Leading Without Authority: How Every One of Us Can Build Trust, Create Candor, Energize Our Teams, and Make a Difference

by Keith Ferrazzi

An upcoming book to be published by Penguin Random House.

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

272 pages, Hardcover

First published May 26, 2020

About the author

Keith Ferrazzi is an entrepreneur and global thought leader in high performing teams and Chairman of Ferrazzi Greenlight and its Research Institute. He is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Who’s Got Your Back and bestsellers like Never Eat Alone, Leading Without Authority, and Competing in the New World of Work. He is a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review, the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Forbes, Inc, Fortune, and other publications. Ferrazzi’s twenty-year history of transforming C-Suite executive teams has made him an agent of transformation among the world’s greatest and most sought-after coaches.

Widely recognized as a thought-leader among his peers, Ferrazzi is a frequent contributor to CNN and CNBC. He has authored numerous articles for leading business and consumer publications, including Forbes, Inc, the Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review, and Reader’s Digest. An early leader in the quality movement, Ferrazzi was the youngest examiner of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. He has been named a "Global Leader of Tomorrow" by the World Economic Forum, one of the top "40 Under 40" business leaders by Crain's Business, one of the most distinguished young Californians by the Jaycees, and one of the most creative Americans in Richard Wurman's "Who's Really Who". Ferrazzi's extraordinary rise to prominence, which includes a stint as the youngest Chief Marketing Officer in the Fortune 500, has even inspired a Stanford Business School case study.

As CEO of Ferrazzi Greenlight, he draws upon a rich professional history to help guide organizations and business leaders worldwide. Ferrazzi was previously Chief Marketing Officer at Starwood Hotels, he oversaw marketing activities for global brands including Sheraton, Westin, The Luxury Collection, St. Regis, and W Hotels. Ferrazzi also served as Chief Marketing Officer for Deloitte Consulting, a leading global management consulting firm, where he developed and managed the industry's first globally integrated marketing organization. His creative marketing strategy drove the ascent of Deloitte's "Consulting" brand recognition from the lowest in the industry to a primary position and spurred the highest featured growth rate in the industry.

Ferrazzi actively supports numerous civic, charitable and educational organizations. He serves on the Yale University Board of Alumni Governors and the Board of Trustees of the Kiski School in Pennsylvania and is also a Fellow of the Berkeley College at Yale. Additionally, Ferrazzi founded Big Task Weekend, an executive roundtable that brings together some of the nation’s top leaders to focus on improving the health and wellness of Americans. Ferrazzi’s interests also include studying the relationship between leadership success and spirituality. He received a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Reviews

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh, God, where to begin with this?

I've been reading from the softer side of business/leadership books that devote a lot of time to equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging, so I came to this unprepared for old-school Boomer business book style.

At first, I was like, this isn't very trauma informed. Then I was like, is this gas-lighting? Then I was like, wait, that was a conservative dog whistle - diversity of thought (code for counting white men as diverse if they don't always agree). Oh, shit, what am I reading???

So this book was just super-NO for me.

Why did I finish it once I knew? I don't know. I kinda hoped to stumble on an EDI section or something positive. The section on praise was nicer...but still felt icky at times. The Platinum Rule is useful, because it teaches perspective taking and maybe (maybe) gets presumptuous people to pause a sec.

I don't think anything could have warned me. Sometimes books are just bad, and the advice they give may only apply to a certain subset of bougie C-suite types. I guess it's good that books are written for those guys too.

Real diversity isn't optional. Discrimination is real. Toxic environments are real. Jargon will never win over substance.

Overall, run. I would suggest some alternative reads, because I have read great books on leadership in the past, but honestly, I think even chance alone would provide a better book than this.

[Sebastian Gebski · Rating 1 out of 5]

The kind of book I dislike A LOT.
Full of generic advice that never dives deep into the actual essence of the problem.
Lack of honesty? Be honest!
Issues with collaboration? Invest in relationships!
And so on.

Sorry, but it literally made me want to puke ... Waste of time.

P.S.
Fun fact -> it's peppered with quotations from some well-known figures, but it's not mentioned whether Ferrazzi interviewed them himself or just cited what he found on the Internet.

[Annie · Rating 1 out of 5]

For clarification, this is a DNF for multiple reasons, chiefly about I write in this review.

So our company was “encouraged” to read this by my employer. I didn’t know anything about the book, but based on the title I thought it could go in multiple directions.

I cannot stress this point enough: this book is not meant for the regular employee. This book is not even for lower tier managers or team leads. This book caters to CEOs and bosses and people in charge and reaffirms their thoughts and their beliefs on how the workplace should function.

This book starts by saying that the current work structure is messed up. While this statement is 100% true, the author takes the rest of the book in a completely crazy direction.
The following points are just thoughts and reactions I had while reading this book.

-he’s misusing the word “authority”. What he really means is “power”, but I have a feeling that “leading without power” wasn’t initially well received. The main difference between power and authority is that power is given and authority is earned. The main tenant of the book is that you should work and “lead” without a given title.

-This author comes from a place of privilege. He’s a man, white, and rich. He occasionally tries to say he grew up with hardship because his father worked in the steel industry in western PA, but he still managed to go to a high end boarding school, then onto Yale and then onto Harvard. Now, he could’ve gotten into them on scholarship, but something he mentioned in his book that makes me think otherwise. He brings up that during his first job out of college, he took time to travel across the country to pitch the company he worked for. He did this on his own dime, with no real “authority” to do so from the company. He never says how he afforded these trips. It’s automatically an indicator of privilege right in the beginning of the book.

-a lot of the points in this book is just common sense. It’s being presented as new and insightful, but if you ask any regular employee what they do in their workday it’s already “leading without authority”. A lot of women and poc have been critiquing the workplace for decades, saying they system doesn’t work. The author twists this by not only presenting it as his own idea, but completely missing the point.

-I feel like this books is calling upon CEOs and company leaders to require more work from their employees without allowing them the power to say no. It talks about how employees hide behind their managers, how employees cite “that’s not my job” and how that’s harmful to the success of the “mission”. What’s the mission? Increased profits, higher revenue, and better shareholder value. But who really sees the benefit from that? It’s definitely not the employees who are being pressured to take on more tasks and basically are required to take on multiple job descriptions with one job salary, all under the guise of “leading without authority”.

-The term “co-elevate” only applies to employees stepping up and doing more. The book promotes “cutting out the middle man”, when it’s the middleman who actually knows the effort it takes to complete a task, how many hours an employee should spend on said task, and knows each employee enough to know how to motivate them. The “middleman manager” also know how to best delegate the tasks to their employees, who is better suited to what task. If you remove this middleman, there becomes greater pressure from someone who is unfamiliar with the intricacies of a department or task (aka any upper management). Employees will feel like their jobs are on the line just to make the money that fuels CEOs and any level of management who gets direct compensation for increased revenues and profits and shareholder value. The employees take on more tasks, and upper management sees the fruits of their labor.

-so many sexist comments. SO MANY! The early passage where the author says QUOTE “Zina and I had just met, and I didn’t want to scare her off, but I had a tough message to deliver. So I lowered my voice and took on a more intimate tone. I wanted her to know that I cared about her, her challenges, and her future.” This is at the bottom of page 40!!! You sure as hell would never read that passage if he was addressing a man. And later on in the book he tells women to be careful with what they wear?? Outrageous.

This book is loaded with manipulative tactics. He only shares positive results (which I get because he obviously needs people to seek his business to help them like he helped all of the examples). It’s self promoting garbage. It’s common sense warped against the common man, poorly wrapped as a new and insightful concept with a misleading catchphrase.

[Jason L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Copied the asking feedback portion out. thought it's very useful!

Ask for feedback sample email:

Hi ___. I want to make sure we are not missing anything and we are getting the absolute best outcomes for the team and clients. I really appreciate your candid feedback on how I can do better. If you were me, how would it be better? What do you think is missing?

(I’m serious don’t hold back, hit me with both barrels. Fire away.) I really value your insights and perspectives. If it’s easier for you, feel free to call me. Thanks, Me

Follow up in a few days:

Excited for your kick-butt feedback. Thanks in advance for your critical insight!

[Iman Shabani · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[William Bahr · Rating 5 out of 5]

In his December 2014 Harvard Business Review article, author and entrepreneur Keith Ferrazzi wrote, “We’ve found that successful virtual team players all have a few things in common: good communication skills, high emotional intelligence, an ability to work independently, and the resilience to recover from the snafus that inevitably arise. Awareness of and sensitivity to other cultures is also important in global groups. When building a team, leaders should conduct behavioral interviews and personality tests like the Myers-Briggs to screen for all those qualities. If you inherit a team, use the same tools to take stock of your people and assess their weaknesses; then train them in the skills they’re lacking, encourage them to coach one another, and consider reassignment for those who don’t make progress.”

In 2017, Ferrazzi took the next step, originating the concept of “co-elevation,” which he defines in his 2020 “Leading Without Authority” book as “a mission-driven approach to collaborative problem-solving through fluid partnerships and self-organizing teams. When we co-elevate with one or more of our associates, we turn them into teammates. We enter into close co-creative relationships based on candid feedback and mutual accountability. With its guiding ethos of “going higher together,” co-elevation nurtures a generosity of spirit and a sense of commitment to our new teammates and our shared mission. The resulting outcomes almost always exceed what could have been accomplished through regular channels within the org chart.”

Why are Ferrazzi’s tips and tricks as outlined in his newest book important? Because even in a structured organization, if you’re trying to get something done, more likely than not, you’ll be dependent upon other people, a supporting team, if you will, to carry you across the finish line. While many of those people may be in other departments, your job is to see that everyone delivers, and giving them what they need and want is part of the job. Ferrazzi’s focus is the many ways you can raise your team’s productivity and success level. One of his biggest pieces of advice is to be caring about them in both professional and personal aspects, and being vulnerable enough to ask for their help and feedback with insights as to how you might help them be better (or serve them better), and vice versa. IMHO, the value of some of the conversations, letters, and emails Ferrazzi uses as examples of communications exchanges is alone worth the price of the book.

If there is an area possibly lacking in the book, it relates to what happens when all attempts at co-elevation have failed, that Pete Best’s talent isn't as good for the Beatles as Ringo Starr’s. A second area of concern is what happens when, despite the talent, the other person is a “taker,” one who never gives back, or anything close to the level that the others, let alone you, have invested and expect in return. One obvious answer is separation. How best to do it? Perhaps this is an area the author will cover in a following book.

Overall, as a fellow author, I found the book to be well-researched and well-written, with a number of insightful ideas worth trying. Highly recommended!

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a lot of good and bad in this book.

On the plus side I think that Keith has a lot of interesting perspective, and the idea of becoming a leader by boosting everyone in the group is an interesting one. He calls it co elevating, and I definitely found things I could take away from his book, that will help me both to become a better leader in business, and a better human in general. For that reason, I would recommend this book.

On the down side, I think he spent too much time saying the same things over and over. I think the book could easily have been half the size and been just as effective (maybe even more so because it would have not felt so much like a chore).

Definitely worth a listen though

[Luciano Holanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helped me fill in a huge gap in a moment that I needed it greatly: "How to change the culture within an organization". It presents a playbook, great explanations, and stories on how to Lead and develop Leadership on people in your organization.

Keith Ferrazzi has a rich experience that provides both great content and great stories that helped me better grasp the concepts in the book. It was a great read and in each chapter, I feel like I learned a new skill that helped me directly at work. I am already putting into practice a lot of what I have read in this book and I think everyone should as well. It definitely seems like the way we should be doing things in the future!

[Kate Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Relational principles for collaboration. He gives business decisions for wanting to develop relationships, which is challenging because it breeds inauthenticity (as anyone who has spoken with an evangelist knows), but if the principles can be really bought into and adopted, they serve well. The book really should have been called “co-elevation” — he doesn’t talk about authorization past the first chapter, and assumes you will self authorize for co-elevation.

[Mariusz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Below average “white guy gives generic advice” business book. Author seems to be totally blind to the fact that in majority of his stories a guy is awful to everyone until a woman takes on extra work to fix his shitty behavior.

Would not recommend wasting your time on this one.

[Jordan Higgins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was pretty disappointed in this book. With a title of Leading Without Authority, you would think the content would be relatable for anyone looking to become a better leader in the workplace.

Every coaching example or quote mentioned in the book involved either a CEO, CFO, CMO, or other high-ranking authority of a large corporation. By the end, it just started to seem like glorified name dropping.

As an engineer, I think some of the techniques could be applied in my professional career, but overall the content was just not relatable. If you don't fall into one of the above high-ranking positions within your company, I would not recommend.

[Mina · Rating 3 out of 5]

"It's no longer about hiring great talent. It's about hiring talent that will make the team great." - Brian Cornell, CEO, Target


"If a situation scares you, there's probably something in it calling you to grow."


"When you're looking for ways to be of service to your team, be careful not to impose your own flavor of generosity on them without understanding their underlying desires and goals. Hear them for the powerful insights they are. You don't have to embrace their choices, preferences, goals, or aspirations as your own. But you do need to understand them."


"To find a shared passion, try asking about one of these four categories:  family, occupation, recreation, or dreams."

[M Subaiei · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about teamwork, collaboration and better work relationships. The concept is simple as Keith Ferrazzi called it Co-elevation. He shared a lot of stories to explain his leading with out authority 8 rules. The rules are:
1- Who’s your team.
2- Accept that it is all on you.
3- Earn permission to lead
4- Create a deeper, richer, more collaborative partnership.
5- Co-development
6- Praise and Celebrate
7- Co- elevate the tribe
8- Join the movement
The book could be arranged better to illustrate those collaboration concepts rather than reading all stories to get it.

[Kathryn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Only made it through chapter 2 and decided not worth the time. He is very repetitive. And I didn’t feel this was anything new - repetition of other books on teamwork, or even best QI practice, so if you’ve read much on developing and working within teams elsewhere, this may not be for you.

[Quinns Pheh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real leadership is about collaboration and mutual interests. With this in mind, you could start leading change, without the authority. Once you have identified the people who are part of your wider team, you could begin building trusting relationships with them. These relationships could then be leveraged to increase your influence in your team, and help you achieve your goals.

[Paulo Peres · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good tips for you create active vision for your group or teammates. Co-elrvating and co-development are ¥powerful concepts to wr really cocreating better behaviors with others, for this we need strip out our ego and functions but insert inside us an authentic will to put another in mission using the leadership without authority through humble atitude to help them.

[Elese Roger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Huge validation to core leadership tenants I hold dear... I am not a believer of old school org charts and command and control organizations with resources ready to accept orders. Creating pillars of good will and using peoples gifts and superpowers to any given initiative is the healthy path for achieving superior results and an environment for individual growth and development.

Highly recommend

[Chad Manske · Rating 3 out of 5]

Building stronger teams, providing higher quality feedback, and embracing the co-elevation concept mark the highlights of this fast read.

[Christoph Monschein · Rating 5 out of 5]

a guide to a new normal in cross functional collaboration and mission oriented team leadership. very practical

[Vladimir Mosin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Прекрасная книга, развивающая лидерские навыки и позитивно влияющая на мышление лидера.

[Adrianna Cobb]

DNF

[Typical Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leading Without Authority is about how we need to redefine leadership in an evolving workspace, especially when we want to increase productivity and also teamwork. Keith Ferrazzi coined the concept "Co-elevation" which means no matter your position in school (for me as a college student) or job, we are still leaders. But how, based on the concept? By initiating necessary actions to help others and accepting the responsibility that we are accountable to each other's success or failures. Co-elevation is the key concept that made every framework of this book and how Keith achieved his fame and contribution to the business world.
The concept might sound common sense? But I tell you that it's not as I'll explain later. This concept has created a big impact to CEOs, managers and even regular employees based on the anecdotes Keith has provided in the book. Though, it is not just applicable in the workplace, but also in our personal relationships and school organizations.
This book has changed my life and the way how I want to coordinate an organization or group. It is inspiring, has support of empirical data (psychology, evolution and business research) and anecdotes of real life people whom Keith had either referenced for his point or coached them himself. However, there are flaws in it when it comes to people's different temperaments or personalities. But first the good ones:
1. The title - whenever we hear the word "leader", it is associated with having a formal authority such as being appointed by a teacher or professor, manager, CEO or any legal authorities. The title redefined the leadership and I think it is daring, sexy, new and even radical. It quickly provoked my curiosity of what this book contains. So, kudos for this very unique title.
2. The author is personable - and I admire Keith Ferrazzi for being open about his insecurities, his flaws, his mistakes and failures and a bit of his personal life to reach a point. Whether you have the exact situation as he had or not, he is still trying to make a point when it comes to the importance of vulnerability and how we can overcome our shortcomings. Of course, all of us are different, yet we can change for the better. That is Ferrazzi's point.
3. Foundation - It is rich with references from research studies such as psychology, evolution and business models, and articles from business magazines. Whether you agree with Ferrazzi's statement or not, he has a solid back-up for his claims. It is not entirely based on his imagination or idealism, but it is practical. He has solid anecdotes that his claims do work and cause rippling effect. And he has real-life CEOs who praised Ferrazzi for his advice on ways to coordinate an organization. He also a back-up such as Adam Grant, a famous organizational psychologist whom you'll see in TED talks quite often and Kim Scott, known for her "radical candor" concept and an executive at Google and then at Apple high-tech companies.
4. Concepts - it is understood that concepts are important in order to better remember a sophisticated claim. Ferrazzi creates concepts and explains them clearly. And it is not just an abstract concept, but he tests them; so that the concepts are also concrete and practical.
5. Worth the money - I bought this book in First Edition and it cost me around 900 in Philippine pesos, which is quite expensive here in our country. But it's definitely worth paying because of how extraordinary the concept and relevant it is to our period and evolving workplace. It is definitely worth buying and reading it. The first edition only has 206 pages worth of content, it is sufficient, but not entirely. Which brings us to the flaws.
Flaws:
In Human Resource (HR) dept., they monitor their employees personalities such as their MBTI (e.g. INFP, ENTJ, ENTP, etc.) and temperaments (i.e. choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic and sanguine). The reasons are the different ways to approach them and assigning them in positions. As Cal Newport stated in his book A World Without E-mail that a workplace is filled with messy personalities. And I think that is where this book falls short. It lacks diversity.
Although Keith Ferrazzi claimed that he was an introvert who became an extrovert from this book, yet it is debated whether personalities are shaped innately or environmentally. There is no conclusive claim yet on which of those two theories. So, I am not entirely sure that perhaps Keith was innately extroverted, but only able to show it based on timing, such as when he became a young-entry consultant at Deloitte in the 1990s. Who knows?
For example, I know from my heart that I am an extrovert since childhood. But I became sort of introverted (shy and quiet) in Junior high school due to the environment, but became extroverted (vocal, confident and energetic) in college. And those came from timing and environment. So, who knows whether it is innate or environmentally influenced?
My point is that what Keith Ferrazzi wants may not always be suitable or appropriate for every people due to diversity of personalities and how it is shaped. For example, I think co-elevation is most suitable for the sanguine personality people because they are extroverted, personable, innately optimistic, energetic, sociable and loves company of people. While choleric people are hot-headed, ambitious, structured and can even be insensitive which are contrary to Keith's concept of co-elevation. Melancholic people are those who are sensitive, mild-mannered, prone to sad emotions and usually shy of taking initiatives.
I would suggest for Keith Ferrazzi having a co-author who specializes in personality psychology or someone in an HR department who have thoroughly observed these messy personalities bunched into a single workplace. I think it would have given a greater in-depth of human nature and how to apply the co-elevation concept efficiently and appropriately.
Keith provided anecdotes and the people whom he coached are usually energetic, open-minded and eager to practice Keith's advise. Yet, I think those people are extroverted or choleric who wants to push radical change and may not put everybody on the same page.
And another are people who are Machiavellian in nature. They are dangerous and not to be trifled with, especially when they can easily manipulate people's emotions. They are ruthless, selfish and greedy, while maintaining a likeable image as they stab people in the back. There are also narcissistic people whom no matter how hard you try to "co-elevate" them, they are a pain-in-the-ass. Thus, it sort of destroys the vision of "it's about hiring people who will make the team greater than hiring a lone talent" when dark personalities enter the workforce or an organization.
Although I get it that Keith just wants to get to the point to promote his radical concept, yet we cannot be too optimistic when there are dark forces among us.

Verdict: Overall, it is definitely worth buying and reading. What I stated above is just based on my experience and what I learn from workplaces having these kind of people among the workforce that cause disruption, insubordination, and disintegration of organizations and dreams, no matter how hard you try to help them. And the fact that fear is also necessary to maintain cooperation and order. However, this book still gave excellent insights to transform the way we coordinate and gain momentum of successes. It is still well thought-out. It is not repetitive. It is clear and coherent. It is admirable. The anecdotes mentioned are to be emulated and to be adapted in our situations. This book is wonderful, elegant, practical and incredibly worth-reading. So, four out of five.

[Angela Lam · Rating 3 out of 5]

4* for general idea/concept, 2* for writing and delivery.

Keith Ferrazzi sounds like a really nice and sincere guy (or maybe that's just his ghostwriter). I like the idea of co-elevation and I believe in the spirit and intent of what he’s suggesting. I just find his details too vague and fuzzy.

That too many of the points (and even examples) seem repeated from Never Eat Alone. Big words like “co-elevation” and “co-creation” keep getting thrown around. Yet, they were never clearly defined in the book.

Take this sentence for example:
“Co-elevating collaboration creates room for authentic co-creation, with everyone gaining a more profound, holistic understanding of how to produce outsize results within the organization.”
What does it even MEAN??

Or, fancy terms like “Transformational Tribunal” to describe a pre-agreed tie-breaking panel for decision making (why not just call it that?), or “Landing the plane” to describe wrapping up a meeting with clear conclusions (duh, just "wrap up the meeting?)

Or, there was passing mention of the 5 states of relationships (resent-resist-coexist-collaborate-co-elevate) but those were not elaborated properly either.

The list goes on.

To top it off, I don’t find his examples instructive either. They go along the lines of "X needed to do this, and managed to do so through co-elevation." There may be loose mention of overcoming traditional boundaries, but no details on exact what was done or how.

The 8 Rules of Co-elevation (paraphrased) are:
1. Redefine Who’s on Your Team
2. Assume It’s All On You
3. Earn the Right To Invite Others
4. Make Collaboration the New Norm
5. Take Ownership for Co-Development
6. Spread Positive Energy With Praise and Celebration
7. Co-Elevate the Team with Other Members
8. Be A Part Of The Social Movement

My biggest takeaways were probably:
(i) Rule 1: thinking of my team as anyone required to achieve my mission, not just my direct reports, and
(ii) the 5% for co-elevation enlisting and 30% tipping point.

Overall, a passable read.

Book summary at: https://readingraphics.com/book-summa...

[Kuan-lin Huang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chapter-by-chapter summary from https://quickbooknotes.com/leading_wi...

Anyone can be a leader.
Your team is EVERYONE inside & outside your organization.
Your mission is to collaborate, help each other improve, and deliver and celebrate the progress you can make TOGETHER.

1. Who's your team?
Your team is EVERYONE inside & outside your organization that is important for your vision --> You should proactively develop synergistic relationships!

2. Accept that it's all on you (lead before you are in that position).
"Real leadership is not telling others what to do. It's about inviting others, encouraging others, getting others excited about new opportunities."

• Leadership is not bestowed upon. It is everyone's responsibility.

• Do whatever it takes to create value for your team and organization.

3. Earn permission to lead
• Understand your people's needs & goals.
• Daring greatly and say (1) I need help... (2) I made a mistake...
• SERVE: lead with a generosity of spirit and action in service of the other person and your shared mission, which you planned and executed together.
• Share vulnerability and build genuine connections with your team.

4. Create deeper & more collaborative partnerships.
• Transformative outcome: radical inclusion [all members' voice required] + bold input + agility [scrum-like]
•Collaboration = co-create ideas.

5. Co-development
• Focus on the future. Be constructive & positive.
• Co-development: get feedback from your team & give feedback spontaneously. Ask "what" & "how" instead of jumping into a judgemental "why."

6. Praise & celebrate
• Praise: focus on the process made & efforts
• Celebrate: process & progress
• Co-elevate: Start 1-by-1 & enlarge the circle of influence

7. Co-elevate Your Team
What is "co-elevation": (1) Don't let each other fail. (2) Collaborate. (3) Development of people. (4) Speak the truth. (5) There are no victims. (6) Blame yourself first. (7) Serve others. (8) Celebrate.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a very timely read for the journey that our teams find ourselves on. We have been working on a culture of inclusion and change that includes the voice of the front line employee. We are teaching principles of LEAN and six sigma to staff and giving voice the the front line employee, empowering them to lead teams of change. This has been a long and slow process, and one of the challenges that has arisen is that as a complex organization (academic medical center), staff often struggle to build cross functional teams and lead without authority. Many of the concepts of co-elevation defined in Ferrazzi's work coincide with the coaching we have been giving to staff. But it's not just about the staff. Though I have participated on cross functional teams for years, I found a host of things I need to be working on.

The only thing keeping this from being a five star rating is Keith's anecdotes, which may not resonate with many readers. For example, in one situation he talks about how he hired a rap coach to help his son, and to help the relationship between them. Later in the chapter he talks about hiring a cook. Nice if you can do it, but for someone like me, a poor public servant, harder to connect with. My advice for Keith is going forward to get more examples of these concepts from a broader range of people, maybe those who do not have the means he does. If he does so he might connect with a broader range of people who could really benefit from this work.

[Nicholas O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Topic: Leadership

Amazon Rating: 4.6/5
goodreads Rating: 3.7/5
Nick’s Rating: 4.5/5

Who should (or when to) read this: Anyone trying to build with other teams or struggling with multi-functional teams

Nick’s Major takeaway(s): You don’t need to be given authority to be a leader, co-elevation will lead to greater results and a better culture than any one person can accomplish individually.

Notable Quotes: “We will celebrate and praise each other’s performance and our wins.” – Keith Ferrazzi
“We are committed to the mission and to each other’s success: We will not let each other fail. In fact, we will ensure each other succeeds. We will elevate each other as we work together to achieve”
“When feeling frustrated with the other person, we will look to change our own behavior first, asking, “What’s my part?” before finger-pointing and blaming others.”
“Collaboration: We will collaborate, not sell each other on our ideas or bleed into consensus. We will be insatiably curious while breaking through to new levels of innovation. We will respectfully challenge the other’s ideas and provide the candid feedback on the mission to attain better outcomes.”

If you are interested in more suggestions about personal development, growth and leadership; follow me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/growthshe... to see content on “level up literature” #lul

[Andrew Ritchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suspect that your rating of this will be driven largely by your experience of organisational culture and communication.

I've been fortunate to spend years working in companies that encourage collaboration over competition and transparency in communication.

For me a lot of this book is what my Dad would have callex 'the art of stating the bleeding obvious'.

If you are used to openly challenging, supporting and growing your colleagues through candid conversations then you may not learn a lot new.

However if you are in the kind of organisation where the annual performance is dreaded because of the surprises it may contain then this could be invaluable. People who are working in corporates where hierarchy dictates tha permission is sought to interact across departments and paygrades then this could be very insightful and helpful.

Overall it was OK for me.

Partner book : Radical Candor by Kim Scott

[A.A.B · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author seemed to have good intentions. That's about the best I could say about this book.

The biggest problem is that the book only considered sunny day scenarios: how to thrive outside of hierarchical constraints in an environment that allows and promotes such work methods. The provided examples were only of people who were stopping themselves from working this way, but as soon as they started changing their personal approach, everyone was receptive and happy about it.

I would want to see examples of where and how this approach failed and the defining characteristics of environments too stuck in their ways and not receptive to these co-elevation techniques.

This one-sided storytelling was preachy instead of informative or educational. Disappointing. And potentially very harmful for those who would attempt to apply the book's suggestions and strategies in the wrong type of environment.

[Kevin Eikenberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Authority is overrated. Leadership doesn’t have to require authority. In fact, Keith Ferrazzi believes leading without authority is the key to unlocking your teams’ potential to achieve greater success. This is a call to action for all of us, not just those who currently hold a leadership role.

In his latest book, Leading Without Authority: How the New Power of Co-elevation Can Break Down Silos, Transform Teams and Reinvent Collaboration, Ferrazzi outlines the idea of co-elevation, based on the idea of “going higher together.” For this to happen, he suggests that traditional structure and org charts matter less than getting great outcomes.

Read more...

[Leland Roling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Co-elevation, radical inclusion, co-development, and generally just lifting others through being vulnerable are great themes to follow, especially when leading others and working in spaces where authority isn’t an option or what is desired. I think this is a great refresher on where these themes apply and how you can utilize their meaning in situations.

It is, however, light on examples that aren’t helpful. Obviously a lot of these themes are required for a failing company to overcome possible demise, and if you didn’t believe that already — your company probably failed. It’s just a bit too captain obvious for me, but there are some good tidbits and themes for those wanting to understand how to lead with compassion and vulnerability.