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Insanely Practical Leadership : 12 No-Nonsense Keys to Master the Art of Leading Yourself and Others
Finally . . . Leadership for the rest of us.
Most of us are not natural-born leaders. We had to figure it out the hard way-through ups and downs, and trial and error, as we stumbled our way toward hard-won lessons.
But guess what! You don't have to be a natural leader to become an extremely effective leader.
Insanely Practical Leadership equips you with 12 no-nonsense tools to master the art of leading yourself and others. Every chapter is a "how to" where you'll
•How to grow you
How to lead with character
How to think like a leaderHow to make leadership decisionsHow to build influenceHow to lead peopleHow to communicate with peopleHow to lead through conflictAnd so much moreWhether you're still trying to figure it out, you're on the road to leading well, or you're a seasoned leader looking for a tool to develop your team, Insanely Practical Leadership is the blueprint to help you take your next step. It moves way beyond theory and provides insanely practical tools and tactics to become a great leader.
Most of us are not natural-born leaders. We had to figure it out the hard way-through ups and downs, and trial and error, as we stumbled our way toward hard-won lessons.
But guess what! You don't have to be a natural leader to become an extremely effective leader.
Insanely Practical Leadership equips you with 12 no-nonsense tools to master the art of leading yourself and others. Every chapter is a "how to" where you'll
•How to grow you
How to lead with character
How to think like a leaderHow to make leadership decisionsHow to build influenceHow to lead peopleHow to communicate with peopleHow to lead through conflictAnd so much moreWhether you're still trying to figure it out, you're on the road to leading well, or you're a seasoned leader looking for a tool to develop your team, Insanely Practical Leadership is the blueprint to help you take your next step. It moves way beyond theory and provides insanely practical tools and tactics to become a great leader.
- GenresLeadership
257 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 28, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 8, 2025
Stephen Blandino opens Insanely Practical Leadership with a confession: “I’m not a natural leader.”
He’s not alone. According to a Gallup report, only “about one in 10 people possess the talent to manage,” that is, “to help a team achieve excellence in a way that significantly improves a company’s performance."
The good news for the other 90% is that they can learn to lead. Having done just that, Blandino is well-positioned to teach others. His book is a master class in leading, especially within the context of local church ministry.
Blandino defines good leadership as “the ability to positively influence people toward a shared vision while maximizing their gifts for the greater good.”
Each element of this definition suggests ways leadership sometimes goes wrong. Leadership can become an exercise of power rather than persuasion; create division instead of harmony; and pursue idiosyncratic goals that do not benefit the larger community.
When leadership goes awry, people lose trust in institutions. A 2024 Gallup poll reveals low levels of trust in U.S. leaders and institutions. This includes the Church, with only 32% of Americans expressing “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of trust.
Good leadership is a necessary first step toward restoring confidence in the Church and other institutions — and accomplishing Christ’s mission.
So how do we learn to lead better?
Blandino answers this question by focusing on self-leadership in Part 1 and leading others in Part 2.
The former examines growth, spirituality, character, thinking, time management, and decision making. Part 2 covers influence, relationships, servant leadership, communication, conflict management, and coaching.
Each chapter includes questions and a leadership tool for individual reflection or group discussion.
Two chapters stood out to me personally.
Chapter 2, “How to Be a Spiritually Grounded Leader,” is especially crucial for pastors and other ministry leaders. Leading any institution is difficult, but ministry carries unique spiritual challenges.
As the external pressures of leadership increase, we need a more powerful presence with us,” Blandino writes. “Without the unlimited resources of the Holy Spirit, we’ll navigate the landmines of leadership in the limitations of our own strength."
Blandino identifies four keys to receiving the Spirit’s resources.
The first is priority, a word that originally appeared in English during the 1400s, indicating the most important thing. Only in the 1900s did the plural form appear, as if there could be multiple most important things.
Blandino wants Christian leaders to recover a singular spiritual priority. “Jesus must be the center of our lives,” he writes. “When Jesus is the center, He influences every other part of our lives.”
Prioritizing Christ requires practices, such as prayer and Bible study, that “bring us before God to be transformed by His presence.”
A pace of life that allows for “unrushed time with God” is vital. Leaders must further develop a healthy perspective on the inevitable difficulties of life and leadership.
“You need to see pain, tests, and trials as the tools God uses to form you, grow you, and stretch you as a leader,” Blandino explains.
Too often, even Christian leadership books neglect the topic of spirituality. This is unfortunate, because one cannot lead a spiritual community without paying close attention to the spiritual formation of both leaders and followers.
Chapter 9 covers another underappreciated topic: servant leadership. It explores the practices of leading by serving and serving by leading.
“When you lead by serving, servanthood drives your leadership,” Blandino says. “You’re not focused on the rights of leadership but on the responsibilities of leadership.”
However, “To serve by leading requires you to embrace your leadership gift. In other words, the best way you can serve the organization is to use your leadership gift to add the greatest value possible. Failure to lead … is poor stewardship.”
Leaders go wrong by leaning too far to one side or the other. One extreme risks losing sight of the vision. The other feeds pride, a temptation for every leader.
Good leaders hold both sides in tension, maintaining a clear focus on organizational objectives but with a humble posture.
Every Christian could benefit from Insanely Practical Leadership, but I recommend it to three groups of readers in particular.
Ministry students, interns, and young pastors would benefit from applying its principles at the start of their careers.
Church boards and team leaders should work through it together, developing a common framework for addressing the challenges of ministry.
Finally, Blandino’s insights offer experienced pastors a refresher course on leadership, as well as a sourcebook for coaching pastoral staff and board members.
Book Reviewed
Stephen Blandino, Insanely Practical Leadership: 12 No-Nonsense Keys to Master the Art of Leading Yourself and Others(Sanford, FL: Avail, 2025).
P.S. I wrote this review for InfluenceMagazine.com. It is posted here by permission.
He’s not alone. According to a Gallup report, only “about one in 10 people possess the talent to manage,” that is, “to help a team achieve excellence in a way that significantly improves a company’s performance."
The good news for the other 90% is that they can learn to lead. Having done just that, Blandino is well-positioned to teach others. His book is a master class in leading, especially within the context of local church ministry.
Blandino defines good leadership as “the ability to positively influence people toward a shared vision while maximizing their gifts for the greater good.”
Each element of this definition suggests ways leadership sometimes goes wrong. Leadership can become an exercise of power rather than persuasion; create division instead of harmony; and pursue idiosyncratic goals that do not benefit the larger community.
When leadership goes awry, people lose trust in institutions. A 2024 Gallup poll reveals low levels of trust in U.S. leaders and institutions. This includes the Church, with only 32% of Americans expressing “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of trust.
Good leadership is a necessary first step toward restoring confidence in the Church and other institutions — and accomplishing Christ’s mission.
So how do we learn to lead better?
Blandino answers this question by focusing on self-leadership in Part 1 and leading others in Part 2.
The former examines growth, spirituality, character, thinking, time management, and decision making. Part 2 covers influence, relationships, servant leadership, communication, conflict management, and coaching.
Each chapter includes questions and a leadership tool for individual reflection or group discussion.
Two chapters stood out to me personally.
Chapter 2, “How to Be a Spiritually Grounded Leader,” is especially crucial for pastors and other ministry leaders. Leading any institution is difficult, but ministry carries unique spiritual challenges.
As the external pressures of leadership increase, we need a more powerful presence with us,” Blandino writes. “Without the unlimited resources of the Holy Spirit, we’ll navigate the landmines of leadership in the limitations of our own strength."
Blandino identifies four keys to receiving the Spirit’s resources.
The first is priority, a word that originally appeared in English during the 1400s, indicating the most important thing. Only in the 1900s did the plural form appear, as if there could be multiple most important things.
Blandino wants Christian leaders to recover a singular spiritual priority. “Jesus must be the center of our lives,” he writes. “When Jesus is the center, He influences every other part of our lives.”
Prioritizing Christ requires practices, such as prayer and Bible study, that “bring us before God to be transformed by His presence.”
A pace of life that allows for “unrushed time with God” is vital. Leaders must further develop a healthy perspective on the inevitable difficulties of life and leadership.
“You need to see pain, tests, and trials as the tools God uses to form you, grow you, and stretch you as a leader,” Blandino explains.
Too often, even Christian leadership books neglect the topic of spirituality. This is unfortunate, because one cannot lead a spiritual community without paying close attention to the spiritual formation of both leaders and followers.
Chapter 9 covers another underappreciated topic: servant leadership. It explores the practices of leading by serving and serving by leading.
“When you lead by serving, servanthood drives your leadership,” Blandino says. “You’re not focused on the rights of leadership but on the responsibilities of leadership.”
However, “To serve by leading requires you to embrace your leadership gift. In other words, the best way you can serve the organization is to use your leadership gift to add the greatest value possible. Failure to lead … is poor stewardship.”
Leaders go wrong by leaning too far to one side or the other. One extreme risks losing sight of the vision. The other feeds pride, a temptation for every leader.
Good leaders hold both sides in tension, maintaining a clear focus on organizational objectives but with a humble posture.
Every Christian could benefit from Insanely Practical Leadership, but I recommend it to three groups of readers in particular.
Ministry students, interns, and young pastors would benefit from applying its principles at the start of their careers.
Church boards and team leaders should work through it together, developing a common framework for addressing the challenges of ministry.
Finally, Blandino’s insights offer experienced pastors a refresher course on leadership, as well as a sourcebook for coaching pastoral staff and board members.
Book Reviewed
Stephen Blandino, Insanely Practical Leadership: 12 No-Nonsense Keys to Master the Art of Leading Yourself and Others(Sanford, FL: Avail, 2025).
P.S. I wrote this review for InfluenceMagazine.com. It is posted here by permission.
February 12, 2025
It’s okay, not great. There’s not much in here that was new or that I hadn’t heard before. I probably would have given it two stars, but there were a couple chapters that had some good pointers I might revisit (particularly the chapter on servant-leadership). One chapter might say “here are the 6 keys of communication” then each of those keys has another 3 points which after 12 chapters makes it hard to remember anything meaningful and apply it.
I wouldn’t recommend reading this book as a resource, but could be helpful to read specific chapters when you want to grow in that area of leadership, especially for newer leaders. That said, if you want to grow in a specific area, you’re probably better off finding a book that focuses more on that.
I wouldn’t recommend reading this book as a resource, but could be helpful to read specific chapters when you want to grow in that area of leadership, especially for newer leaders. That said, if you want to grow in a specific area, you’re probably better off finding a book that focuses more on that.
February 12, 2025
In general, I roll my eyes when it comes to a lot of this leadership stuff. It's a group of guys patting their own backs, repeating the same stuff, repeating said stuff in a dozen different ways, and most of it could have been an email. My eyes start rolling faster when they bring in the Bible as if the Bible is the OG leadership book. Don't get me wrong, the Bible has some things to say about leadership, but we can easily take it and morph it to be something it's not and it becomes messy fast.
Blandino's got 12 keys of approximately 32 strategies that each have something like nine steps of three stages each... It could have been an email.
He's got some good things to say. I know a little bit about the author; I think he is a good guy, a great pastor, and a solid leader. He is competent and qualified to teach on leadership. But the influx of stories, steps, and strategies that all start with the same letter because alliteration means that it's true, became a drain.
So, why did I rate the book 3 stars? Because the material is good. I agree with at least 85% of Blandino's teachings in Insanely Practical Leadership. The leadership tools at the conclusion of each chapter are incredibly helpful. I will probably recommend this book to some people in the future. For young people training to become leaders, this could be a very helpful resource. I just wish it was done differently. Instead of feeling like I was reading a compelling narrative, I felt like I was reading a list; a really long list.
Oh, and then the book just ends. No conclusion. Weirdest experience.
Blandino's got 12 keys of approximately 32 strategies that each have something like nine steps of three stages each... It could have been an email.
He's got some good things to say. I know a little bit about the author; I think he is a good guy, a great pastor, and a solid leader. He is competent and qualified to teach on leadership. But the influx of stories, steps, and strategies that all start with the same letter because alliteration means that it's true, became a drain.
So, why did I rate the book 3 stars? Because the material is good. I agree with at least 85% of Blandino's teachings in Insanely Practical Leadership. The leadership tools at the conclusion of each chapter are incredibly helpful. I will probably recommend this book to some people in the future. For young people training to become leaders, this could be a very helpful resource. I just wish it was done differently. Instead of feeling like I was reading a compelling narrative, I felt like I was reading a list; a really long list.
Oh, and then the book just ends. No conclusion. Weirdest experience.
February 18, 2025
Stephen did a fabulous job with his latest book. I know he shared the hard truths of leading when it is not glamorous or fun. Really loved his transparency and authenticity of his growth over the years.
Realizing everyone is in a different leadership spot, it is fun to read the emails and texts from pastors that are learning and growing from this resource.
Realizing everyone is in a different leadership spot, it is fun to read the emails and texts from pastors that are learning and growing from this resource.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews