Leadership, Management & Life in the Workplace
  • Blog
  • About John
  • Decoding the Workplace
  • Dr. Juran AIG Archival Project
  • Contact
  • Disclaimers

A Great New Practical Guide to Leader & Leadership Development

10/12/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
How do we develop and grow our capabilities as leaders, as managers? According to Jeffrey Pfeffer of the Stanford Graduate School of Business in his book Leadership BS, the leadership industry has largely failed us: 

“Many prescriptions for leaders are often more problematic and invalid than generally recognized . . . much leadership training and development has become too much a form of lay preaching, telling people inspiring stories about heroic leaders and exceptional organizations and, in the process, making those who hear the stories feel good and temporarily uplifted while not changing much of what happens at many workplaces” (pp. 4-5, 6)
 
Even so, there are extensive studies and research-based books about leader development. The problem is what leadership scholars have learned rarely finds its way into easy-to-understand trade books and popular media. An exception is the work of Ron Riggio, Claremont McKenna College, Professor of Leadership and Organizational Psychology, Director and architect of the acclaimed Kravis Leadership Institute. For over a decade Riggio has blogged a popular column on Cutting-Edge Leadership for Psychology Today. Those blogs are the foundation and inspiration for his latest book. 
 
Daily Leadership Development: 365 Steps to Becoming a Better Leader is a practical guide and handbook to develop as a leader and build leadership in our teams. It is organized in quickly read sections by day and by week, structured to be used in a personal development program of daily or weekly leadership reflections. Or one can turn to almost any page for sage insights. This is not a book designed to just sit back and read cover to cover. 
 
Riggio starts with context: the difference between leader development and leadership development, growth through self-awareness and self-reflection, “leadership as a journey, not a destination.” Succinctly and clearly he covers the essentials from the literature produced by leadership scholars such as ways to conceptualize leadership (e.g., roles, competencies), various theories (e.g., LMX, servant, authentic, transformational), characteristics of leaders (e.g., self-insight, grit, personality), and various related topics (e.g., types of intelligence, extraverts). Occasionally he provides URLs for online self-assessments. 
 
There are numerous readings on team development as well as readings about bad bosses. Some of the readings are leadership lessons gleaned from a variety of sources from sports to films to Steve Jobs. Traditional management readings include training and development, appraisals, motivating others, and other human resource topics. Several readings cover practical tools such as goal setting, brainstorming, and active listening.  
 
Most of the research on leadership does not operationally differentiate between management and leadership. As Riggio states, “Successful and effective leaders and managers should do the same things” (p. 60). This book is an essential guide to being a better leader, a better manager. 
 
My take-aways:
 
1. Daily Leadership Development is unlike any leadership book on my shelves or that I have encountered. This book can up anyone’s game, regardless of the position you have now or how long you have been a leader, a manager. 
 
2. Reading in chunks, reflecting on what you read, and applying insights gained to your daily life is a great way to grow and develop. For some people, personal reflection is difficult. Fortunately to aid in reflecting, Riggio ends most sections with a short paragraph “For Development:”.
 
3. Read Daily Leadership Development with a highlighter in hand. Riggio recommends keeping a journal as you read. I recommend you keep a journal regardless of what you are reading or where you are in life. Abraham Maslow did not start journaling until he was in his fifties. Some of my most important insights have occurred reading journals from earlier in my life. 
 
4. I personally benefited from the URL for online versions of the Big Five dimensions of personality. Oddly I have studied and written about the Big Five model but I have never taken it until now. For anyone interested, my scores are here. 
 
5. The only topic where I would like to have seen more coverage is coaching. While much of the book is relevant to coaching, I did not see it directly addressed. Also I should mention I purchased through Barnes & Noble as I did not find on Amazon.com. 
 
6.  Daily Leadership Development is a major contribution to leader and leadership development. It belongs in the personal library of everyone who wants to grow and develop into a better leader. Other leadership books advertise they are essential. Daily Leadership Development actually is. 

Pfeffer, J. (2015). Leadership BS: Fixing workplaces and careers one truth at a time. New York: Harper Business.

Riggio, R. E. (2020). Daily leadership development: 365 steps to becoming a better leader. Barnes & Noble Press.

Image,"Daily Leadership Development". © John Ballard, PhD, 2020.
 
Blog, © John Ballard, PhD, 2020. All rights reserved.
_______________________

Decoding the Workplace “deals with principles and practices that are timeless . . . Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. Available as ebook, hardback, paperback, and audiobook. The best-selling audiobook is narrated by Timothy Andrés Pabon,

0 Comments

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012

    RSS Feed