Every once in awhile, I pick up a book sitting on my leadership bookshelf and re-read it. Because I process anything I read in the context of the here-and-now, re-reading older books through a new lens adds to the freshness of what it takes to make leadership a way of life! My most recent re-read is Steven Sample’s “A Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership”. The contrarian reference is about doing things that may buck conventional wisdom based on that wisdom created under circumstances that created a much different context than what leaders need in the current situation and contingency. My favorite chapter is actually the last full chapter titled “”Being President versus Doing President” and comes from advice the author received prior to becoming the tenth president of the University of Southern California (USC). In the chapter he describes the challenges of leadership that many times cause leaders to subordinate their own...

In my July 2014 newsletter, I referenced a book that has a wealth of ideas on how to improve our leadership success. Hacking Leadership, by Mike Myatt's is a book written for any type of leader. The author defines hacking as discovering an alternate path, clever and skillful tricks, shortcuts and workarounds, breaking the code, deciphering complexity, influencing outcomes, acquiring access, and creating innovative customizations to existing/outdated methodologies. The book provides actionable, topical leadership and management hacks to bridge eleven gaps every business needs to cross in order to create a culture of leadership: leadership, purpose, future, mediocrity, culture, talent, knowledge, innovation, expectation, complexity, and failure. My favorite sections are the discussions around both the Future and the Mediocrity hacks. I really could not determine which of these actually has more impact on the success of the leadership I’ve encountered in the last 30+ years. Between the ability to overcome the motivation...

I had the opportunity several months ago to hear Sam Silverstein speak about his book “No More Excuses”. At some point in our leadership careers we have had to deal with excuses, either from ourselves, or from others around us. The author provides a simple framework around five accountabilities for effectively dealing with a constant barrage of excuses. My favorite part of the book is in Chapter Six where he talks about the fourth of five accountabilities, “Establishing the Right Expectations”. This hits close to home with my own beliefs of setting the right expectations for accountability around a core set of values that ultimately permeates the culture of the business, regardless of size and industry. In this chapter he also cites Dr. Maxwell Maltz, the author of “Psycho-Cybernetics”, a book that had a profound impact on my own expectations at an early age. Managing our own expectations and accountability sets...

Like most new businesses, RPC Leadership Associates, Inc. started in an environment of uncertainty, and often tumultuous, change. We were elated when we achieved our five-year anniversary late last year and decided to celebrate by letting our readers tell us what their favorite writings were of the last five years! The results, along with six never-before-published articles, were combined to create our latest book on Making Leadership a Way of Life. In “I’m Just Sayin’…Revelations for Making Leadership a Way of Life” we captured the many ideas on how to become the leader everyone wants to follow!The book is divided into three sections. The first section highlights leading yourself. If you cannot lead yourself effectively, you have little right to expect others to follow you willingly. The second section speaks to the many relationships leaders create and leverage to the success of the organization. Collaboration is an essential element of a...

When I look at most books that written about change, the author usually focuses on either personal change or organizational change.  While each category is important, they are integral to each other and thus should be addressed together.  In, “Choosing Change”, authors Walter McFarland and Susan Goldsworthy do just that by addressing the elements of personal change and organizational change together in the same discussion. The foundation of their discussion revolves around the Five Ds for leading both personal and organizational change.  The first part of the book addresses The Change Focused Leader while the second part address The Change Focused Organization.  In both cases, change is structured around the Five Ds of: Disruption – what is driving the need for change? Desire – what is the motivation to change? Discipline – what are the many small steps necessary to build momentum? Determination - how focused is the process to change...