Leading with Kindness: How Good People Consistently Get Superior Results

by William F. Baker Jr., Michael O'Malley, Glen Hubbard (Foreword)

A new definition of "kindness" for business leaders who want to accomplish true organizational greatness.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Audiobook, Management

255 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 13, 2008

Reviews

[Jewelianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Normally there is hardly a thing in this world less interesting to me than business management. I do not particularly care how you got from good to great, and I don't know why you are leaving your cheese laying around for people to move in the first place. But for my library management class I HAD to read such a book.

This book is not bad. It is fairly philosophical, which appealed to me for obvious reasons. I think a better name may have been Leading With Integrity , because in this book the two terms are synonymous. Anyway, examples abound from real company's experiences, but there are not many graphs and quick steps to to higher profits and other boring crap I don't care about. This is not a quick read that you scan for points and fast ideas. The book requires some reflection and is more like a meditation on the meaning of leadership and the manager's role in a company. This type of business book is much more appealing to me, but clearly not for everyone.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF - stopped at page 85. I was tired of struggle through a book with what seemed like common sense to me - be a kind person. If it had been written more compelling and less like dry regurgitation of facts I probably would have finished it. But I see no need to struggle finishing a book when I have so many others I want to read.

[Zachary Mezz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of dry, but a very valuable central message: kindness is the key to true leadership success.

[Shawn Flanagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could really use an update. A lot has happened in the market since this books initial release, and the examples referenced don’t appear to stand up to the test of time.

[Eman Elkfrawy · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 32%

[Catalina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

“Leadership can be big or little and leaders large or small, but it is all grounded on the same native drive to create”

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for my conducting class, pretty good, little repetitive at times

[Laura Gilfillan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Business, and business leaders is not a subject I normally read about, but this book's discussion on kindness was interesting, and I thought had applications in many areas of life. I was waiting for the discussion to get a bit deeper, but instead the book seemed to wander off on a listing of what makes good leaders and good corporations, and there wasn't so much said about kindness anymore. I sort of lost interest in it at that point, but I really liked the food for thought it stimulated at the beginning of the book.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The authors of this book are very intelligent and they know what they're talking about, but I had a hard time getting into it. My boss described it well when he said it read like a text book. I believe in the basic premise of this entire book, but it wasn't the easiest read. I only skimmed through the second half instead of full on reading it.

[Spacek Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leading with kindness is aligned with clear expectations and does not necessarily mean gentle at heart. When there are expectations, people within the organization are bought into the mission and goals, working toward the success of the organization. There are several values behind kindness, such as behaving with integrity and respect. Reading this book can help leaders grow!

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice to see how goodness can be attractive

[Matthias · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read the full review at excellentbookreviews.com!

When it comes to books on leadership, Leading with Kindness is about as generic as it gets. Two leadership educators interviewed a bunch of leaders (with a slight bias to banking and investment) and aggregated their leadership experiences. A good, efficient and ”kind” leader sets expectations, sticks to the truth and focuses on mutual gain and growth. Baker and O’Malley then simply define this set of features and behaviors as “kindness”.

The funny thing is, Dale Carnegie wrote pretty much the same in his book How to Win Friends and Influence People - in 1936.

I found Leading with kindness very confusing. Books I read are never short of lists, but this one takes the cake. Baker and O’Malley start simply enough with three traits of kind leadership, that get their own chapter each. Every single chapter, however, meanders off into increasingly nested sub-lists that form sub-chapters, with several additional bullet point lists. And in-between the confusing list-within-list structure, some leaders offer their own three or so steps to leadership success. I had problems to keep track of which list-level the passage I was reading belonged to.

The authors try to adopt an entertaining, positive tone, but only succeed to make Leading with Kindness both riddled with stilted language and dry as bone and at the same time. The following description of a non-kind leader should give you the impression:

“Other leaders pander to their audience’s proclivities and vulnerabilities through seductive claims and promises, nuggets of praise and money, and the pursuit of transcendent causes without themselves ever feeling connected or part of a relationship. These leaders attempt to gain favor and get what they want by delivering diversionary pleasures and ethereal satisfaction in place of a genuine life.”

I'm not sure what diversionary pleasures and ethereal satisfaction are, but I think I want some?

Leading with Kindness uses some of the worst metaphors for leadership I have ever seen. ...