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LEADERSHIP LESSONS: Essays on How to Improve Organisational Performance
Leadership is a critical skill. Leadership Lessons goes straight in to deal with the real and perceived challenges leaders face to fulfil their personal and organisational potential.
Written by a highly experienced leader, the exCEO of a successful company who spent over 24 years accumulating powerful insights and then went on to advise CEO's of other companies on how to realise their personal and collective organisational potential. The essays in this book are an accumulation of insights to help readers understand the real dynamics impacting their organisations. If you want to realize individual and collective potential, this book is a must read.
Written as a series of short essays that are perfect for travel or breaks between meetings, topics include decision-making, organisational alignment, short and long-term strategy, crisis management, gaming the system, and building commitment.
Many of the essays are in the form of questions. If we don’t learn how to ask better questions, we will never get the answers we really need.
Leadership Lessons can give you insights on how to move from reactive thinking to creating the personal or organisational future you want.
The lessons in this book aren't just for one business sector or one organisational size or geography; Leadership Lessons applies to anyone who wishes to become more effective.
Here are some examples of issues explored in this
Too often, our beliefs and assumptions can result in us taking actions that can be anything but positive. We become distracted from the challenges we face, often, due to a belief or assumption that can be far removed from reality. We believe that a subordinate is incompetent or just not up to a task, and because of that belief, we begin to treat that person in a way that will preclude them from being able to demonstrate performance that is needed. Perhaps we believe that our boss isn’t suited to lead the company, and because of this belief, we begin to lose our commitment to organisational goals and initiatives. The result in each of these examples demonstrates that often, our mental models (our beliefs and assumptions) can hurt us. - Explored in the What is the Big Deal with Mental Models
The ability to work collectively toward a common goal can slip away when we become so focused on just our part of an organisational challenge. We become deluded into thinking that we are helping, when in fact, our performance efforts are creating obstacles for other parts of the business. - Explored in the Why Is It So Difficult to Get to the Finish Line?
Having high expectations can be good, but sometimes, those expectations can result in horrendous unintended consequences. This is especially true when the expectations are set for performance. High performers are expected to demonstrate ever-increasing levels of high performance, and that is fine if the desired performance is supported by the organisational infrastructure, rewards, and demonstrated appreciation. - Explored in the Michelin Expectations
The ability to think about the future is something that quite a few organisations struggle with. A survey by the Institute of Directors showed that 69% of survey respondents said that they were “too busy.” Being “too busy” means that you will be forever mired in reactive thinking mode; you will not be able to avoid potential problems looming on the horizon; and you will lose any competitive edge. Companies go out of business because their managers are too occupied by “today” and don’t take the time to even consider what “tomorrow” might bring. - Explored in the An Oncoming Train?
Written by a highly experienced leader, the exCEO of a successful company who spent over 24 years accumulating powerful insights and then went on to advise CEO's of other companies on how to realise their personal and collective organisational potential. The essays in this book are an accumulation of insights to help readers understand the real dynamics impacting their organisations. If you want to realize individual and collective potential, this book is a must read.
Written as a series of short essays that are perfect for travel or breaks between meetings, topics include decision-making, organisational alignment, short and long-term strategy, crisis management, gaming the system, and building commitment.
Many of the essays are in the form of questions. If we don’t learn how to ask better questions, we will never get the answers we really need.
Leadership Lessons can give you insights on how to move from reactive thinking to creating the personal or organisational future you want.
The lessons in this book aren't just for one business sector or one organisational size or geography; Leadership Lessons applies to anyone who wishes to become more effective.
Here are some examples of issues explored in this
Too often, our beliefs and assumptions can result in us taking actions that can be anything but positive. We become distracted from the challenges we face, often, due to a belief or assumption that can be far removed from reality. We believe that a subordinate is incompetent or just not up to a task, and because of that belief, we begin to treat that person in a way that will preclude them from being able to demonstrate performance that is needed. Perhaps we believe that our boss isn’t suited to lead the company, and because of this belief, we begin to lose our commitment to organisational goals and initiatives. The result in each of these examples demonstrates that often, our mental models (our beliefs and assumptions) can hurt us. - Explored in the What is the Big Deal with Mental Models
The ability to work collectively toward a common goal can slip away when we become so focused on just our part of an organisational challenge. We become deluded into thinking that we are helping, when in fact, our performance efforts are creating obstacles for other parts of the business. - Explored in the Why Is It So Difficult to Get to the Finish Line?
Having high expectations can be good, but sometimes, those expectations can result in horrendous unintended consequences. This is especially true when the expectations are set for performance. High performers are expected to demonstrate ever-increasing levels of high performance, and that is fine if the desired performance is supported by the organisational infrastructure, rewards, and demonstrated appreciation. - Explored in the Michelin Expectations
The ability to think about the future is something that quite a few organisations struggle with. A survey by the Institute of Directors showed that 69% of survey respondents said that they were “too busy.” Being “too busy” means that you will be forever mired in reactive thinking mode; you will not be able to avoid potential problems looming on the horizon; and you will lose any competitive edge. Companies go out of business because their managers are too occupied by “today” and don’t take the time to even consider what “tomorrow” might bring. - Explored in the An Oncoming Train?
237 pages, Paperback
Published August 20, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 26, 2022
“Leadership Lessons - Essays on How to Improve Organisational Performance” is a great collection of short essays spanning over a multitude of best practices to be applied for people seeking or holding leadership roles. The audiobook is split into 100 short chapters which makes it easy to read, as well as gives the possibility to skip chapters, since they each touch a different topic.
While it is always a please to listen to authors narrating their own books, if the quality of the audio recording does not rise to the same quality as the content, it can be quite difficult to have a pleasant listening experience. All in all, this is the only thing I would change for this audiobook. The content deserves an A+.
Special thanks to NetGalley, BooksGoSocial Audio, and the editorial team for giving me the opportunity to review the ARC in audiobook format and to you, my reader, for taking the time to read this honest personal book review.
If you are interested in other of my book reviews, make sure to follow me on GoodReads!
#LEADERSHIPLESSONS #NetGalley #LifeLongLearning
While it is always a please to listen to authors narrating their own books, if the quality of the audio recording does not rise to the same quality as the content, it can be quite difficult to have a pleasant listening experience. All in all, this is the only thing I would change for this audiobook. The content deserves an A+.
Special thanks to NetGalley, BooksGoSocial Audio, and the editorial team for giving me the opportunity to review the ARC in audiobook format and to you, my reader, for taking the time to read this honest personal book review.
If you are interested in other of my book reviews, make sure to follow me on GoodReads!
#LEADERSHIPLESSONS #NetGalley #LifeLongLearning
June 22, 2022
Business book laid out in essay format so you can pick it up and read as you feel you have the time. Can re read some of the more meaningful parts if they spark some joy. Covers a wide range of topics from someone who has clearly experienced a life in business. Thank you #NetGalley for the audiobook to review
January 21, 2025
Rieley divides a host of practical leadership articles, which in the inked form can be read in any order according to fancy (rated a 4). However, I had a chance, thanks to Netgalley, to review the audiobook, which is subpar, mainly recording and not narration, for the subject matter at hand (rated 2).. Thus my rating of a 3.
May 27, 2022
The book had some good leadership information but the recording was poor. You could hear when the machine was turned on and off, the narrator fumbled in spots, and at times it had a bad echo.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews