The Leader Habit: Master the Skills You Need to Lead—In Just Minutes a Day

by Martin Lanik

In leadership as in life, only practice makes perfect.

Habits are powerful. They can lock us into negative behaviors (like snacking and smoking) or train us to act automatically in ways that benefit us (such as putting on a seat belt). Routines quietly undergird large portions of what we do and how we function.

Habit formation can speed success in the workplace as well—even in complex areas like leadership. The Leader Habit spotlights 22 essential leadership abilities, breaking them down into a series of small, learnable behaviors. The accompanying 5-minute exercises help you practice each of these new skills until they stick.

Drawn from a study of hundreds of leaders across the globe, the book's simple formula focuses on developing one skill at a time: sell the vision, delegate well, innovate often, empower others, overcome resistance, build strategic relationships, focus on customers, listen actively, negotiate effectively, and more.

Many of us aspire to great leadership . . . consuming books and training. But unless you intentionally reinforce the right behaviors, results are fleeting. This eye-opening and original book builds the "muscle memory" to turn leadership skills into lasting habits.

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

256 pages, Hardcover

Published April 17, 2018

About the author

Martin Lanik is the CEO of Pinsight®, the leader readiness platform. His leadership development solutions have helped thousands of leaders in 30 countries build stronger skills. Utilized by over 100 of the most recognizable corporations (e.g., AIG, CenturyLink.), his leadership programs received awards from Chief Learning Officer and Brandon Hall. Martin is the author of THE LEADER HABIT (AMACOM, April 2018), in which he shares the surprisingly simple 5-minute exercises that can turn anyone into an effective leader. Martin holds a Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology from Colorado State University.

Reviews

[Cindy Pham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really thorough. I think a lot of the points outlined in this book make sense and would be effective when put into practice. I appreciated that the author emphasized on action in order to make this work, not just by reading the book. It's worth referencing again a couple of times since there's so many different habits to improve on. Rating this 4 stars because I believe this will be effective, but I will need to put the skills into practice first before deeming it life-changing.

[Hebah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has such a promising start and premise - I liked the connection between habit formation and leadership skills, with bite-sized things to work on (practice instead of just knowledge). And for someone already in a leadership capacity, the exercises seem very approachable. However, from the introduction and examples of people who were trying to move into leadership positions, I thought the exercises would include things for people in non-leadership roles, and most of them just weren't, rendering this moot for a more general audience. (Many of the exercises also would work better in business settings than non-profit like my field, but that's not surprising in business writing.)

I'd revisit this book if I'm ever in a future leadership position, but it just doesn't have much to offer me now when I'd like to be building up a skillset for it.

[Rick Yvanovich · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book and a little difficult in an audio format as a written format I would imagine is far better as its going to be something you will want to reference again and again.

Now I need to get the paper copy so I can do just that.

The book is full of tips and "5 minute daily" exercises that would help you become a better leader.

Love the fact that its tied to assessments too, just shows how meaningful and powerful they really are.

[Tina Panik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the headings and the tips below, and skim the rest.

[TammyJo Eckhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I originally thought of my husband and this book. 5 minutes a day is something he can do and he seemed interested in advancing at work. But he didn't get beyond the first chapter. So I picked it up and worked through it over a few months so I could assess if it worked. It did, it seems to lessen tensions in some areas.

Getting to the place where I could figure out my strengths and weakness was a bit tricky. I took the free online Leader Habit Quiz to help me out but then following the book it was still a bit confusing. I'll touch on why that might be by design in my final paragraph of this review. Interestingly my colleagues with the various community groups I volunteer with and my family had slightly different views of my leadership style but over all there was a trend that I could turn to and use with the quiz.

The problem is that while I am in various community groups, I'm not in a traditional workplace any more. That might explain why the leadership skill I needed to work on was "Negotiate Well" simply because I don't have to do that much. But following the advice it seemed to help a bit with the groups and at our family meetings even if the words I was using sounded "odd.'

This book really feels like a way to get people to participate in one of author Martin Lanik's leadership workshops or individual coaching. That's fine, I just want people who are curious about the book to realize that upfront. How do I know that? Repeatedly the workshops and online coaching are mentioned in the book. Also when I took the free online Leader Habit Quiz so I could get more information that the short quiz in this book, I started getting emails telling about the workshops and how they could help me. That's fine, just be aware of that.

[J Crossley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certain skills make you a better leader. Leaders should be strong communicators, good planners, strategic thinkers, and able delegators. Lanik presents the Leader Habit Formula, which is a scientific approach to behavioral change. There are 22 core leadership skills that make up the Leader Habit Formula. It seems daunting, and the formula does take time, energy, and dedication. However, the author states that once the skill you are currently practicing becomes a habit, it will no longer require thought.. Your instant response will be to act like a leader.

The following skills are part of The Leader Habit and will help you improve your leadership skills.
• Planning and Execution
1. Manage priorities
2. Plan and organize work
3. Delegate well
4. Create urgency
• Solving problems and making decisions
5. Analyst information
6. Think through solutions
7. Make good decisions
8. Focus on customers
• Leading change
9. Sell the vision
10. Innovate
11. Manage risk
• Persuasion and Influence
12. Influence others
13. Overcome individual resistance
14. Negotiate well
• Growing people and teams
15. Empower others
16. Mentor and coach
17. Build team spirit
• Interpersonal skills
18. Build strategic relationships
19. Show caring
20. Listen actively communicate clearly
21. Speak with charisma

[Giang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid book that's actually quite thorough and is not just some vapid 'self-help' leadership book.

Key takeaways
- To influence someone to change their behaviors, you have to encourage them to be more self-aware of their strengths and weaknesses in order to create internal tension. Rather than highlight the negative consequences of their (in)action, ask them the benefit(s) of said 'bad' habit.
- Encourage them to change and be more self aware through motivational interviewing.
- Rather than punish the bad habit, reward the positive habit that you want to see. (Example from the book: rather than punish someone for running in the canteen, reward them with something whenever you see them WALK in the canteen). Do not publicly or privately shame. Reward what you want to see; ignore the negative habit and it'll (hopefully) go away on its own once the person has stuck w/ said habit for 66 days and has made the habit more automatic.
- Ask 'what/how' questions instead of 'why' questions
- Don't try to give "critical feedback"/"constructive criticism" as most people will deflect and deny. Ask questions through the motivational interviewing method.

[Kevin Eikenberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know that if you take a tough skill and make part of it habit, your success will improve. Such is the case with leadership. Build strong leader habits, and you will become a stronger and more successful leader. The question is – what are the habits and how do you build them?

Martin Lanik’s new book, The Leader Habit, answers both of those questions. His extensive research identified 22 skills of highly successful leaders. The book describes the 22, but more importantly, he breaks them down into learnable behaviors.

Read more...

[Wally Bock · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Leader Habit gives you a way to develop effective leadership habits and become a better leader. Unfortunately, the author’s system is complicated. It will take a lot of work to understand, do the analysis, and put it all into practice. The book is not as helpful for that as having another person work with you to master the material.

See my full review at

https://www.threestarleadership.com/b...

[Maxim Nutrikhin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Сложилось впечатление, что автор ставил задачу написать книгу не менее Х страниц. С главой по советам понятно, но вступление на 200 страниц можно было сократить вдвое. А так впечатление, как от моего диплома, когда «добирал» страниц до нормы.
Насчёт 5-минутных упражнений тоже есть вопросы - многие из них на самом деле не являются «5 минутными упражнениями на каждый день», котловые станут привычкой.
Тем не менее, несколько хороших советов нашёл. Если сработают, то рейтинг книге можно поднять.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid read for leaders or those wanting to improve their leadership skills. Through research, Lanik lists the 20 habits that the best leaders do. Each section is broken down by habits, making a book that one could return to over and over to continue developing leadership habits. There's a free online test you can take to discover your strongest and weakest habits.

[Brian W · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can develop your leadership skills by the self-discipline practice of daily micro-habits. This book breaks down four leadership skills into over 64 micro habits that can be practiced and refined for only five minutes daily. It's an exciting concept. I like the idea of motivational interviewing. I need to study that one more.

[Troy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Backed by research and studies

The first half of the book is where all the meat is. The reason I only give it four stars is the habits he discusses can bore the reader. I recommend finding one and focusing on that one and then skip ahead to finish off the last few chapters.

[Esteban Aguilar · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new way to develop leadership skills

I very much like the approach from this book. I need to start trying this formula, but it seems very straightforward and easy todo if set up correctly. Can’t wait!!

[Felipe CZ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book that gives real useful advice on leadership, by favoring practice over knowledge. Leadership is a series of habits, if you can change the way you respond to situations, it is possible to develp great skills.

[Colin McClean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I walked away with two, perhaps three gold nuggets; being practical steps that I can put in place to improve my performance as a leader. Therefore, this was a valuable read.

[Ashley M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author is annoying but a few good tidbits.

[Dinah Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read, great ideas and new skills.

I found this book interesting and helped me pinpoint what I need to work on. A very good read, worth it.

[Dominik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Te cztery gwiazdki są trochę zawyżoną oceną. Głównie za część III i IV.

[Lynette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Done this in audio format and then purchased the book for keep.

Its really great for developing new leadership habits

[Lamvn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Những hành vi đơn giản dễ trở thành thói quen hơn những hành vi phức tạp

[Samantha Tanner · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book that really could have…. And SHOULD have been... a blog post. It felt like 60 percent of this book is the same paragraphs or even pages copied and pasted into other parts. The whole first section of the book could be deleted with the rest really in need of a strong editor with a big red marker. Most of the examples in the book have absolutely nothing to do with the subject of leadership and you wonder why they were included. The book reads like the verbal vomit of a college students stuffing a paper with every possible anecdote trying desperately to reach the minimum page limit set by the prof. That being said, there are some good bits that could be useful. I’ve highlighted them so you don’t have to read the book or wade through it trying to see if you can find something useful. You’re welcome. 2 stars feels generous, but I did somehow manage to actually read the whole book, so that has to count for something.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm intrigued by the idea of moving from leadership training to being an event, to how we make it an on-going habit that is practiced. What I like about this book is that it goes beyond theory. It gives you research behind his program to master leadership skills, and it gives you tools to look at what habits would be best to practice, how to practice it. Much of the book gives details on skills that are either based on Getting Things Done or Focusing on People. The solution is not based on a quick fix, it takes time, dedication and energy - and thinking how to change habits by finding a behavior to work on that fits your personality. So many things to think about with this book, and I look forward to putting it in practice for myself, and my clients.

[Csimplot Simplot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!

[Nataliia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practical book.
Prejudice, bias, our own thoughts influencing the resulting environment around us. Trust.

[Grant Merrill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book- plenty of useful tools to integrate into your workday.

[Briana J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good, practical advice for anyone who has a job. Some of the examples of so simplified that they sound silly, but they’re easy to adapt to your situation and apply.