Would love to hear more about that book. I do think most business books, even mine, can be summarized in a few paragraphs. I would love to hear the major themes of "why smart executives fail" -- sounds like the story of at least one of my jobs!

I am re-reading Take Yourself to the Top by Laura Fortgang. It's all about taking charge of your career and how to be responsible for your choices.

I haven't read the book yet, but Al Lewis of the Denver Post really likes The Leadership Challenge (Kouzes, Posner).

The authors key points are;

* Model all the way

* Inspire a shared vision

* Challenge the process

* Enable others to act

* Encourage the heart

Lewis says, "I hate books on leadership. Anyone who thinks they can become a leader by reading leadership books ir really just a follower."

Hmmmm...I wonder why he read this one?

I like The Leadership Challenge, too.

The 5 points Gordon wrote above are the 5 practices the authors feel contribute to the development of better leaders.

For example, if you want to Model the Way, you need to 1) clarify your values and 2) express yourself. The authors speak to how you need to consider these things if you wish to be an authentic leader.

I'd guess that many of us haven't spent a lot of time clarifying our values. We can speak to them a little, but not like this: As an individual, my values are tradition, self-acceptance, prosperity, inner harmony, and aesthetic. As a manager/leader, my values are integrity, communication, competence, fairness, and teamwork.

According to Kouzes and Posner, leaders who are very clear on their personal values and also very clear on the values of their organization have a **high** level of commitment to the organization.

Makes sense, right? If I know what I value at work and how that connects to my personal values and how I contribute, then I am more engaged, more committed.

Hence, it should be easier for me to explain behaviors to my team members because I am modeling the way (doing what I know, value, love, believe in): they see it in me.

Some questions in the book that can help you clarify values are:

1. What do you believe in and why?

2. What makes you jump for joy and why?

3. What makes you weep and wail and why?

From these and other questions, you can begin to pinpoint your values.

The author Sydney Finkelstein researched many companies whose names we'd recognize (Rubbermaid, Saatchi & Saatchi, Sony, Webvan, etc.) and determined the causes of failure even though smart people were running the companies.

The chapter "Brilliantly Fulfilling the Wrong Vision" is my favorite. Here are some tidbits:

1. Expansion fever (Saatchi & Saatchi expanding into industries that they knew little about)

2. Wrong competitors (Schwinn did a great job keeping their suppliers in the know about how to build bikes--and then their supplies went around them and began doing just that)

3. Home field rules (Sony bought Columbia pictures and one mistake the company execs made was assume that American employees of Columbia would feel the same connection to their company that Japanese employees, culturally, feel to their employers. Oops.)

4. A static business model in a time of change (NAFTA comes along, and Hanes is ready to move their manufacturing abroad. Fruit of the Loom responded way too slowly and went into bankruptcy in 1999)

I'm currently reading "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Personal Workbook" by Stephen Covey. Agree with Robin, most business books are too long but the Covey series seems shorter and is easy to remember. They also drive home the theme Leila mentioned; leaders with clear personal values seem to have the same values for their organization.

I am reading "Building a Hapiness Centred Business" By Dr Paddi Lund

a Dentist that was going around the bend until he reinvented his business.

Simple systems

Breaking down barriers

Positive emotions in business

The courtesy system

I started reading it on a flight to a convention got just over Half way and have not picked it up since! (well just now to give you a few points.)