This
week’s book review
The
18 Challenges of Leadership
Authors:
Trevor Waldock & Shenaz Kelly-Rawat
Publisher:
Pearson Prentice Hall
ISBN:
0273688103
Pages:
256 paperback
Price:
£16.99
I
usually sniff when I see yet another book on how to be a leader, but not this
time. The authors seem to have written in just the right style, with the right
level of content, to make this a very useful book for everyone who wants to
improve their leadership skills.
The
book’s strength lies in enabling the reader to assess their own performance and
to work at raising it, regardless of whether they are junior or senior
managers, newly-promoted or old hands.
The
Proactive Challenge is a great launching point for anyone serious about
improving their abilities, and the 17 other challenges are all presented in an
encouraging style.
While I enjoyed Covey’s 7 Habits (which is
referred to a number of times), I did find its preachy style a bit wearing.
This book avoids those sorts of pitfalls, and I wish it had been around when I
took my first steps on the management ladder.
About
the authors: I quote Sir John Whitmore’s foreword for the book ‘Trevor Waldock and Shenaz Kelly-Rawat
are expert executive coaches who know how to provoke thought and insight and to
challenge the reader to look deeply within’. Well, I can’t disagree with that,
and at £16.99, a lot cheaper than a personal coach.
Useful? *****
Well
written? *****
Practical? *****
Value for money? *****
Overall
*****
Keith Lawson provides training services to
the charity and voluntary sector and is a consultant with the Centre for
Management and Personal Development
