The Engaging Leader: Winning with Today's Free Agent Workforce

Rating:
Summary: Too many sports analogies to reach a broad audience.
Review: I picked up this book based on the title, which emphasizes "winning" with today's "free agent" workforce. I presumed this meant the focus would be attracting the right kind of talent, and keeping those people engaged. To be fair, the book does get into the concept of cultural fit and motivation, but does so in a way which will appeal to a limited audience.

Like many, I am a sports fan, and often use analogies of team sports to make leadership or team work comparisons in the workplace. However, I am careful to not overuse these, as many are not interested in team sports and may not relate. This book is all about sports. Literally. Every page relates business leadership concepts to sports figures, in every major sport. Often this works to make his points, but it is simply too much in my opinion. The leadership concepts get lost in what often reads more like Sports Illustrated, than a business leadership book.

The concepts themselves are sound. These include discussions on "urgency of engagement", "team chemistry", "talent assessment", "goal setting" and more. In particular the author does a wonderful job of stressing the balance of home grown talent, and external hires. However, if we boiled this book down to just the leadership aspects, without the sports, it would be about 20 pages long. What is left is sometimes quite insightful, and always sound wisdom on leadership, but you can see just where the focus is. If you are a die hard sports fan, the kind of person who watches ESPN all day regardless of what is on, then this is the book for you. You will relate to the analogies, and the leadership tips and discussions are excellent. If you are not a sports fan, you may want to try a different source.

The book is well written, flows smoothly, and never dry. The "study questions" at the end of each chapter are also excellent. Perhaps a title which links this book more directly to sports would allow for clearer expectations up front. Some good insights, but may not be accessible to a diverse audience.

Rating:
Summary: Too many sports analogies to reach a broad audience.
Review: I picked up this book based on the title, which emphasizes "winning" with today's "free agent" workforce. I presumed this meant the focus would be attracting the right kind of talent, and keeping those people engaged. To be fair, the book does get into the concept of cultural fit and motivation, but does so in a way which will appeal to a limited audience.

Like many, I am a sports fan, and often use analogies of team sports to make leadership or team work comparisons in the workplace. However, I am careful to not overuse these, as many are not interested in team sports and may not relate. This book is all about sports. Literally. Every page relates business leadership concepts to sports figures, in every major sport. Often this works to make his points, but it is simply too much in my opinion. The leadership concepts get lost in what often reads more like Sports Illustrated, than a business leadership book.

The concepts themselves are sound. These include discussions on "urgency of engagement", "team chemistry", "talent assessment", "goal setting" and more. In particular the author does a wonderful job of stressing the balance of home grown talent, and external hires. However, if we boiled this book down to just the leadership aspects, without the sports, it would be about 20 pages long. What is left is sometimes quite insightful, and always sound wisdom on leadership, but you can see just where the focus is. If you are a die hard sports fan, the kind of person who watches ESPN all day regardless of what is on, then this is the book for you. You will relate to the analogies, and the leadership tips and discussions are excellent. If you are not a sports fan, you may want to try a different source.

The book is well written, flows smoothly, and never dry. The "study questions" at the end of each chapter are also excellent. Perhaps a title which links this book more directly to sports would allow for clearer expectations up front. Some good insights, but may not be accessible to a diverse audience.

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous, Fun Read
Review: The Engaging Leader is an intelligent and creative alternative to the masses of MBA style leadership tombs that we have all encountered.

Its focus is on two principal leadership types and the best approaches to refining these within an organizational context, filled with an always unique and diverse audience of employees. The book is helpful to the manager wishing to improve her performance as well as that of the company.

Replete with some cutting edge demographic and generational statistics, The Engaging Leader provides a potent refresher as to what an effective business leader needs to focus on in 2003 and going forward.

Sports fans will also be reloaded with great super bowl cocktail party fodder as Dr. Gubman highlights several sports analogies and offers his wisdom as to what many a coach should have done in the case of a losing record or amid other team related shenanigans. You will impress your friends with the knowledge and insights gathered from these passages.

Read on!

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous, Fun Read
Review: The Engaging Leader is an intelligent and creative alternative to the masses of MBA style leadership tombs that we have all encountered.

Its focus is on two principal leadership types and the best approaches to refining these within an organizational context, filled with an always unique and diverse audience of employees. The book is helpful to the manager wishing to improve her performance as well as that of the company.

Replete with some cutting edge demographic and generational statistics, The Engaging Leader provides a potent refresher as to what an effective business leader needs to focus on in 2003 and going forward.

Sports fans will also be reloaded with great super bowl cocktail party fodder as Dr. Gubman highlights several sports analogies and offers his wisdom as to what many a coach should have done in the case of a losing record or amid other team related shenanigans. You will impress your friends with the knowledge and insights gathered from these passages.

Read on!

Rating:
Summary: Great Read!
Review: The Engaging Leader is an intelligent and creative alternative to the masses of MBA style leadership tomes that we have all encountered.

Its focus is on two principal leadership types and the best approaches to refining these within an organizational context, filled with an always unique and diverse audience of employees. The book is helpful to the manager wishing to improve her performance as well as that of the company.

Replete with some cutting edge demographic and generational statistics, The Engaging Leader provides a potent refresher as to what an effective business leader needs to focus on in 2003 and going forward.

Sports fans will also be reloaded with great super bowl cocktail party fodder as Dr. Gubman highlights several sports analogies and offers his wisdom as to what many a coach should have done in the case of a losing record or amid other team related shenanigans. You will impress your friends with the knowledge and insights gathered from these passages.

Read on!

Rating:
Summary: Great Read!
Review: The Engaging Leader is an intelligent and creative alternative to the masses of MBA style leadership tomes that we have all encountered.

Its focus is on two principal leadership types and the best approaches to refining these within an organizational context, filled with an always unique and diverse audience of employees. The book is helpful to the manager wishing to improve her performance as well as that of the company.

Replete with some cutting edge demographic and generational statistics, The Engaging Leader provides a potent refresher as to what an effective business leader needs to focus on in 2003 and going forward.

Sports fans will also be reloaded with great super bowl cocktail party fodder as Dr. Gubman highlights several sports analogies and offers his wisdom as to what many a coach should have done in the case of a losing record or amid other team related shenanigans. You will impress your friends with the knowledge and insights gathered from these passages.

Read on!

Rating:
Summary: An everyman's guide to leadership
Review: Yes, the Engaging Leader is one of numerous books that describe how to become a more effective business leader. What Gubman has done is used the compelling examples within the sports world to illustrate what it takes to not only win, but to also sustain success.

Even the casual sports fan will enjoy the insights into how engaging leadership differentiates the perennial winners (NY Yankees) from the losers (Chicago Cubs) or how to become the Phil Jackson of your organization and avoid becoming a Pat Riley.

While the underlying concepts presented are not radically different from the hundreds of other leadership books out there, this book is more practical than most. It also is a more enjoyable read...one I would (did) actually read while on vacation.

'The Huddle' section at the end of each chapter was a nice way to help determine what I could do differently to become a more engaging leader.