The Leader's Clothes: 19 insights into leadership

by Koen Marichal, Jesse Segers

Leadership as a social phenomenon is not permanent and can never be acquired definitively. Leadership is what turns people into a group and what gives them a sense of direction, support and meaning. The nature of leadership is variable, depending on the context, the challenges and the people involved. The leader’s clothes is a book about the true meaning of leadership, but also about the perception, the roles and responsibilities and the beliefs and motivations of the leader.

You are not a leader until others see you as one. This is not the same as occupying a leading position or exercising power. Leadership does not have a job description. At the same time, it is very much a personal choice. Leadership begins by choosing to be a leader. As more people make that choice, teams, organizations and society will gradually develop more and better leadership. This book invites people to do so.

The authors bring together the testimonies of leaders who are meaningful for their organizations. They combine these testimonies with the latest scientific research to arrive at 19 key insights into leadership. The leader’s clothes encourages reflection, conversation and choice, and inspires people to take action.

Genres: Nonfiction

287 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first book on leadership I've read. There is a wealth of useful knowledge, tips and prompts for self-reflection in it. Only sometimes it tries to be too concise and dense when presenting information, which results in abstract - therefore less helpful - descriptions of models or rules. Another aspect I definitely could have done without was the Buddhist spiritual stuff which gave parts of the book a worryingly irrational streak. Example sentence: "Follow your intuition and rationalize your actions afterwards." Probably the last thing humanity needs in this new world with growing challenges and threats is irrational leaders who don't think before they act. You can skip over those passages, though, and focus on the useful parts: overall I can definitely recommend the book.