The Leader's Checklist, Expanded Edition: 15 Mission-Critical Principles

by Michael Useem

Named to The Washington Post 's 2011 List of Best Leadership Books

In this fast-reading and illuminating expanded edition of the bestselling Leader's Checklist, world-renowned leadership expert Michael Useem deepens his examination of 15 mission-critical principles for leaders

Based on the lessons from astonishing stories, solid research, and years of leadership development work with a wide array of companies and organizations in the United States and abroad, Useem presents today's leaders with 15 guiding principles that form the core of the Leader's Checklist, which will help you develop your ability to make good and timely decisions in unpredictable and stressful environments—for those moments when leadership really matters.

To illustrate how the Leader's Checklist can assist leaders, Useem zeroes in on accounts of extraordinary leaders who rose to the challenge, including Laurence Golborne's role in the triumphant rescue of 33 miners in Chile, Joseph Pfeifer's remarkable heroism as the first FDNY Fire Chief to take command at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and Union officer Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain's transformative actions after the Confederate army's surrender. He also explores the colossal failure of AIG, one of the greatest corporate collapses in business history.

First published exclusively as an ebook—and now also available in print—this updated and expanded edition features a new preface by the author and three new Knowledge@Wharton interviews with Laurence Golborne, Chile's Minister of Mining, on leading the rescue operation of 33 miners trapped in the San José Mine; Joseph Pfeifer, New York City Fire Department's Chief of Counterterrorism and Emergency Preparedness, on being the first Battalion Chief to take command at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001; and the author on why he wrote The Leader's Checklist and what he has learned about the most vital items on the checklist from his recent leadership development work with more than a dozen companies and organizations.

Genres: Business, Leadership, Nonfiction, Management

144 pages, Paperback

First published September 20, 2011

About the author

Michael Useem is a professor in the Management Department and Faculty Director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management and McNulty Leadership Program at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His university teaching includes MBA and executive-MBA courses on management and leadership, and he offers programs on leadership and governance for managers in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.  He works on leadership development with many companies and organizations in the private, public and nonprofit sectors.

He is co-anchor for a weekly program “Leadership in Action” on SiriusXM Radio Channel 132 and co-director of the annual CEO Academy. He is the author of The Leader’s Checklist, The Strategic Leader’s Roadmap (with Harbir Singh), The Edge: How Ten CEOs Learned to Lead—And the Lessons for Us All, Go Long: Why Long-Term Thinking Is Your Best Short-Term Strategy (with Dennis Carey, Brian Dumaine, and Rodney Zemmel). Mastering Catastrophic Risk (with Howard Kunreuther), Fortune Makers: The Leaders Creating China’s Great Global Companies (with Harbir Singh, Neng Liang, and Peter Cappelli), The India Way (with Peter Cappelli, Harbir Singh, and Jitendra Singh), and Boards That Lead (with Ram Charan and Dennis Carey).

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The content was good but is best consumed in the two lists you can find in articles about this book. Though the interviews with the fire captain that responded to the twin towers and the Chilean mining minister involved in heading up the rescue of the trapped miners was interesting.

[Karen JEC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book. Listened to the audiobook, which is suitable for 1.5x speed while walking, but I wanted to take a lot of notes so that varies. Lots of tidbits of advice in this one.

Favourite Quotes:

List all 15 mission critical principles of a universally applicable leader’s checklist
1 Articulate a vision
2 Think and act strategically
3 Honour the room
4 Take charge
5 Act decisively
6 Communicate persuasively
7 Motivate the troops
8 Embrace the frontlines
9 hold leadership in others
10 Manage relations
11 Identify personal implications
12 Convey your character
13 Dampen over-optimism
14 Build a diverse top team
15 Place common interest first

"Leaders need to take final responsibility, but leadership is also a team sport best played with an able roster of those collectively capable of resolving all of the key challenges."

The knowing-doing gap: "Even the best checklist has no value, unless it routinely activated to guide a leader’s behaviour."

Close the knowing-doing gap: Manager fruitfully engage in 6 learning avenues that help them activate the leader’s checklist on a regular basis:
1 Study leadership moments.
2 Solicit coaching and mentoring.
3 Accept stretch experiences.
4 Conduct after action reviews of personal leadership moments.
5 Endure extremely stressful leadership moments.
6 Experience the leadership moments of others.

"It is hard to correct what you do not know you're doing."

"Before you get off stage, take a moment to tell the people you are with, those who may be ready to follow you, that you know who they are, that you respect what they are doing, and that you're extremely grateful for their hard work, upon which you're going to get your job done."

[Lawrence Chen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to say I am start to wondering the capability of Wharton school.I already finished "Why good people cannot find job." "Customer Centricity", plus "leader checklist" none of them satisfy me. Good people book blame the climate, so what is your point? any suggestions about reachable solutions. none. customer Centricity, I paid nearly 18$ for nothing. for this checklist, I do not think this 15 points really matters. what matters is what difference between leaders, all success basis were fairly the same. This summary makes no sense. as for why I left 2/5 stars.It did help me review some points about leadership, especially within crisis Management. totally disappointed

[Michele Rice Carpenter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unnecessarily Repetitive

I was rather disappointed in this book. It is repetitive in a convoluted way. It might have been better if Useen had covered all that could be learned from an event rather than returning to the event over and over, covering basically the same things. From what I understand Useen is a gifted speaker. I wonder if his speech on this topic is organized differently than this book.

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

[Darya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book on leadership that will provide you an opportunity to look at leadership as a framework for better organization performance. All the sixteen principles are extremely valid and well examples via real stories about leaders. My personal appreciation is for giving an idea of applications for those principles not only for corporate world but also for other business scenarios.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The Leader's Checklist provides practical insights and strategies that are easy to understand and apply in real-world situations. It's a valuable resource for anyone looking to improve their skills and approach to business challenges.

[Ken · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was disappointingly simplistic and repetitive. It was .99 cents from Wharton Digital Press and I understand why...

[Theresa Wade · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very repeative.

[Muzzy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This would make a really good free ebook that people could download in return for giving the author their email address. I'm glad I didn't have to pay $14.99 for my copy. I look forward to taking it to a used bookstore and exchanging it for a book that will teach me something new.

It's a typical pamphlet by a typical business-school academic, written in the style of business school. Someone should have told the author that 15 is too large a number for anyone to remember. That's why there's only seven habits of highly productive people.

It doesn't help when most of the items on his checklist are trite truisms like Principle 1, Articulate a Vision, or Principle 15, Place Common Interest First.

At only 108 pages, there's no there there. The chapter called "Maintaining the Leader's Checklist" is just over two pages long.

Nor does the author give any practical how-to advice on how to implement any of these principles. Instead, the second half of the book gives case histories and interviews with famous leaders. I was looking forward to reading the interview with Chile's Minister of Mining, who was in charge of the rescue of the 33 miners at San Jose. Unfortunately, the minister's answers generally range from "be optimistic" to "stay positive."

I won this book as a door prize. By the time all the other winners had picked their books, the selection had been reduced to a choice between this book and that Steve Jobs bio. Since we've already been immersed in Jobs hagiography, I went for the unknown little paperback by Michael Useem. I should have grabbed the hardcover bio about Steve Jobs in the hopes of getting a better exchange value.

[Darryle B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a must read for every leader, mentor and coach period!

The Leader's Checklist is the kind of book that I wish I read early on in my career, beginning with my time in military service and in law enforcement as an aspiring leader. It would've set me on a great foundation with the tools and insight on successful leadership that it took me years to learn. Possessing the knowledge and guidance this book provides, it would have enabled me to become better aware of leadership pitfalls, mistakes and mishaps to be avoided while discovering a roadmap to achieve excellence as a leader right out of the gate. I will be referring to this book frequently as I continue my journey as a leader and mentor, especially with those I serve and influence.

The book is well defined in its 15 checkpoints and why they are in important regardless of scenarios. The impactful stories of leadership lessons learned from those who have used a leader's checklist compared to those who have not used one are clear as found in the leadership successes and leadership failures shared in this book. It is an easy read and its content is relevant for aspiring, emerging and veteran leaders, mentors and coaches seeking to improve their leadership qualities as well as for the benefit of professional and personal development. Highly recommended.

[May-Ling · Rating 1 out of 5]

i thought this book was terrible and after hearing useem speak (he was fantastic), i see why he has fans that might give this a higher rating than it deserves. the biggest problem i have is that you can't really have a checklist for leadership, because it's not a process. useem refers to the checklist manifesto a few times in this book. going into surgery or flying a plane are processes that lend themselves to checklists. you are about to do something, so you go through this list one by one a check things off. they are straightforward tactics to get the job done. implementing change in the workplace or leading a team isn't like that. it's okay to have general leadership principles, but ticking items off a list won't get you there.

besides that, the writing isn't great and he's very repetitive, citing the same 2-3 scenarios in the intro, middle of the book and then with interviews at the end. you'd get a better sense if you just read through the 15 items and then the two interviews at the end (not the one with the author). my favorite item on the checklist is to honor the room, and it's something i'll take away to think about further - so at least i got a nugget of information.

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a MBA with a leadership concentration and 10 years experience in leadership and leadership development(focused primarily in the business development area), I found this book a fascinating short read. I read no less than 30 leadership books a year. The book contained lists which I thought were laid out the best in any leadership book I have read. They were concise, which in working with someone in any level of administration, it is best to have. The Owner's Manual List said it all and could be utilized as a teaching tool with leaving the rest of the book aside. One criticism I did have with the book was that I found the example stories/interviews to be a bit disorganized and jumbled. I think that utilizing those with someone in leadership would be way too wordy and either briefly read over or skipped all together.

[Joel Weinert · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was unable to finish this book. To say the least, this book lacks conciseness. The 5th time the Author introduced the Chilean Mine disaster as if de novo, the frustration got the best of me. A book about leadership should presume the reader is at least of average intelligence and can remember subjects and events previously in the book, which this author clearly does not.
In addition, the principles lack examples that would help apply them. If you'd like fantastic guidance, read "The Effective Manager" by Mark Horstman.

[Audra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book fulfilled my expectations.The author appeared in the book as a narrator. I did enjoy the book because it expanded my mind when it comes to leadership.It was on par and better in some ways that other books in this genre.I was pulled into the book.
The author’s presence was very fitting and appropriate.The themes are business, leadership. They were the focal point of the book.It ended exactly how I expected.

[Andrea James · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is more of a pamphlet than a book. I read this book on a jet-lagged plane journey and found that it's fairly suitable reading for that spaced-out state of mind but probably did not offer much more than that.

It felt like a magazine article that doesn't say anything strikingly insightful but provides some light reading. So unless you find yourself too tired to concentrate on difficult material, I wouldn't particularly recommend this book.

[Luca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, short to the point with well defined insights with respect to such a checklist. It is a very readable book and easy to understand as to what constitutes such a leader's checklist. And 15 key principles it is certainly not overwhelming. It is not magic but a vey useful checklist. Would certainly recommend it to have it with you.

[Trevor Sterner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had some interesting stories, and good (albeit somewhat generic) ideas. The general premise of how you would actually use a checklist was unclear (do you literally bring it to a meeting and check off the points, much like the frequently referred to pilots checklist). All in all, not a bad read, but by no means groundbreaking.

[Auriella · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was expecting to read about some new ideas to inspire my leadership but it really just talked about how a few people in history used their leadership for good or bad. I may use some of these "checklist" items but not because I learned them here.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty much contained the obvious with no real revelations. As a professor, he probably had to publish something and this was it. The price was right, though. Wharton Press gave it away. Had I paid, I'd probably only given one or two stars......

[June · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read many books by Michael Useem, having had a class taught by him at Wharton. He is amazing as a teacher and a writer (I highly recommend the Leadership Moment). This was my least favorite book, as it is mostly a checklist. However, that is why I bought it.

[Adriano · Rating 1 out of 5]

Much of this book uses examples from recent tragedies to show a bias for planning and action over inertia. I don't disagree with the philosophy, but beyond that, it's just a recap of well covered news stories with a loose frame of 'leadership'.

[Ron · Rating 2 out of 5]

got for free for my kindle, very simplistic, at least it was short!

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent summary of things to remember, though not a lot of background or description to define the checklist items.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great leadership advice without much, if any, jargon; checklist approach is useful and keeps things simple

[Jason Galloway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book to refer back to

[Ayelet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once I was given the items on the checklist, I didn't feel like I needed to keep reading.