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Lifting Up: The Transformative Power of Supportive Leadership
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September 17, 2025
I'm excited for the meeting for the one because the author is going to attend!
And, I genuinely liked it, so that'll be good.
She spends much of the book convincing the reader that being more supportive will change the whole world. She might not be wrong, but it gets a teeny bit repetitive. And honestly, the reader that picks this book up is probably already on board. The last chapter is the actual handbook and is just scripts for various scenarios where you need to support someone or ask for support yourself.
She incorporates the hospitality and psychological safety trends, which honestly, none of these things can exist in a vacuum by itself and be successful. But every little bit towards a better world will make some difference. Maybe that is the book that I need to write. How all these things come together for success.
Where I think she could do better is telling high level leaders how to better support the middle level leaders who then can support the frontline. She mentions that they think they are, but they're not. But maybe it's not even in their hands. Maybe we need to focus instead on the policies and education needed to create this world. Putting the burden on each individual, creates a hero culture. And I can speak from experience that that environment is not sustainable. One little David cannot fight Goliath, despite whatever anecdote people want to spew. To truly change the world, we need to change the policies. Just look at the impact that cancel culture has had. You can't say ahole things anymore... or you're blacklisted. It's not the best, but it works.
In our last book club discussion on unreasonable hospitality, a lot of examples people gave MUST be supported by policies that allow for it. You can't give away discounted or free popcorn if your cashier is going to be chewed out for inventory and her drawer being off. You aren't going to have people going above and beyond if they're just going to have to put in more overtime to meet deadlines to do those nice things. You can't give away all your profits, but you can build policies in a way that hit that 95/5. Anywho...
You can get inspired with this book. You can work on yourself and your own tool kit for supporting your team. But, to truly change the world... we need better foundational policies.
And, I genuinely liked it, so that'll be good.
She spends much of the book convincing the reader that being more supportive will change the whole world. She might not be wrong, but it gets a teeny bit repetitive. And honestly, the reader that picks this book up is probably already on board. The last chapter is the actual handbook and is just scripts for various scenarios where you need to support someone or ask for support yourself.
She incorporates the hospitality and psychological safety trends, which honestly, none of these things can exist in a vacuum by itself and be successful. But every little bit towards a better world will make some difference. Maybe that is the book that I need to write. How all these things come together for success.
Where I think she could do better is telling high level leaders how to better support the middle level leaders who then can support the frontline. She mentions that they think they are, but they're not. But maybe it's not even in their hands. Maybe we need to focus instead on the policies and education needed to create this world. Putting the burden on each individual, creates a hero culture. And I can speak from experience that that environment is not sustainable. One little David cannot fight Goliath, despite whatever anecdote people want to spew. To truly change the world, we need to change the policies. Just look at the impact that cancel culture has had. You can't say ahole things anymore... or you're blacklisted. It's not the best, but it works.
In our last book club discussion on unreasonable hospitality, a lot of examples people gave MUST be supported by policies that allow for it. You can't give away discounted or free popcorn if your cashier is going to be chewed out for inventory and her drawer being off. You aren't going to have people going above and beyond if they're just going to have to put in more overtime to meet deadlines to do those nice things. You can't give away all your profits, but you can build policies in a way that hit that 95/5. Anywho...
You can get inspired with this book. You can work on yourself and your own tool kit for supporting your team. But, to truly change the world... we need better foundational policies.
Displaying 1 of 1 review