of being a leader, hence the title of the book. For me personally, some chapters served as a stark reminder of what I need to be doing in my own leadership role.
There were times, though, when this book fell into the same trap as many other leadership and management texts: it can be contradictory to itself. Good leadership and management is so situational that it is tough to avoid this trap. Further, there were a number of grammatical errors that distract a reader like myself. I am certainly not perfect with grammar, but an overuse of contractions and words like "ain't" got in the way of my enjoyment of some chapters.
All-in-all, this is a solid, quick read for the aspiring leader and a suitable refresher for the seasoned leader.
Based on Robert Greenleaf's servant leader concept, this text refers to a number of other management and leadership books to exemplify the basic good of giving oneself to one's team. Smith does a good job of highlighting the tough aspects of being a leader, hence the title of the book. For me personally, some chapters served as a stark reminder of what I need to be doing in my own leadership role.
There were times, though, when this book fell into the same trap as many other leadership and management texts: it can be contradictory to itself. Good leadership and management is so situational that it is tough to avoid this trap. Further, there were a number of grammatical errors that distract a reader like myself. I am certainly not perfect with grammar, but an overuse of contractions and words like "ain't" got in the way of my enjoyment of some chapters.
All-in-all, this is a solid, quick read for the aspiring leader and a suitable refresher for the seasoned leader.
February 20, 2015
This was a pretty quick read for me. I'm a super fast, avid reader and I was able to devour this information in just over an hour. However, that won't be the end of it because I am definitely going back with a highlighter and I'm going to make sure I retain every bit of information here.
Smith writes in a clean and relatable style that I love. I am a Christian and also a leader type of person, so this definitely resonated with me in many ways, but honestly I think the topics he addresses would be good for anyone to read. We're talking about what leadership really is, and in some ways we are all leaders. Whether it's a parent, a friend giving advice, etc, in some way we are taking on this role and we could truly benefit from Smith's angle on humility vs self-serving leadership styles.
I've read other books on this topic from rather notorious authors and yet the simplicity and relatability of this one makes it stand out above the rest. I definitely recommend this!!
Smith writes in a clean and relatable style that I love. I am a Christian and also a leader type of person, so this definitely resonated with me in many ways, but honestly I think the topics he addresses would be good for anyone to read. We're talking about what leadership really is, and in some ways we are all leaders. Whether it's a parent, a friend giving advice, etc, in some way we are taking on this role and we could truly benefit from Smith's angle on humility vs self-serving leadership styles.
I've read other books on this topic from rather notorious authors and yet the simplicity and relatability of this one makes it stand out above the rest. I definitely recommend this!!
January 9, 2017
Why does leadership suck? It sucks because real leadership is hard and requires selfless service. It also sucks because the buck stops here, meaning it is ultimately the leader’s responsibility to deal with all of the crap. Lastly, it is easier to be too harsh instead of balancing our hard and soft nature. It requires less effort to “lead” (if you can call it that) in the harsh, dictatorial, selfish way that is so prevalent today. The alternative to selfish “leadership” is servant leadership, or Level 5 leadership (I consider these terms to be synonymous). This book points to the practical steps I have found to move toward becoming a Level 5/servant leader. Level 5 leadership is uncomfortable, humbling, self-denying, painful, and counterintuitive; nonetheless, in the long term, it is the only kind of leadership that brings lasting results, genuine happiness, and true self-fulfillment.
I am striving for Level 5!
I am striving for Level 5!
April 25, 2015
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13285277
I received a free Audible audiobook in return for a review through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer giveaway.
Started off well, but I was somewhat shocked when the author started using verses from the Bible as his references.
For people new to management textbooks, this book is probably as easy to read as most, but one issue to these "newbies" is that there isn't any real explanation of levels 1-4 of leadership while the book is about level 5.
There are some very good discussions (e.g. management vs. leadership and envy vs. jealousy) but far too many references to the Bible for my taste. If you don't find such a sneaky attempt at indoctrination into Christian beliefs offensive, add an extra star onto my rating.
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13285277
I received a free Audible audiobook in return for a review through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer giveaway.
Started off well, but I was somewhat shocked when the author started using verses from the Bible as his references.
For people new to management textbooks, this book is probably as easy to read as most, but one issue to these "newbies" is that there isn't any real explanation of levels 1-4 of leadership while the book is about level 5.
There are some very good discussions (e.g. management vs. leadership and envy vs. jealousy) but far too many references to the Bible for my taste. If you don't find such a sneaky attempt at indoctrination into Christian beliefs offensive, add an extra star onto my rating.
February 23, 2015
A very helpful book!
Let’s face it, leadership is not for everyone (especially the faint at heart) and it often is not fun. That doesn’t mean that those who are not born leaders can’t learn and develop this skill. This book is applicable to almost everyone, from those seeking a leadership position at work to those who have been unwilling thrust into this position. We could all use some guidance. I particularly liked Part 3 which covers topics like authenticity and humility, two very important yet sometimes overlooked qualities of being a good leader. The quotes throughout this book are really poignant and I found myself writing several on sticky notes and posting them on my desk. The advice in this book is easy to digest and apply, so glad I found it.
Let’s face it, leadership is not for everyone (especially the faint at heart) and it often is not fun. That doesn’t mean that those who are not born leaders can’t learn and develop this skill. This book is applicable to almost everyone, from those seeking a leadership position at work to those who have been unwilling thrust into this position. We could all use some guidance. I particularly liked Part 3 which covers topics like authenticity and humility, two very important yet sometimes overlooked qualities of being a good leader. The quotes throughout this book are really poignant and I found myself writing several on sticky notes and posting them on my desk. The advice in this book is easy to digest and apply, so glad I found it.
March 28, 2015
This was a great book detailing the meaning, purpose, and applications of leaders. I really enjoyed it, and it was a quick read, but full of helpful tips on how to be a better leader in your business or corporation. It goes from general leadership applications down to specific 'what-to-dos'. Although this book was aimed at those already in a leadership position in a company, there are a lot of general life principles that everyone can benefit from. Those already in leadership positions would greatly benefit from reading this book; there are many useful tips that can be gleaned from Miles Anthony Smith's book.
Full disclosure: I received a complementary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Full disclosure: I received a complementary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
February 23, 2014
Having come to the language of servant leadership after many years of work experience and continuing study, I was hoping for useful insight in this area.
While there are nice quotes and a flavour of some key features of the experience of leading teams, I didn't think there was enough here to explain why servant leadership was a better approach than alternatives. There is no serious attempt to reflect on the other people-centred approaches to leadership and management and I didn't think it was enough to simply suggest this was the best way.
I recognise this book is written from personal experience and perspective and it's an easy read but a little light for my liking.
While there are nice quotes and a flavour of some key features of the experience of leading teams, I didn't think there was enough here to explain why servant leadership was a better approach than alternatives. There is no serious attempt to reflect on the other people-centred approaches to leadership and management and I didn't think it was enough to simply suggest this was the best way.
I recognise this book is written from personal experience and perspective and it's an easy read but a little light for my liking.
September 27, 2013
Overall, solid leadership advice and a good listen - I bought the Audible edition and the narration was good. I knocked a star off my review because I wasn't expecting the book to be written from a Christian faith perspective, so I found it a bit preachy and was somewhat distracted by the biblical quotes sprinkled throughout. If you're a devout Christian, or don't find that perspective in books distracting, consider this a solid 4-star book on leadership.
April 23, 2015
I thought this leadership book read easier and much more practical then most! A different take on becoming a servant leader that is not always sunshine and roses. Sometimes funny, sometimes witty, but written as easy to take away and become the leader you should try be in every part of your life. Work is all about moving up the ladder as such becoming better leaders as your learn along way.
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November 24, 2015Some good nuggets....
Here and there in this book on leadership. Mostly enjoyed the quotes from Drucker and others in leadership space. I will say I liked that the author vulnerably shared some of his own failures in leadership.
Here and there in this book on leadership. Mostly enjoyed the quotes from Drucker and others in leadership space. I will say I liked that the author vulnerably shared some of his own failures in leadership.
January 18, 2017
I like reading leadership books. This is the worst one I've ever read. Or rather started reading. I couldn't finish it it was so bad. Lacked insight or any new/inspiring information.
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