Taming Your Crocodiles: Unlearn Fear & Become a True Leader

by Hylke Faber

What does it take to become a great leader? True leadership means freeing yourself from false constraints and charting a purpose-filled path based on values. Before he became a management consultant for numerous CEOs and other top executives, Hylke Faber had to take his own journey through the trenches to learn which qualities really matter. This book distills his hard-won knowledge so that you can unlock your potential for growth by overcoming your "crocodiles."
With Taming Your Crocodiles, you can learn how to say goodbye to fear, unlock your potential for growth, and foster a supportive environment for your team. Faber offers practical advice for anyone working in a business-to-business setting on how to develop better strategic planning through carefully run client meetings, including pointers on typical areas of miscommunication and how to handle teammate personalities. Managers of client relations, subject matter experts, and anyone involved in strategic planning or customer communications will benefit personally and professionally from this book's guidance.

Genres: Leadership

272 pages, Hardcover

First published May 16, 2018

About the author

Hylke inspires people to become taller on the inside through his genuine, caring and insight provoking delivery.

He works with leaders, teams and organizations to develop connectedness to their true values and realize their potential together by transforming entropy (energy not available for constructive use) into mindsets and behaviors that help them be at their best more consistently.

He incorporates proven Leading Self, Leading Together, Leading Others and Leading Systems tools in all his work. He almost became a monk and discovered peace, potential, joy and love inside each of us that he endeavors to bring out in each of us where we work. HIs mission is helping people connect to their true selves, each other and their purpose.

Hylke is a seasoned leadership keynote speaker, award winning author, executive and team coach, connectedness architect, and podcast host. He has spoken at many Fortune 500 companies, leads Growth Leaders Network, the coaching consultancy, and also teaches at Arizona State University.

He received his coaching certification from New Field Network and was included in Who’s Who in America in 2023. Since 2006, Hylke has coached senior leaders and teams globally.

Bloomberg recognized his book, Taming Your Crocodiles as one of 2018’s best books on leadership. He writes regularly in Forbes and has taught the Leader as Coach programs at Columbia Business School for many years. His next book The Connectedness Quotient will be published in 2025.

He hosts two podcasts: Rooted & Unwavering and Connected Teamwork. A native from the Netherlands, Hylke is also a trained opera singer, loves hiking and lives with his husband Jahon in Phoenix, Arizona.

Reviews

[Joel Brockner · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Inspiring, thought-provoking, and comprehensive. Taming Your Crocodiles offers a compelling combination of process, stories, and practice. It invites us to reflect on who we are and how to lead ourselves and others from an authentic place. Including lessons from the great leaders of our time, it helps readers to evolve by becoming more conscious of their inherent strengths and more free from self-limiting mind-sets and behaviors. A must-read for anyone who wishes to grow their leadership to the next level!”
—Joel Brockner, Phillip Hettleman Professor of Business, Columbia Business School

[Leah Zaccaria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Taming your crocodiles is captivating and inspiring. Hylke’s various stories of leadership capture the essence of growth through love and consciousness. There are so many morsels of wisdom in this book. I highly recommend it.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

#TamingYourCrocodiles #NetGalley

A handbook to understand how to let go of fear, unlock our inner potential for growth, and cultivate a supportive environment for our team. Interesting stories, exercises and examples to understand the concepts and see like an owl and not like a crocodile

[Nathalie Van Beek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Twee sterren omdat de eerste paar hoofdstukken oké waren. De rest viel me erg tegen. Ten eerste is op basis van de Nederlandse titel, ondertitel en achterflaptekst niet te verwachten dat het boek leiders/managers als doelgroep heeft. Dat was dus nogal een verrassing. Ik zie net dat het Engelse origineel wel 'leadership' in de ondertitel heeft staan. Dat had best meevertaald mogen worden...
Ten tweede is het boek door een Nederlander geschreven, maar is qua stijl zo Amerikaans als wat, inclusief alle uitgebreide voorbeelden van bekende Amerikanen waar non-fictieboeken uit de VS zo om bekend staan. Ook jammer. Ten derde was het boek vanaf halverwege eigenlijk niet meer te begrijpen omdat er zoveel ingewikkelde theorieën werden geïntroduceerd, achter elkaar, met allemaal acroniemen (ook weer zo'n Amerikaanse hype) om ze zogenaamd te kunnen onthouden. Ik raakte het spoor volledig bijster. Praktische toepassing van die theorieën misten vervolgens.
Op zoek naar een boek om je krokodil te temmen? Of je reptielenbrein zoals het door veel anderen wordt genoemd; kies een ander boek, er zijn er genoeg. Sorry Hylke.

[Sythe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goede inzichten, gelezen voor werk.

[Sebastien Arrivault · Rating 5 out of 5]

A guide to wisdom. Taming your Crocodiles is a great method that can be taken as many times as needed to rediscover who we truly are and what we truly want. It provides a combination of useful principles, testimonials and exercises to practice regularly. It helps to feel more aware and able to make your own choices. Anyone who's eager to grow in a better person will be interested in this book. There is always a learning that can be found and shared.
Sebastien