Book Review - Lead By Example (II)

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Introduction

“Lead By Example – 50 Ways Great Leaders Inspire Results” is written by John Baldoni, an amazing and outstanding author who has years of experience as an executive and consultant in various organizations. This highly inspirational book, which could be described as his long-term research, focuses on principles, experiences, and stories on how true leaders should act and behave. I find that this piece of work is unique in the way that it combined advices, facts, and relate them with real stories. I personally feel that leaders are people who can influence others to follow their leads and decisions. His basic four leadership principles in this book – ‘Set the right example’, ‘Act the Part’, ‘Handle the Tough Stuff’ and ‘Put the First Team’ have cultivated me with his assertions on issues such as managing obstacles, how to be presence, a good delegation of works and building up a leadership characteristics. Communication, confidence, encouragement, and sense of humility are some of the core values that Baldoni stressed upon in this book using simple quotes, excerpt, and thoughts from influential personalities, hence making this book more interesting and different from the others.  Reading this book has sparked me that leadership is something that is earned, and not just simply granted to someone.

Book Review

From my reading, I find that this book conveyed a very clear and strong message to the readers. It requires huge responsibilities in order for someone to become a good leader that can set good example to his employees. First of all, it is very crucial for a leader to have the right characters and attitude. In the ‘Set the Right Example’ chapter, he elaborated interestingly on how I, as a leader, could correct my inner characters by having patience, courage, and being realistic, as well as to balance my ego right. The examples that he gave on how to solve the problems with regards to the inner characters could guide me in my current working environment. Next, a leader needs to learn on how to act in the right way at the right time. I realised that I need to improve myself from time-to-time on the issues of delegating and executing tasks, managing the lower officers’ problems, innovating the workplace, and instilling winning culture within my unit. This book has really opened my mind on how leaders hold such huge responsibilities to handle difficult matters that happen in day-to-day operation. For example, enemies within organization, tension, multiple crises from the top to the bottom, and most interestingly that I find is, handling defeat and to deliver bad news to your subordinates. The examples given by author were clear and practicable in my daily routines as a leader and mid-manager although I felt that his stories are mostly happened in corporate world rather than in the governmental institution.  I also learnt from this book that to make someone a great leader, he should make his team as his first priority, as oppose to his own self. In order to do so, a leader must have the positive elements required, and be influential and successful. I also learnt that good leaders must have the ability to build up the team confidence, sense of humour in the workplace, and show appreciation to the staffs and organization. Althoughthe examples given in this book relate to matters happening in the US, I still feel that this book motivates me to improve myself in order to become a good leader. I would strongly recommend this book to the new and middle managers or to be more specific, to my Administrative and Diplomatic Officer (PTD) new appointed friends, as their guidance to be great leaders in their future undertaking.

Conclusion

The core ingredient of ‘Lead by Example’ is to guide us on how we could be an effective leader, and at the same time being a good manager. Being a manager as taught in this book might not be explicitly helpful for someone who is aiming to become a good leader, but nevertheless, this book explained clearly to us the basic concepts, stories, and facts of what it takes to achieve good leadership. To set the right examples to the employees requires inner changes in our characteristics, to act in a right way as a leader requires us to manage and delegate our tasks accordingly, to solve such crucial problems in our day-to-day operations within the organization or with outsiders requires us to think beyond our normal way of thinking and to be able to come out with alternatives to solve the problems in appropriate manners, and finally, to become an effective and influenced leader, one needs to be a good team player. I strongly recommend this book to those who has the enthusiasm to become a good leader. The explanations, examples, quotes, excerpts and stories were conveyed in a very simple and easily understood manner.

so, amacam? harap korang rasa teruja membaca book review dan sekaligus membaca buku ini. It's really going to polish your leadership skills tak kiralah apa pekerjaan anda sekali pun. 

Happy reading guys!! 

p/s: masih menanti entri - Erti Sahabat...tunggu ya! 

XOXO