Learning to Lead: The Journey to Leading Yourself, Leading Others, and Leading an Organization

by Ron Williams

This master class on leadership, written by one of America’s most prominent and successful executives, will help you develop the professional leadership qualities that deliver personal, interpersonal, and organizational success. 

​In Learning to Lead: The Journey to Leading Yourself, Leading Others, and Leading an Organization, Ron Williams provides you with practical, tested leadership advice, whether you’re searching for a new career, looking for proven management solutions, or seeking to transform your organization. Developed from Williams’s own personal and professional journey, as well as the experiences of America’s leading CEOs, these strategies emerge boldly from engaging stories, outlined with practical steps for you to accomplish goals such as—

• Launching your career quest
• Avoiding professional pitfalls, wrong turns, and wasted effort
• Overcoming interpersonal challenges and conflicts
• Building and leading an effective, high-performance team
• Prioritizing and solving problems from multiple perspectives
• Developing your leadership style and mastering communication
• Casting a vision and changing the culture of your organization

After finishing Learning to Lead, you will be well equipped to take the next step to success in your personal and professional leadership journey. Williams’s book has the potential to join other leadership development classics on your shelf—to be read repeatedly and consulted throughout the span of your career.

Genres: Leadership, Business, Self Help, Nonfiction, Management, Productivity, Personal Development

296 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 7, 2019

About the author

Librarian Note: There are more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Elise · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reading this book and Bob Chapman's "Everbody Matters" was jarring and showed just how painfully empty these sorts of winner-takes-all leadership books can be. I might have liked it more (or, rather, hated it less) if I'd read it first, but at the end of the day I just don't want to be a Warren Bennis- type leader.

Also, having been an Aetna customer for many years, yeah, no.

[Hannah Massingill · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this for class lol. thought it had some good tips for young professionals!

[Vince Deuschel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many of the reviews mention that Ron Williams book is not full of new our revolutionary thoughts and concepts. After dwelling on that for a few days - I began to wonder if that was the point. Perhaps being an effective leader is about doing simple things extraordinarily well? I appreciate that reminder, and the nudge to lead in the way that is effective and personally rewarding. I just started in a new leadership position and have incorporated some of Ron’s recommendations into my daily activities.

This alone is worth the few days it will take you to read this clearly written and very accessible book.

[Joseph Romo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book starts well but it quickly goes down a path of highlighting who and what roles the author has worked in. While there are a lot of practical examples-it is almost as if you can just read the end of chapter overviews instead of reading the actual chapters and you would get more out of it in a shorter period of time.

[Reading For Funs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received Learning to Lead: The Journey to Leading Yourself, Leading Others, and Leading an Organization through a Goodreads Giveaway.

I discovered through reading Learning to Lead that I have a tendency to allow those around me to guide my path rather than make my own decisions. I wasn't aware of this, but now I see what a huge problem this has been and how it's kept me from succeeding in life. This book completely changed how I think and act, showing me how to control my own outcome and how to guide others.

I wasn't the target demographic for this book, I didn't want to read this to learn how to lead an office space in a corporate environment. I wanted to read Learning to Lead in order to gain a skill I could use in everyday situations, and I definitely did. The book is educational and informative, and the author does a fantastic job of walking the reader through everything you could possibly want to know.

[Eric Venditti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book as it keep coming up on many of the lists I looked at. I was expecting a good book without a lot of new content and was happily surprised.

I really enjoyed the style of the author and some of the small details. It also humbled me to read about his experiences as a minority raising to leadership and to learn about his missteps showing that nobody is immune regardless of ethnicity, education, experience or position. The lesson for me is that what matters is what you do next and how important to have an inclusive culture where feedback is rewarded instead of being punished.

Other good thing on this book are the take away at the end of each chapter allowing you to quickly go back and reflect on the chapter key ideas.

Thank you Ron for sharing your experience and giving a few pointers!

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. I have been a business owner/CEO for more than 4 decades and quite frankly, have never really learned to lead myself, others or our organization as effectively as I would hope for. The author gives great insight into how one can successful become an effective leader. For example, instead of lecturing and presenting our own ideas to employees, an effective leader can obtain valuable insights from others by asking non-confrontational manner questions in a straight forward yet gentle way. Some of his ideas go against conventional thinking, such as his thoughts on hiring for 'culture fit'. But they are very thought provoking. I have seen Ron Williams on TV on a business program and was very impressed with him. Liked this book a great deal.

[Robby Grabow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very practical book with several tangible recommendations that were relevant to me as an aspiring leader. Having a background in healthcare and insurance made it particularly transferable for me. I appreciated the summaries at the end of each chapter that reinforced the key take-aways.

I gave it three stars as it isn’t a page turner or exceptionally written. It would have been excellent as an HBR article but doesn’t easily hold attention for 300+ pages as Ron doesn’t put enough personal dynamics into the narrative to captivate.

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simplifying leadership

Great little book that summarizes very well what I have been trying to do for my organization. It was great to read about issues at various levels and turning things around for a big business.

[Michael Dowling · Rating 4 out of 5]

The former CEO of Aetna, Williams is someone known well to my organization, Northwell Health.
This is a very good book on what it takes to be successful. He also provides the history of his own personal journey.

[James Gómez · Rating 3 out of 5]

The team and organizational sections of the book were significantly better than the first section. The author focuses so much of his principles on his experience as CEO of Aetna at times I felt like I was reading a book on the health insurance industry. The book is a solid “good.”

[Alvin Soh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find this a very practical leadership book. Ron explained his experience in different aspects, covering leading self, leading others and leading organisations. The shadings are all very practical- and if I want to practice them, I literally know “what to do”.

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learn new techniques for leading. Regardless of what area in your life you are leading Ron Williams teachers you how to inspire those you are leading rather than manipulate them.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful & practical.

[Judith Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even as a seasoned leader I found this book of “nuggets” . Tactical advice for the every day tactician. Two thumbs up!

[Angela Benthin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! Learn about yourself and how you can lead in the workplace.

[Denise Levendoski · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did Not Finish.

[Wilfredo · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Ron's book, I felt like I earned a second MBA. A must read if you're looking to sharpen your leadership skills and want to walk the talk.

[Laura Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Preferred the first two thirds of this book, but those are the sections that are most relatable for me and my circumstances. Good ideas and a few practical suggestions.

[Kei Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stepping into a leadership role 2 years ago I felt a little blind. I appreciated this book having tangible concepts to help me figure out my leadership style and how I wanted to apply it to my team.

[Regis Lucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

resumo

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ron Williams delivers great lessons on success from his own story as a leader. He provides hands on, applicable ways that any leader can enhance their abilities and lead their teams to success. While written from a business perspective, many of the lessons can be contextualized to most situations.

The writing style can be a bit boring now and then throughout, but hang in there for the biggest buried within.

[Caroline Hedges · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an easy read, with lots of useful information for the budding career person. It was very corporate orientated. I didn't finish it because it wasn't right for me.

[Lavender]

Placeholder

I won this book via Goodreads Giveaways.

[Darya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read a personal story and road to leading others - this would be a good way to call the book in my opinion. I found a lot of learning points for me and it is always great to see the career and personal grenades on a real example. Very relaxing and thoughtful reading for me.

[L E]

I won this book from a Goodreads Giveaway, thinking it was a bit different flavor. I read the first few chapters, but realized this book is more geared for people early in their career and shooting for a high corporate title. This wasn't for me, so I've chosen not to rate it as I wasn't the target audience.

[Kwang Wei Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give this book a 5 stars because Ron was true to what he promised on the topics below.
Not many 'how-to' books actually give you new insights but this is one of them.
Ron generously shared his own experience and views which is unique and
It is inspiring and refreshing to learn and hear from the CEO level person like himself.
He covered these topics although the flow of the book was not very smooth to read and was loaded with content.
• Launching your career quest
• Avoiding professional pitfalls, wrong turns, and wasted effort
• Overcoming interpersonal challenges and conflicts
• Building and leading an effective, high-performance team
• Prioritizing and solving problems from multiple perspectives
• Developing your leadership style and mastering communication
• Casting a vision and changing the culture of your organization