The Seismic Shift In Leadership: How To Thrive In A New Era Of Connection

by Michelle K. Johnston

THE OLD LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS OF POWER, CONTROL, AND FEAR ARE BECOMING MORE AND MORE OBSOLETE.

Authenticity, compassion, and alignment are the new paths to leadership success. A leader’s new power lies in their ability to connect.

Whether you’re the coach of a sports team, a nonprofit executive, the president of your family’s business, or leading a small organization or a Fortune 500 company, the secret sauce lies in your ability to connect.

While leaders might consciously understand that connection is important, they don’t necessarily know how or what to do. In The Seismic Shift in Leadership, author Dr. Michelle K. Johnston compiles her years of experience as an executive coach and business professor with the voices of eighteen leaders at large and small organizations across North America, South America, and Europe to empower you to project your authentic leadership style, to show compassion to your team, and to align yourself with your company.

Genres: Leadership, Professional Development

216 pages, Hardcover

Published February 22, 2022

Reviews

[Samantha Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy professional development read. Read over the course of many months traveling, would pick up when I was on a plane. Points made were impactful enough that I remembered what they were as if no time had passed at all.

[Dora Okeyo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a book that is straight to the point, no lengthy stories that take you forever to get to what the actionable step is - and maybe that and the fact that this book tackled a topic that I struggled with especially post covid and the flexible working environment- which is how to go about meetings! I have days where I am drowning in meetings and often there are two or three meetings where the agenda is always what I already heard discussed in the previous meeting and this has been very demotivating.
This book has things you can actually do to change your approach to leadership, connection and life.
The authors share 7 shifts and each chapter is dedicated to exploring how they all affect both your personal and professional life.
There is a question that has drastically changed my 1:1s and it's "If you were forced to eliminate two hours of your current workload, what would you stop doing?" It has helped refine conversations and I have gotten to learn of meetings and tasks that drain teams and the biggest pain point was learning that I am a blocker sometimes- and it's all thanks to this book.
One other shift that I would recommend for readers when they pick up this book is to also shift their intentionality- here's what I mean, if something speaks to you in this book, note it down and go a step further and list down what you will do about it and then do it. This book would be a better companion if you truly attempt this.

Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

[Mukesh Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got a digital galley of this book via Netgalley and really liked the book, The approach to take real life examples and stories from her clients to enumerate the key points on the shift in the leadership landscape is a really good approach. The stories are relatable and make the reading a fun exercise. By summarising the learning at the end of each chapter and posing a few questions for reflection, the author makes the learning deeper (if we go ahead and reflect on the questions).

Overall, the fundamental concept of connection before leading is not necessarily new, but the way the author has brought it out is new and novel.

Overall, it is a good book to read through, if nothing else but for the stories she presents from her clients.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you've read any other leadership books you won't find anything new or innovative here.