Leading So People Will Follow

December 24, 2012
Andersen attempts an uneasy marriage of lore, fairy tales, and contemporary business practices in this overly reductive approach to defining the attributes of a good leader. Her initial premise is that "core timeless attributes" of leadership are "remarkably consistent across time and culture," and can be learned. She derives from "the folktales and fairy tales of many cultures" a prescription for the essential leadership traits: far-sightedness, passion, courage, wisdom, generosity, and trustworthiness. Self-assessment exercises are provided for readers. Andersen's experience at consulting and coaching firm Proteus International, liberally referred to throughout, indicates hands-on experience in the practical aspects of promoting leadership behavior. Several assumption merit more consideration than the glib generalities sprinkled throughout. Overall, how are people to distinguish between the patina of leadership, made shiny by public relations and press releases, and the genuine article? Andersen offers a useful tool for the "How-to" school, but offers little insight into basic questions.

July 1, 2012
You recognize leadership when you see it, but many people tend to stumble when asked to come up with a definition. Not so for Andersen, who is a leadership coach and Forbes blogger. She couldn't be more direct and succinct as she breaks down the definition of leadership into six components or, more apropos to her discussions, the six attributes of a good leaderfar-sightedness, passion, courage, wisdom, generosity, and trustworthiness. Her point and approach are to teach how to be an effective leader, supported by her fundamental philosophy that when someone who is put in the leader' seat doesn't demonstrate the leadership qualities for which human beings have a kind of built-in radar, that person is unlikely to be effective as a leader. To that end, she offers five key behaviors for each of the six leadership components. A book to read more than once and to consult many times.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)