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How soon does it ship: Available for download now
Type of bind: Digital
Format: Download: PDF
Label: Harvard Business Review
Manufacturer: Harvard Business Review
Page Count: 11
Printing Date: January 01, 2001
Publishing house: Harvard Business Review
Release Date: October 25, 2008
Sale Popularity Level: 1014804
Studio: Harvard Business Review
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Product Description:
We all know that leaders need vision and energy, but after an exhaustive review of the most influential theories on leadership--as well as workshops with thousands of leaders and aspiring leaders--the authors learned that great leaders also share four unexpected qualities: 1) They selectively reveal their weaknesses; 2) They rely heavily on intuition to gauge the appropriate timing and course of their actions; 3) They manage employees with 'tough empathy'; and 4) They capitalize on their differences. All four qualities are necessary for inspirational leadership, but they cannot be used mechanically; they must be mixed and matched to meet the demands of particular situations. Most important, however, is that the qualities encourage authenticity among leaders. To be a true leader, the authors advise, 'Be yourself--more--with skill.'
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Rated by buyers 
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At last someone has written a book on leadership! So many so called "leadership" books are actually dealing with management. However, Goffee and Jones with their description of "authentic leadership" have clearly defined the essential fundamental interrelationship between the person aspiring to lead and those who might decide to follow.
The book is crammed full of actual case studies of people who have both succeeded and failed as leaders, with the author's explanation as to why. I found the concepts easy to understand and follow.
It is a little slow reading at times, due to the numerous case studies. However, it is worth persevering, as the case studies do illustrate the author's points very well.
Although Goffee and Jones assiduously avoid giving leadership recipes - they rightly maintain that leadership is contextual - there are some good learning points for aspiring leaders. Chapter four for example - Read and Rewrite the Context - has some gems. In this chapter, they describe three levels of analysis for leaders; key leaders who may make the biggest impact on one's performance, important teams, and thirdly the context and constraints within which one must operate.
This should be an essential text for anyone who is looking to take on a leadership role within family, community, organisation or country. Highly recommended.
Bob Selden, author What To Do When You Become The Boss: How new managers become successful managers
Rated by buyers 
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The book's title definitely plays on a manager's fears. Rather than saying "top 10 tips for being a great manager", it is poking at you - "why should anyone be led by YOU?" I'm not a great fan of fear-mongering. So what advice do they offer?
You could say that much of this advice is offered in similar management books. You need to understand the people you work with - what motivates them. If someone is quiet, you need to find quiet things for them to do, rather than force them to be a cheerleader where they are likely to fail. Your techniques must be situational. What works well in a room of 500 high powered salespeople probably won't work in a group of 5 quiet engineers. You need to be very aware of those nuances and adjust your pattern accordingly.
You need to be authentic. You must really believe in what you're saying, and work at something you honestly trust in and enjoy. People can sense inauthentic behavior. If you are working somewhere you hate, it is better to find a new job than to "trick" people into promoting a system you do not like.
You cannot try to be perfect. Nobody IS perfect and people will realize that right away. If you don't know an answer, admit it. People will accept it. If you always forget names, admit to it. People will like you more for "being human" and accept the fault as a cute one. The more you try to hide faults, the more you are known as a deceptive liar.
That's not to say you should not improve yourself. If you have a legitimate "problem" fault like not understanding the core business model, you should strive hard to get better. If you need help, ask for it. People will be more than willing to help you succeed if you are honest about it.
As a manager you should be respected - but not necessarily liked. This is hard for many managers. You need to be able to convey why things need to be done but in the end they DO need to be done. Some people who do not want to do the work will simply not like this. You need to accept that and move on. It's not easy, but it's part of being a manager.
My issues with the book is that it is very dryly written. It is almost a struggle to plow through the information, much of which is given over and over again. They give examples but many times it's like reading a history book vs an engaging story.
I also find some of their examples not ones I would believe in. They complain that a senior executive could lose respect for taking a high salary. I feel if someone has been working 30 or 40 years and is offered a high salary at a job they like, why would they refuse it?? That makes no sense to me.
They also talk several times about a pair of co-workers who are told to work on a project. That night there is a corporate social event which the co-workers go to. The boss walks up to them - IN PUBLIC - and yells at them for being there!! That strikes me as INCREDIBLY inappropriate. They were told to work on something. They are going to work on it! To humiliate them and take away their rest / down time is not a path to healthy long term employees.
That being said, there are some good points in here, and if a manager hasn't figured out some of these ideas, this could help them get started in the right direction. Maybe some people handle dry tomes better than they handle touchy-feely books. If that's the case, then this is the book for you. Just use your own wisdom when absorbing what they right, and realize that not every thing they say is wise for your situation.
Rated by buyers -
Authors Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones provide a welcome balance to the many books advising that leadership is a matter of adopting this or that characteristic or technique. They emphasize the situational nature of leadership, the extent to which it depends on followers in a particular organizational context. They infer some basic principles for authenticity and leadership from what seems to be a solid body of empirical observation and interviews, including generally pointed, well-chosen anecdotes showing good leaders in action. We recommend this thoughtful book, which offers an insight that few books on leadership dare to voice. The authors unabashedly assert that even great leadership may not lead to good business results. They further state that an excessive emphasis on results is one of the great obstacles standing in the way of authentic, moral leadership.
Rated by buyers -
Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones' WHY SHOULD ANYONE BE LED BY YOU? WHAT IT TAKES TO BE AN AUTHENTIC LEADER tells why simply copying leadership strategies isn't a guarantee of sucess - and how authentic leadership resides in individuals who display their authenticity to others. Examples throughout illustrate over twenty-five years of joint experience between the authors who use their research, consulting experience and leadership skills to argue for the merits of authentic leadership and how to achieve it.
Rated by buyers 
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This book is well-written. It is easy to read and keeps your interest in general, although it is sometimes a little repetitious and slow. I guess the author repeats the point to make sure you get it.
Some of the author's ideas are new and thought-provoking, but you have to wade through some material which sounds like every other book on this topic, as well. In any case, if you are patient you will take away some neat new ideas that you will find yourself using and referring to.
I like the examples and anecdotes he/she uses to illustrate his/her points - they are really interesting and I have found myself using the examples and referring to them in everyday conversations with people, which is great. I only wish that there were some more examples because it is not always easy to see the point when no example is offered.
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