Practical Lessons in Leadership: A Guidebook for Aspiring and Experienced Leaders

by Art Petty, Rich Petro (Contributor)

Practical Lessons in Leadership offers career and start-up guidance for aspiring or new leaders, and pragmatic recommendations for leaders who want to develop strong teams and drive outstanding results.

Genres: Leadership

236 pages, Paperback

First published June 27, 2007

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are definitely some great pointers and practical leadership advice given in this book, but I found myself too often getting lost in the weeds and losing track of the author's main thesis. Perhaps it's the writers style, but I found much of it to be too "technical" and pollyanna -- i.e. here's a bulleted list of 10 items that makes leaders great; do these and you'll be a great leader. But still, I'd recommend this read to anyone looking to take their leadership to the next level.

[Quenya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay so I was voluntold to read this book for a leadership course to which my natural first response was “Oh yay another leadership book to read” – insert your own level of sarcasm to my tone. I read this book in one setting and have decided this is one of those times were I wish I could half star ratings because the book is somewhere between a three and a four. I will approach this review from a pro/con aspect since that is how my brain was analyzing the book as I read it.

Pros – The book gives great little tips and the authors do a good job of describing what they mean by each tip. I also liked the Apex case-study that prefaced each chapter because it helped to give you a realistic scenario to apply the lessons of the chapter to.

The most useful information I got out of the book was the communication protocol and finally some authors realizing your leadership style changes depending on your team dynamics.

Cons – Sometimes the book felt like a teaser for their website and other resources. The authors would give you enough information about a topic only to refer to their website for more information throughout the entire book. As usual, the authors realize brainstorming and giving constructive feedback are items lacking in most leadership resources but they didn’t really expand or provide any new insights into these areas other than refer you to find other resources to expand your knowledge.

My biggest con is that I think this book is best done in a group setting (book club type format, leadership academy, etc.) because the case study and end of chapter questions lend themselves more appropriately to this type of setting versus an individual read from cover to cover.