The FIVE TEMPTATIONS OF A CEO, THE : A Leadership Fable

Rating:
Summary: widely applicable
Review: I am amazed at some of the negative reviews about this great little book. I guess these negative people are not familiar with what a FABLE is? I think this book hits all of us executives right in the face with what we all struggle with. I think this is a must read (no, you will not feel like you have just read Atlas Shrugged after you are finished) for all execs, or people who aspire to lead organizations. I am excited to read the rest of the collection

Rating:
Summary: Simple Story... Great Message!
Review: I think this is a must read book. Easy to read and entertaining. I really believe that at some point in our lives we all fall into one or more of the temptations. It is almost impossible to avoid them, mostly because we are unable to identify them. This book really opened my eyes and it will certainly open yours too.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent management book for any type of leader
Review: I was thrilled to pick up this management book that not only had excellent principles, but an intriguing and enthralling storyline that kept me interested all the way to the finish. Five Temptations of a CEO proves an easy read-but certainly not lessons easily tossed aside. These are principles I'll keep with me-regardless of what job or leadership position I may occupy.

The story begins with a struggling CEO, Andrew O'Brien, on the eve of a big, year-end board meeting. Strange occurrences lead Andrew to take the metro system home that evening-and it's on the train where he encounters Charlie, a custodial engineer with a wealth of advice.

Andrew learns from Charlie five temptations that every manager, CEO, teacher, parent or coach might face along their way to success. These are basic temptations that seem very simple-and really are simple. Charlie teaches him that its not in looking for solutions in technology, budget, financials and other usual suspects common to a CEO, but in the common, everyday wisdom that every leader must have.

And for those readers who don't appreciate a good story-or who are just used to the textbook style management books-the five temptations are listed in a summary and self-assessment section in the back. But I won't spoil the ending...

Rating:
Summary: Good first book, but not his best
Review: Patrick Lencioni has a talent for cutting through the complexities of leadership and teamwork to highlight core principles then presenting them in easily digestible fictional form. In this book (in the UK going by the title of Five Temptations of a Manager) technology company CEO Andrew O'Brien has a mysterious encounter with an unlikely mentor on a deserted commuter train the night before the annual meeting of the board of directors. He's in trouble but doesn't understand why. The enigmatic Charlie leads him through an exploration of five "temptations" that often trip up ambitious executives: Choosing status over results; choosing popularity over accountability; choosing certainty over clarity; choosing harmony over productive conflict; choosing invulnerability over trust. Easily read in a single sitting, this book conveys the temptations effectively in fable form, followed by a summary and discussion by Lencioni. This may not be a comfortable book for some leaders to read. It doesn't let them off the hook for any of a company's problems. The message is timely as CEOs exit failing companies with massive severance packages. If you read only one of Lencioni's books, you will probably find his style further developed and even more effective in his second book, The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive, or his third, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

Rating:
Summary: I was not impressed.
Review: The book does deliver a message, but one that should be delivered via a short magazine article. It's amazing how someone can stretch a thought so far and create an entire book. I've read countless numbers of books that try elaborate on a list of something...in reality, all you need is the list. If you read the reviews of this book, you've read the book.

Rating:
Summary: Not a typical leadership book - but good!
Review: This book kept me reading to the end - it only takes no more than an hour to read and it's easy but powerful reading! The book will keep you asking yourself what are YOUR OWN temptations and he does a great job of giving examples of real-life (or so) situations to make you understand it better.

Neat ending too!

Not so much a refernece manual on leadership, but a good read!

Rating:
Summary: widely applicable
Review: This book was short, sweet, and to the point. Although it is focused on CEO as the prototype, this really points to anyone in a leadership and managrial role. The fable is illustrative, and the flow chart and short didactic at the end spells out the key message. It's worth pulling out and quickly reviewing once or twice a year to check back into your own personal growth and areas that still need improvement

Rating:
Summary: Why can't I give a 0 star ?
Review: This is the crapiest anti-motivational book I ever got to read.
It is a story of Andrew who is a CEO and who meets with an old man one night in the train. The old man is a janitor and his father was a CEO (whatever)so the janitor, CEO's son (Gosh)starts
mentoring Andrew on how he should run his company.
If this janitor was smart enough to motivate a CEO how come he
ended up being a janitor in the first place?!?

I thought, to be a writer you have to be born as a writer but only now I realized that anyone can be a writer and Patrick
Lencioni is the worst one from the ones I've read.

Am I just being paranoid or is the today's literature following
today's music fate ?!?

Rating:
Summary: Good read for people who actually manage people
Review: This is the second book by Patrick Lencioni I've read (after the inevitable five dysfunctions of a team). It's not as good of a story, but its underlying message - the temptations, are a well deserved lesson. Being a people-manager for the past several years has been a challenging, fascinating and at times humbling experience. This book describes some of the mistakes I've made and some of the mistakes I've seen being made around me, and puts it all in a coherent framework. And that's all I really expect from a good management book - to be able to put your experience in some new frame of reference. This enabled me to take another look at my habits and conduct and, hopefully, improve some of them.
I recommend this book to new managers after going through one or two years of actually leading teams/groups of people. Unless you walk in a leader's shoes, the theory alone is of little help. You just won't have anything to hang on the structure described here.