Why Don't They Follow Me?: 12 Easy Lessons To Boost Your Leadership Skills

by Lonnie Pacelli

Most leadership titles you'll find in the business section and are meant to appeal to the busy executive. But what about the stay-at-home parent who has just been elected president of the PTA and has never lead anything in his or her life? Or maybe the newly-promoted first-line manager who has instantly inherited a team of leadership-starved employees? These folks need quick, practical leadership advice that makes sense and can be put into play right away. This is where Why Don't They Follow Me? comes in.

In Why Don't They Follow Me? you'll get 12 vital leadership principles which form the basis of best-in-class leaders regardless of who you are leading or what you are trying to accomplish. Maybe you lead a team in your daily job; or maybe you own a small business; or maybe you're a leader of a large non-profit organization. Quite frankly, it just doesn't matter when it comes to these principles; if you want to boost your leadership skills, this book is for you.

104 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 16, 2009

About the author

Lonnie Pacelli is a business and autism awareness author with over 30 years business experience and 23 years experience as a dad of an autistic son. His son Trevor was diagnosed with autism at age 5 and has experienced many of the highs and lows that accompany autism. Lonnie, his wife Patty, and big sister Briana have made family adjustments throughout the years including Lonnie leaving his job at Microsoft to focus on home-schooling Trevor. Trevor recently graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in Film & Media Studies and is now Media Director at Mom & Dad's company. Lonnie is committed to helping dads with autistic kids better cope and have hope for their children and wants others to learn from both his successes and mistakes.

See more at http://www.lonniepacelli.com

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like it. I get that it's self published and I could be a snob about that. But the book is easy to read and charming and definitely on par with many other business books I've read, in both content and organization. Good job, Lonnie Pacelli.

[Lonnie Pacelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why Don't They Follow Me? is one of my favorite books I've written. The leadership lessons in the book started with my being a guest executive at a leadership class that my former company held on a regular basis. The class was divided into teams of four and given a difficult problem to solve. The team then had to present it to a panel of executives whose job it was to give them some real life experience in what can happen when you present to an executive. There was one presentation where one of the students was trying to use humor to build rapport with me. The problem was that he never established credibility with me and the humor just became annoying. In my debrief with him I described the experience in terms of a math statement "Humor - Credibility = Doofus", meaning that if you try to use humor with an exec before you've given them a reason to listen to you then you just come across like a doofus. The math statement resonated well so I decided to express 12 leadership principles as math statements, as follows:

1. Humor - Credibility = Doofus
2. Knowledge - Listening = Arrogance
3. Action - Integrity = Distrust
4. Activity - Focus = Randomness
5. Wisdom - Experience = Theory
6. Ability - Effort = Inaction
7. Leadership - Inspiration = Administration
8. Charisma - Conviction = Crooked Politician
9. Courage - Predictability = Recklessness
10. Smarts - Direction = Absent-Minded Professor
11. Communication - Candor = Storyteller
12. Decisiveness - Empathy = Ruthlessness

In each lesson I give you an opening story, an explanation of the lesson, and some practical takeaways you can put to use right away. I hope you enjoy reading Why Don't They Follow Me? as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Best - Lonnie