The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do

by Kenneth H. Blanchard, Mark Miller

In this new edition of their classic business fable, Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller get at the heart of what makes a leader successful. Newly promoted but struggling young executive Debbie Brewster asks her mentor the one question she desperately needs answered: ''What is the secret of great leaders?'' His reply - ''great leaders serve'' - flummoxes her, but over time he reveals the five fundamental ways that leaders succeed through service. Along the way she learns: a cents Why great leaders seem preoccupied with the future a cents How people on the team ultimately determine your success or failure a cents What three arenas require continuous improvement a cents Why true success in leadership has two essential components a cents How to knowingly strengthen - or unwittingly destroy - leadership credibility. The tenth anniversary edition includes a leadership self - assessment so readers can measure to what extent they lead by serving and where they can improve. The authors also have added answers to the most frequently asked questions about how to apply the SERVE model in the real world. As practical as it is uplifting, The Secret shares Blanchard's and Miller's wisdom about leadership in a form that anyone can easily understand and implement. This book will benefit not only those who read it but also the people who look to them for guidance and the organ

Genres: Leadership, Business, Nonfiction, Self Help, Management, Business Leadership, Personal Development

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Ken Blanchard, one of the most influential leadership experts in the world, is the coauthor of the iconic bestseller, The One Minute Manager, and 60 other books whose combined sales total more than 21 million copies. His groundbreaking works have been translated into more than 27 languages and in 2005 he was inducted into Amazon’s Hall of Fame as one of the top 25 bestselling authors of all time.

Ken is also the cofounder and chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies®, an international management training and consulting firm that he and his wife, Margie Blanchard, began in 1979 in San Diego, California.

When he’s not writing or speaking, Ken also spends time teaching students in the Master of Science in Executive Leadership Program at the University of San Diego. Ken can be found at www.kenblanchard.com.

Reviews

[Mike Madden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cheesy

[John O'Malley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this book. If you are a leader, thinking about becoming a leader, or only leading yourself you should read this book.

[Hal Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is it possible that this book is actually good and only my cynical eye-rolling keeps me from perceiving it as such? Certainly the clunky prose does the text no favors. But, I mean, the advice probably isn’t bad.

And yet.

Debbie the supervisor (in the book’s leaden narrative) is being mentored by her boss. “‘I’ll begin by telling you a little bit about my background’ [he tells her]. Over the next twenty minutes, Debbie learned more about Jeff than all of her research had revealed. He was a fascinating, well-rounded person.” More than the fantasy of competence or the fantasy of power, this book seems to be selling the fantasy of being a boss who can monologue about himself for twenty minutes and have his audience exclaim “fascinating!” “Debbie…could hardly wait for their next meeting.” (Later) she bubbles to him, “Your insights and encouragement mean more to me than you’ll ever know. As always, I’m looking forward to our next meeting.” (Later) “Debbie was both enthusiastic and grateful. ‘Once again, Jeff, you’ve stretched my thinking.’” Etc. Sure, there’s the word SERVE, and it turns out (surprise!) to be an acronym for various tortured phrases, but isn’t the main idea of the book the semipornographic dream of a subordinate hanging on your every word? Who can resist?

Maybe if you have a proverbial iron will you can read this book and pass through the other side as a better manager. I can’t help but suspect most readers will simply feel justified monologuing for twenty minutes before pausing, briefly, to wait, in vain, for that coo of “fascinating!”.

[Alivia Hatch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great read on the importance of being a SERVING leader, not a self serving leader. This inspired me to think more about how I can invest in others and raise up betters leaders than myself.

[Ayan · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.5 stars*

This book was different from any non-fiction book I've read. This book had a"story-telling" element which made it really fun to read. Also it made me feel close to the characters in the book. Like when Debbie was continually growing as a leader I felt so proud!

I also liked the meetings Debbie had with John, and the Q&A feel made me learn more about what it means to be leader and etc.

So I really liked this book! And I liked how it was short and got to the point.

[Ekramullah Safi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome, interesting and inspiring book!!!

the book is written like a novel and as you read and see the Debbie character in the book who has challenges of leading her team and is trying to find solutions to be a good leader for her team.
as you read the book you will learn many things and you will be inspired from the coach Jeff who is mentoring her and as well as you will be motivated from the way she is learning and implementing the Serve model of leadership.

[Paige · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this as if it were an 80s sitcom with a laugh track and everyone has horrible hair. I literally threw the book when one of the supporting characters (yes, this is entirely fictionalized) mentioned that he'd love to dine with Jesus of Nazareth.

It has good ideas but it's cheesy as hell.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is good for what it is: a little story about how "leaders serve."

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Servant leadership means developing people

Blanchard is one of my favorite writers. In this book he tells the story of developing a leader who develops leaders, I.e., a servant leader. A servant meets the needs of others. I still have a long ways to go, but this book gives a great checklist.

[Madison Gillen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This can be considered a prequel to the authors “Great Leaders Grow”. The Secret is a simple but effective allegory for effective leadership, and how anyone in anyone position can show leadership qualities. It personally gave me a lot to think about in my career, and how I can continuously improve.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm currently attending a leadership training and this book was assigned reading. It tracks with the info presented in the class and I liked the way it was written as a fictional story so it wasn't as dry. It is a bit cheesy but it's not supposed to be great storytelling; it's just supposed to demonstrate the points being made. I enjoyed it.

[Austin Kistner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book on leadership ever.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super easy to keep up with and brings in so many good points. I'm not usually one for annotating while I read but I was seriously taking notes during this book. Completely changed my mindset surrounding leadership (especially servant leadership) and I would recommend it to anyone.

[Sabrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the story. Very insightful and inspiring.

[Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

I borrowed the following comments from an Amazon review:
This is the story of Debbie, a struggling and a failing leader, who learns the lessons of management from her Boss. Miserable with her poor performance, the character of Ken's Book, joins the Mentor Program offered by her company and incidentally, Jeff, the president of the company happens to be the trainer. She thoroughly undergoes the training sessions where she realise her mistakes. She is taught to be a 'Serving Leader' rather than a 'self-serving Leader'. She learns the secrets of success with the five steps :
* Seeing and shaping the future
* Engaging and developing others
* Continuously Reinvent
* Value results and relationships
* Embody the values
Debbie learns whatever is needed to be a good leader, analyze her progress with examples, exercises and tips.

This was another readable story from the Blanchard library. All the books seem to reinforce each other and the story-telling and summary format is really great.

I plan to use this in my company

[C.G.Koens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Told in the form of a story, Miller and Blanchard explain the ideas behind SERVE - the acronym for the five steps that will help change you from a self-serving leader, to a serving leader. It's simple, but effective, and in essence, it's exactly what Jesus Christ exemplified during his 33 years on earth - to be great, you must first be a servant. As a long-time fan of John C. Maxwell (who also wrote the Forward for The Secret), I'm happy to be able to add a new author to my leadership shelf.

[Theresa Esmeralda Romero · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is definitely an introductory read in the 'business/leadership' field, but it has many great nuggets of wisdom!
I enjoyed the flow of te storyline and how relatable it was to any person within the professional field.
I would give this book to someone that is entry-level in the (any) business and who wants to grow in leadership and in the field.

It's an easy read that does not have too much jargon terms.

[Waris Ahmad Faizi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous!!!
The Secret is one of the best books I have ever read in leadership.
The SERVE concept was awesome.
An appreciable and creative work by Mr. Ken Blanchard and Mr. Mark Miller!
Vision, People, Improvement, Success, and Credibility are the 5 keywords focus of the book.
I sincerely recommend this book to all those who want to be a serving leader, not a self-serving leader.

[Aaron Mikulsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read The Secret What Great Leaders Know and Do vs. the other book The Secret. This is a very short but meaningful book on the basics of leadership. It is much like the book Love 2 Lead. Here is a summary if you don't care to read the parable.

Many people have the career objective of being a leader yet never give meaning to what that means.

Ask: Am I a serving leader or a self-serving leader?

“Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve.” - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Developing leaders is one of the highest strategic priorities an organization should focus on. Everything rises and falls on leadership. Leadership is more about what others don’t see you than what they do see. Two components of leadership are being and doing. Think of skills as doing and character as being. Think of the metaphor of ships falling prey to icebergs. In most of these tragedies, what sank the ships? The part that was under the water, unseen. Character – or lack of it – is still the nemesis of most leaders in our world today. Select men and women of character and develop their skills.

The best leaders lead with a servant heart. Great leaders don’t become great in a moment; they become great leaders one day at a time. You’ll never finish; you’ll never completely arrive.

Service alone will not make anyone a leader. A person can serve without leading, but a leader cannot lead well without serving.

SERVE:
Set the future
Engage and develop others
Reinvent continuously
Value results and relationships
Embody the values

Set the future: to envision and communicate a compelling picture of a preferred future.

A compelling vision stirs passion within you. It tells everyone who works with you who you are, where you’re going, and what will drive your behavior. Creating a compelling vision is one of the privileges and most serious demands of leaders. Leadership is about taking people from one place to another. It’s the leader’s job to make time today to ensure that there is a tomorrow. Seeing the future is one leadership responsibility that cannot be delegated but it can be shared.
There is a constant tension between the Heads Up versus Heads Down challenge.
Heads Up is about vision and direction, and unless you keep replenishing that vision, it will gradually disappear. Leaders must consistently see and communicate the future, as well as anticipate opportunities and obstacles.
Heads Down is when leaders help people with implementation and making the vision a reality. Values should drive everyone’s behavior. Publishing values help ensure they are repeated, recognized, and rewarded. Values are beliefs that drive behavior.

Engage and develop others: To recruit and select the right people for the right job while creating an environment where people wholeheartedly invest themselves in achieving the vision.

Everything that you will accomplish as a leader ultimately hinges on the people you have around you. The best leaders work diligently to select good people and give job candidates ample time to interview during the process. Work hard to fit people in the right jobs and help them leverage their strengths rather than fixing them later. The leader’s objective is to leverage the strengths of people and make their weaknesses become irrelevant. Peter Drucker believed that the most important decision executives make is “who does what.”

Engage peoples’ heads and hearts. With every pair of hands you hire, you get a free brain. The best leaders invest in the development of their people. Lesser leaders don’t. Create the expectations for learning and growing - creating learning and development opportunities and providing educational resources.

Reinvent continuously: to possess a never-ending focus on improvement.

The very best leaders are learners. If you stop learning, you stop leading. The leader must model the behavior he or she wants people to emulate. Continuous improvement and growth is critical to keep up with the competition and the rate of change in our world. Many of the answers that worked in the past are not working today. Personal reinvention should be one of a leader’s highest priorities because we have a stewardship responsibility to maximize our God-given talents. We can only do that as we continuously learn and grow.

Value results and relationships: to generate positive, measurable results and cultivate great relationships with those you lead.

More leaders seem to struggle with this than the other elements of the five SERVE practices. Most corporate leaders have said it’s all about results. Profits and financial strength are the applause we get for a job well done. John Maxwell said, “People will not give you their hand until they can see your heart.”
Have high expectations for both results and relationships. Know your bias and embrace it; and work to compensate for your bias.

Embody the values: to live in a fashion consistent with your shared values. More of leadership is caught rather than taught. Walk the talk. All genuine leadership is built on trust. Great leaders establish, articulate, model, and enforce core values.

You want to build a leadership culture where leaders are routinely and systematically developed. You start by finding a common leadership definition or point of view and: teach it, practice it, measure it, and model it.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't take it. We're reading this in our monthly manager's meetings, and we'll read anywhere between 3 and 15 pages per meeting. That puts us on pace to finish this exhalation of a book somewhere mid-2027. (This isn't a dig, Conrad.) I think it's tough to assign homework to people who are working 50-80 hours a week.

But also, if you've read any of my reviews, you know where I stand (in general) on books like this. I'm a whatchamacall "naysayer." My buy-in is much higher for taking the lessons of classic fiction and applying them to our lives. Or reading not to learn anything at all. Reading as its own end.

But these books, in particular. As I was reading this book, "The Secret," and I learned there was... you know... a secret... And as we got closer and closer to discovering what the secret was, all I could think was, "please don't be an acrostic, please don't be an acrostic, please don't be an acrostic..."

But I knew. We ALLLLL knew.

See the Future
Engage and Develop Others
Reinvent Continuously
Value Results and Relationships
Embody the Values

...SERVE THAT'S your secret!

Ba-da BING, Ba-da BOOM!

When I neared the end of the book, and saw how well it worked for Debbie* once she simply applied the lessons Jeff had taught her, I thought: well now: nobody's ever getting fired from any company ever again. It's like when Matthew Caws shouts out, "Every boy! Every boy in the whole world could be yours if you'll just listen to my plan: The Teenage Guide to Popularity!"

For all that, it's not like the ideas in the book were unsound. They were good. And I'm taking some to the bank.

The parts that stuck out to me the most, and what I would invite you to skim if you don't have time to dig into the book:

Pages 52-55 on interviews with a candidate. Blanchard and Miller suggest four interviews. Yes, you read that right: FOUR INTERVIEWS.

He also suggests trying to talk the person out of a job.

It's just a really, really great section. I think anybody who has had to employee people has been in the unfortunate position of having people in jobs that are not a good fit. (Or being in a job that wasn't a good fit...) Nearly every business book I've read has mentioned something of the sunk cost of seeking, interviewing, hiring and training someone who leaves after a year or three... or even five... Employees are bringing their human capital to the table, but still... my company is investing in me.

Another section I appreciated was "Reinvent Continuously." Part of that might be what some people call, "Growth Mindset." That good leaders continue learning, and push themselves to continue whether on the clock or off. And then also looking at systems and processes and saying, "How can this work better? How can we do it with fewer errors? How can we do it for less?" Then, also they talk about the structure of the organization itself - that that, too, has to be able to be reinvented.

I think that last one is a struggle for bigger businesses with their rigid Doc Controls, QA, Work Instructions that are set in stone... And for a reason. Small businesses - if you see a quick, quiet workaround: dammit - that's the obvious path. In bigger businesses, that's an obvious path to getting fired. So, Chic-Fil-As, especially have to think about how to be able to change with all those safeguards in place. And shortly, the company I work for will have to think about that, too.

Finally**, I really thought about the section on results versus relationships. Blanchard said good leaders have to be both. But also that people would naturally gravitate towards one or the other. I thought about the leaders where I work. About the leaders in the school corporation where I was a teacher for 15 years, and thought: yeah... I think that tracks. For myself, I would say I gravitate towards relationships. Sometimes to my benefit. Sometimes to my detriment. It doesn't help the team if I give someone fifteen chances. God is forgiving... maybe a boss shouldn't be. On the other hand, I don't want to be someone who sees people as the numbers they pull. What is value and what is value added and what is the value of a human soul? To a company? But Blanchard also says that whichever you are - make sure to have someone who is the opposite close and on your team.



*Here's how well it worked out for her - she was wildly successful, and successful at passing the baton... "Debbie's team not only completed the year without her but ascended from "Worst to First." They had created raving fans of both their sales-people and their customers. When Debbie got the new, it was in the form of an invitation from the team to come to a special event to celebrate their achievement." WAY TO GO, DEBBIE!

**I said "Finally" but whenever I read these, I like to add at least one crossover to teaching. There were a lot a lot a lot, but "vision" would be categorized as "backward design" in edu circles. Seems pretty obvious goal-setting wise, but also we often get going and then lose sight of the very goals we claim to be pursuing.

...FINALLY, finally: Reread the resources.

[Joe O'Connor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good; parable on becoming a servant leader (SERVE)

[Koko · Rating 5 out of 5]

يعد الكتاب الأول من نوعه الذي يعطي القارئ الشغف بالقراءة فعلى الرغم من أن ما يحويه هو عبارة عن مادة علمية إلا أن طريقة طرحه للموضوع بالصورة القصصية تعطيه ميزة خاصة

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good points but also full of typical leadership jargon. Nothing earth-moving here.

[Pedro Polanco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sensible

[K. Isaure · Rating 5 out of 5]

1. See the Future

See the future. Embrace the future. Plan for the future in finite detail. Financially. Mentally. Emotionally. You run your life like a family private bank and you will be all set. Remember you control your own life. Do not give someone else that power or control. See the future. Believe in a better future for yourself. Because it will come. So prepare and plan for it.

2. Engage and Develop Others

Develop others by building them up Make them look good by promoting them with your actions and your words. Engage with others at a level you feel comfortable engaging them with. If you do not feel comfortable speaking, then do not talk. There is beauty in being quiet and reflective and observant. You learn a lot from observing the world around you. You do not have to talk just because someone is pushing you to talk. That is even more reason not to talk. They are not engaging you on your level. You have your limits for speaking and interacting. Remember you control your relationship with how much you want to talk. Do not let others dictate how much you talk and when. You decide that and when. Or just shut down and do what you need to do without minimal speech and contact with those pressing you to talk or commenting on the fact that you are too quiet. Move on.

3. Reinvent Continuously

Be adaptive conscious at all times. Constantly move with the flow. Yet take the time to stop, think, assess and plan and then quickly get back to adapting what you planned to your issue you are dealing with in that given moment. Instead of shouting at people or getting agitated and shutting down, take some time to play your heart out in musick or write poetry about what you are feeling. Then try and formulate a response in writing to the individual person in question about how you feel and adapt to the terms you have set. If they cannot adapt to your terms or are unwilling to see you changing for the betterment of yourself and your health then quietly exit the relationship and rely on yourself and poetry and therapy to carry you through the grieving process of leaving the relationship.

4. Value Results and Relationships

Value results in sending a certain amount to savings every time you do not talk outside of being spoken to. Value relationships and give what you can to the relationship and nothing more. Respect people for what they can give you. Give them time and space to heal and grow and thrive. Likewise you need space as well. Remember relationships are like flowers. They take time to grow and flourish. Set boundaries and stick with them.

5. Embody the Values

Embody the values of your clan and what your mentors and books taught you. Remember you can make a difference in life! Start with poetry. Then work your way out to communicating that verbally in a respectful and open way. Openness. Communication. Trust. At all times.

[Ashik Uzzaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This week I finished "The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do" by Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller. I was interested to read this book as I recently read Mark Miller's "The Heat of Leadership" and "The Secret of Teams". I am also a big fan of Ken Blanchard's "One Minute Manager".

This a fantastic business fable involving a struggling leader Debbie Brewster discovering some timeless leadership principles through the mentorship from Company President Jeff Brown.

The book starts with the Iceberg Analogy for Leadership. Leadership needs both skills and characters. Skills are like the top of the iceberg that we can see. It's above the water, it's the doing part. But a larger portion of leadership remains under the water, that we don't see. It's the being part that embodies values, character, beliefs, trusted relationships. To remember it clearly I drew the below picture some items of which are not directly from the book but rather my own understanding.

The book then dives deep into the SERVE Model for Leading. It describes that regardless of their formal title or position, people who want to be great leaders must embrace an attitude of service to others. The acronym is broken down into the following -

(1) S – See the Future. Create a compelling vision.
A quote from the book - "Leadership is about taking people from one place to another. One of a leader’s top priorities must be to assure that the team knows where you are headed".
(2) E – Engage and Develop Others. Build the right team, engage and empower them to do their best work.
A quote from the book - "You want to do more than enlist their hands – you want to engage their heads and hearts also".
(3) R – Reinvent Continuously. Look for constant improvements, new ways of doing work.
A quote from the book - "Great leaders…are always interested in ways to enhance their own knowledge and skills. The very best leaders are learners".
(4) V – Value Results and Relationships. Find the proper balance between driving results and building working relationships.
A quote from the book - "The way to maximize your results as a leader is to have high expectations for both results and relationships".
(5) E – Embody the Values. Leaders must walk the talk, show integrity.
A quote from the book - "The best teachers are always those who know they haven’t got it figured out."

Source: http://www.dragon-bishop.com/2021/07/...

[Heather Racey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The two authors of this leadership skills curriculum utilize fictional narrative to communicate the “SERVE” model to the reader. The story follows Debbie Brewster, the leader of a struggling team. She volunteers for a mentorship program offered through her employer where she is actually paired with the very CEO of the company. They meet once a month, and he proceeds to tell her the secret of being a good leader through the SERVE acronym.

Most of the principles link, in some way, to being a servant leader. While the principles themselves are sound, I found the mode of storytelling campy, cheesy, and outright unrealistic. The story follows Debbie as she applies the principles, one by one, and her team’s performance improves. Eventually, Debbie gets promoted and invited back to celebrate the success of her team. In the story, there is only one member of her team who ends up moving to a different part of the company because they discover he isn’t really fit for the position he’s in.

I found all of this very difficult to get past in order to appreciate the very sound principles. It may have been good that the authors stayed focused on a straightforward, unhindered application, but I felt that certain roadblocks to proper application were ignored such as staffing shortages and immature or insubordinate team members. How does one apply such principles when those they are leading have no desire to comply with new directions or even to submit to leadership’s decisions? These have been my experience and, thus, made the application portion of this non-fiction-fiction very unrealistic.

[Genette · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is basically Baby's First Leadership Book.

I generally find Ken Blanchard insufferable, and this book was no different. This book is a 'fable,' written by people who don't write novels for people who don't read novels. While this advice may have been revolutionary in 2004, it's rudimentary here in 2023. Unless you've never read a leadership book published after 2010, you'd be better served by Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek. If you want a book by a Christian leader, try Game Plan for Life by Joe Gibbs.

The primary characters, Debbie and Jeff, are the worst caricatures of an incompetent boss and a great leader. Debbie lacks basic critical thinking skills, empathy, and apparently a fifth-grade education (based on a literal conversation she has where Jeff asks her about the 'fifth-grade' concept of icebergs). Jeff, on the other hand, is suave, magnetic, and just the best at everything. He also has an acronym to live by, SERVE, which ostensibly has something to do with being a servant leader. This is reiterated constantly by every person Debbie interacts with asking her how best they can serve her today. Within a few meetings, Debbie is spouting off business principles like she's, well, Ken Blanchard.

This book left me feeling disgusted by both Debbie's absurd level of incompetence and how Jeff turns the genuinely great spiritual principle of servant leadership into a business buzzword.

[Gabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hahaha a serious copy cat of Leadership and self deception. I mean, the high level boss takes an interest in a lowly team manager and shows them how to be a true leader. Its a story format. Even though it wasn't very original, I think that this is a great format to teach skills by. easy to listen to and inspiring that it could really happen.
Main idea:
Great leader adopt and attitude of service. mainly 5 difference ways via this acronym:

S- See the future. help the people they lead see the destination and why its worth getting there
E- Engage and develop others. Recruit and find the right people and then when they get here engage their minds and their hearts—not just their hands
R- Reinvent continuously.
personally rethink
systems and processes. (How are we doing the work and how can we do it better)
structure of the organization.
V- Value results AND relationships
E- Embody the values. A leader must say the values and show the values. (walk the talk not stumble the mumble)

[Alireza Hejazi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The simple idea of the book is that a leader cannot effectively lead without serving. Servant Leadership (SL) is the book’s central topic. Serving others simply implies that you are expected to take action rather than merely feel bad for them or have pity for them. Why? Because acting after saying you care is the same as not caring at all. Real servant leadership is concerned. And since it cares, it has to take action. The SERVE model of leadership is suggested in the book as a result of this idea. It speaks about the five essential traits of outstanding leaders: See the future; engage and develop people; reinvent yourself; value relationships and outcomes, and embody the ideals. Readers and leaders who are mentally prepared to accept SL by putting others first should read this book. Studying this book will annoy you more if you have the hazardous sickness of egotism unless you consciously want to get rid of it.