the art of leading

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I just finished reading this book, and want to share with you my observations. Of course, the best thing you can do with this or any book is to read it for yourself. But at least this review might help you in that decision.

Structure

The structure of the chapters was very reader-friendly. They all consist of an anecdote, an explanation of that anecdote, conclusions, and recommendations. I’ve always liked books that don’t leave their topics up in the air, and give a call to action. One of this book’s virtues, in my opinion, is precisely that. Another virtue is the focus on transmitting messages through story-telling. The effectiveness of stories isn’t a new discovery, but they do let you see the concepts in action, and Mr. Baum, in my opinion, achieved that.

In terms of structure, I do find that the book may have been structured with a different “skeleton”. Perhaps I would have preferred to structure the book around the ten “shaping experiences” that Mr. Baum first listed on Chapter 1. I do acknowledge, though, that the author used some kind of criteria to decide on this factor.

Substance

Let’s go to the important part, the substance. The book has a lot of messages, obviously. As I said, I think that the 10 “shaping experiences” are the backbone of the book. Out of those 10, the one that resonated the most with me was #1, “swim in water over your head.” I’ve always thought that putting yourself in supposedly impossible situations is a great way to grow. But two less obvious concepts jumped out at me.

The first was the importance of developing an educated instinct. The author referred to this mainly as “emotional readiness.” The book conveys the significance of shaping experiences in the development of what I refer to as instinct. The main theory is that as one gathers lessons throughout different situations in life and business, one can draw on those lessons more readily. That was very clear throughout the book. Perhaps some examples were somewhat repetitive, but other than that the concept of “emotional readiness” is central.

The other concept that I got out of the book was how those experiences throughout life contribute to what Mr. Baum refers to as “personal growth.” I’m somewhat of a personal-development junkie, so this stood out in my mind. Again, some stories may have been too shallow and repetitive, but all in all, they illustrated the message.

Verdict
Good. I think it achieves what it sets out to achieve. It conveys the importance of personal growth through life experiences. That may even overshadow the somewhat repetitive or shallow instances of the book. So what should you do? Buy it, read it, and find what is useful to you.

Here are some other reviews that may be useful:
Reviews in Amazon

Time-Work in Progress

Three Star Leadership

Barnes and Noble

Written Voices

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