"There is always someone smarter than you, but you can out work them any time you please." Dr. Todd Dewett

And thus began my reading of the book titled The Little Black Book of Leadership by Dr. Todd Dewett. For full disclosure, he sent me, unsolicited, the ebook version of his book, thinking I would be interested it. So there was no promise I'd write about it or anything; I just decided I would write about it. And I can't market it because he's not selling it from Barnes & Noble, so I'm not earning any money off it either; heck!

Little Black Book of Leadership

I have to say that I was really impressed with the book because he goes into things other than leadership, including a small section on diversity, which I did in my book, and is something that, to date, I haven't seen in any other books on leadership. Strangely enough, parts of the book felt like I'd written it because we share many of the same concepts and beliefs about the subject.

For instance, he states that he believes that the first steps towards deciding to become a great leader are personal responsibility, self reliance, and self discipline. He's absolutely correct in this regard, because if you're going to be a true leader, you need to step up to the plate and just go for it.

He talks about evaluating one's personal strengths, something I'm big on, along with self observation; what makes you tick, what are your habits, and which of them needs changing or fixing in some fashion. He talks about listening and communicating with others, letting people finish talking before you speak, verifying that you're understanding what they're saying, and so forth.

He devotes time to things such as email, time management and training others. He talks about motivation for oneself and those who report to you. He talks about team building. And he talks about the need to always try to have someone who doesn't quite think like you think, yet isn't there just to destroy everything. Those types are hard to find, and I'll admit that I tend to avoid them if I don't feel they bring anything to the table.

Overall we agree on a lot of concepts, and he handles those quite well. Of course, me being me, there are a couple of places we don't agree. He doesn't like the term "manager"; I think it's a crucial term. The way he sees it, managers or directors are all leaders, and thus should see themselves in that fashion at all time. The way I see it is that one doesn't get to define themselves as a leader until they've truly proven they deserve the appellation, and that just because you've been given a position of authority doesn't make you a true leader. Should everyone strive to be a leader? Absolutely. But is everyone, and will everyone eventually be a leader; not a chance.

Overall this is a quality read, and I'd recommend it to everyone. You can click on the link above to go to his site, or you can buy his book on Amazon. Good reading!