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The Pause Principle: Step Back to Lead Forward
We live and lead in an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world. But paradoxically, Kevin Cashman contends that leaders today must not merely act more quickly but pause more deeply. He details a catalytic process to guide you to step back in order to lead forward in three critical growth areas: personal leadership, development of others, and fostering of cultures of innovation. You and your organization will learn to move from management speed and transaction to leadership significance and transformation.
177 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 24, 2012
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325 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 11, 2021
A very difficult book indeed. Every page has some book or other reference as if one is reading a doctoral research. Loosely connected stories. I am surprised by a sentence "Invention is easier than innovation". Give me a break!
I struggled to read and even by skimming through could not finish fast. Once again, a title attracts you but alas!
The self help books is not my priority but this one would not help as it doesn't guide the reader through the process.
Chapter 4 Pause to grow culture of innovation is like pulled out of context.
I read but nothing has stuck to me. Let me take a pause and to something better.
I struggled to read and even by skimming through could not finish fast. Once again, a title attracts you but alas!
The self help books is not my priority but this one would not help as it doesn't guide the reader through the process.
Chapter 4 Pause to grow culture of innovation is like pulled out of context.
I read but nothing has stuck to me. Let me take a pause and to something better.
September 2, 2013
The Pause Principle | Step Back to Lead Forward by Kevin Cashman
Simply outstanding. The premise of the book is that great leaders need to pause. We are introduced to the Pause Principle, then spend time in personal leadership, then helping to grow others, and finally, we growing cultures of innovation. All by pausing.
What makes it a difficult book to review is that I have completely highlighted the book with so much highlighting that I had to move to multiple colors, then switch to stickies. Then to folding pages.
Good thing for real paper pages. My Kindle would look rather silly.
Cashman is a clear, direct, distinctive writer. No big words. No lingo. No self importance. Just clear concepts with excellent stories and pointed questions, questions we need to take time to absorb.
The questions make me pause.
As I read the book, I felt torn between staying in the questions of Pause Points, wanting to spend days and weeks in these questions to the excitement of the next page. Yeah, it's pretty geeky to get this excited about a leadership book.
Closing out the book, he includes his notes for each chapter, as well as the bibliography. The book is so good that I read all of those pages too and have another 10 books to read.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher. I was not paid for this review. This is a fabulous book and I will read it again. And again. I highly recommend it.
Simply outstanding. The premise of the book is that great leaders need to pause. We are introduced to the Pause Principle, then spend time in personal leadership, then helping to grow others, and finally, we growing cultures of innovation. All by pausing.
What makes it a difficult book to review is that I have completely highlighted the book with so much highlighting that I had to move to multiple colors, then switch to stickies. Then to folding pages.
Good thing for real paper pages. My Kindle would look rather silly.
Cashman is a clear, direct, distinctive writer. No big words. No lingo. No self importance. Just clear concepts with excellent stories and pointed questions, questions we need to take time to absorb.
The questions make me pause.
As I read the book, I felt torn between staying in the questions of Pause Points, wanting to spend days and weeks in these questions to the excitement of the next page. Yeah, it's pretty geeky to get this excited about a leadership book.
Closing out the book, he includes his notes for each chapter, as well as the bibliography. The book is so good that I read all of those pages too and have another 10 books to read.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher. I was not paid for this review. This is a fabulous book and I will read it again. And again. I highly recommend it.
November 25, 2012
I really should have looked more closely at this before reading - as a Quaker, I was interested to see how "pause" (or silence) could affect how we interact with the world, colleagues, etc.. Instead, this was far too much about management style (virtually every few pages had a citation from a How To Manage Better book) and far too little about the actual pause itself. The author tells a story about heading to India to tour and meet the Dalai Lama and getting sick, giving him the "pause" he needed to start this book and I thought "well, what about those of us who can't quite do that?" Very little on technique or implementation, far too much on management-speak.
June 28, 2013
Americans have a bias for being decisive and acting. Get 'er done. Faster is better. Cashman reminds us how valuable it is to pause and receive information instead of acting without reflection.
October 11, 2020
This was the first book we read together as a staff at MSU. Based on how everyone else reacted, I think it is likely to also be the last book we read as a staff. I wanted to like this book, I really did. I like most books I read, to be fair. But this book was PAINFUL almost the entire time. The only exception was the third chapter, which was, fortunately, the one assigned to me.
The overall purpose of this book is to encourage people to pause. We get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of life that we often don't stop to reflect on our purpose, get to know each other, express genuine interest, ask good questions, listen to one another, etc. The message was good and well intentioned, but the organization of the book was erratic and confusing. The same thing could have been said in about half of words, or less. The language felt forced and jumbled. At times, it seemed the author was name and example dropping so much that it took away from the main message.
Would I recommend the message of this book? Yes. Would I recommend reading this book itself. No.
The overall purpose of this book is to encourage people to pause. We get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of life that we often don't stop to reflect on our purpose, get to know each other, express genuine interest, ask good questions, listen to one another, etc. The message was good and well intentioned, but the organization of the book was erratic and confusing. The same thing could have been said in about half of words, or less. The language felt forced and jumbled. At times, it seemed the author was name and example dropping so much that it took away from the main message.
Would I recommend the message of this book? Yes. Would I recommend reading this book itself. No.
August 15, 2023
Love the principle, but this is a classic example of a business book that could just be an article. The author just wanted to write a book.
I strongly relate to this principle though from my weekly, quarterly, and ops meetings with Collegiate Entrepreneurs. Even our daily huddles. We always insisted on the space to reflect on what we were doing and learning. I think it is absolutely essential for both strong growth, empowerment, and just plain enjoyment, if your team is made up of the kind of people who love learning.
"Never go so fast that you forget that love and service make life worth living"
Quotes from "Thinking, Fast and Slow"
"John Lehrer, author of 'Imagine: How Creativity Works', says science tells us that creativity and imagination require both disciplined, focused effort and a sense of freedom and abandonment." (my note: default mode network & executive functioning)
Inner knowing, authentic listening
I strongly relate to this principle though from my weekly, quarterly, and ops meetings with Collegiate Entrepreneurs. Even our daily huddles. We always insisted on the space to reflect on what we were doing and learning. I think it is absolutely essential for both strong growth, empowerment, and just plain enjoyment, if your team is made up of the kind of people who love learning.
"Never go so fast that you forget that love and service make life worth living"
Quotes from "Thinking, Fast and Slow"
"John Lehrer, author of 'Imagine: How Creativity Works', says science tells us that creativity and imagination require both disciplined, focused effort and a sense of freedom and abandonment." (my note: default mode network & executive functioning)
Inner knowing, authentic listening
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 1, 2020
Really good read. Basic message, but it does push you to ask yourself questions about yourself and your style with the aim to make you a more effective leader. It gives you a better perspective on how to handle difficult situations, better manage change, crisis. Great examples from different industry leaders.
I will re-read later on for sure.
I will re-read later on for sure.
December 7, 2017
The last chapter was so random and disconnected from the rest of the book that I can’t give it more than 3 stars but it does talk about interesting concepts on an area I have to develop so it is a decent book if you are trying to pause and think.
August 22, 2019
I really enjoyed reading this book, and it is my second time reading it. It is not mind blowing but it is short and contains everything you need to pause and regroup. Evaluate what you are doing and what are your next steps.
December 27, 2020
I was given this book by a wise consultant friend of mine. While the ideas in it will not be brand-new to all, I really appreciated the balance of interviews and personal stories, theme-enhancing frameworks, and applied questions. I will be using some of these at an upcoming personal retreat.
June 28, 2017
Really good insights, exercises, and examples. Nice reminders.
Funny, I listened to it as an audiobook and played it at 1.5 speed because the reader was too slow.
Funny, I listened to it as an audiobook and played it at 1.5 speed because the reader was too slow.
January 2, 2019
Summary:
This book posits that success and effective leadership can be developed not by rushing in and being busy, but rather by taking a step back before taking action. By pausing, the author claims we achieve a high level of clarity and thus act in a more accurate manner so the action we do take is more effective.
I like the idea of this, but believe it could be a slippery slope for a lot of people who struggle to get started, procrastinate or are paralysed by analysis. Sometimes we really just need to get in and take action to get the ball rolling or to make a decision.
As such, I think the concept still has value, but should be used strategically. Frustratingly, on top of developing the skill to pause before taking action you may need to develop the skill of knowing when to pause to take action!
I would recommend this book to anyone looking to gain some clarity.
The main message I took from this book is to ensure I take a breath and pause to consider before taking action.
Some notable points:
- As activity lessens, order increases.
- The greater the complexity, the deeper the reflective pause required to convert the complex and ambiguous to the clear and meaningful. Pause helps us to move from the transactive or the hyperactive to the transformative.
- Managers speed up to increase efficiency, leaders slow down to connect to the meaningful, the important and the innovative.
- Thinking is the place where intelligent actions begin.
- Generativity is the energy and enthusiasm we get from helping people to surpass us.
- Pause deeply to lead powerfully.
- At early stages of our careers we build credibility by having the answers, at later career stages we build credibility by having the best questions.
This book posits that success and effective leadership can be developed not by rushing in and being busy, but rather by taking a step back before taking action. By pausing, the author claims we achieve a high level of clarity and thus act in a more accurate manner so the action we do take is more effective.
I like the idea of this, but believe it could be a slippery slope for a lot of people who struggle to get started, procrastinate or are paralysed by analysis. Sometimes we really just need to get in and take action to get the ball rolling or to make a decision.
As such, I think the concept still has value, but should be used strategically. Frustratingly, on top of developing the skill to pause before taking action you may need to develop the skill of knowing when to pause to take action!
I would recommend this book to anyone looking to gain some clarity.
The main message I took from this book is to ensure I take a breath and pause to consider before taking action.
Some notable points:
- As activity lessens, order increases.
- The greater the complexity, the deeper the reflective pause required to convert the complex and ambiguous to the clear and meaningful. Pause helps us to move from the transactive or the hyperactive to the transformative.
- Managers speed up to increase efficiency, leaders slow down to connect to the meaningful, the important and the innovative.
- Thinking is the place where intelligent actions begin.
- Generativity is the energy and enthusiasm we get from helping people to surpass us.
- Pause deeply to lead powerfully.
- At early stages of our careers we build credibility by having the answers, at later career stages we build credibility by having the best questions.
June 17, 2015
Kevin Cashman is one of the best leadership authors on authenticity and character. I simply could not put this book down as the ideas are applicable to everyone who wants to improve their self-awareness and reflection to become a better leader.
July 7, 2016
I've really enjoyed the way that this book has been written. Fresh, light but great !
September 1, 2015
Very insightful for me, both in professional and personal life.
Read
July 23, 2017writer's style is a little redundant and the story telling repeats itself throughout the text; that said, I found it to be a helpful leadership book as it does provide important points to consider for effective leadership in today's fast paced work environement
Read
September 12, 2017Its a nice book to read !
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews