<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Great leadership stories!
Review: As part of an assignment for a Leadership/Small Group Communication course, I was directed to select the book of my choice from an Amazon book search under the topic of leadership. After poring through the descriptions of just a few of the 116,000 books in this category, I quickly identified the type of book I was looking for. I wanted something less academic/theoretical and more real life. I figured any lessons on leadership would be easier to grasp if they accompanied the stories of real people. Michael Useem's The Leadership Moment: Nine True Stories of Triumph and Disaster and Their Lessons for Us All fit the bill.
The Leadership Moment is a book of nine stories of real individuals who were faced with leadership challenges or put into positions where their decisions as leaders would greatly affect the outcome or survival of companies, countries and often, many other lives. The stories cover attempts to cure disease, retreating from a fire, returning a malfunctioning spacecraft to earth, ascending a mountain, leading men to battle, restructuring large corporations, the downfall and rise of a large company, working towards development of women in the third world and ending a civil war. Each story identifies a leader put into a critical do or die situation where their decisions and leadership qualities either led to success and meeting objectives, or led to failure and the demise of the company or death of those they were leading.
What I really liked about the book was the real life examples and the vast range of examples that Useem used. While many of us in the corporate world identify leadership as the ability to bring in financial returns or climb the corporate ladder, this book shows how leadership comes up in vastly different situations.
Useem's writing style flows well and is easy to follow. The stories are interesting and descriptive. For each story, he points out several leadership objectives that are implicated in the story. I enjoyed the book, and was able to identify how some of his leadership objectives could apply to my own career. I recommend this book to anyone looking for an interesting read on leadership.
Rating: 
Summary: VERY ENTERTAINING READ, OKAY ANALYSIS
Review: In this book, Mike Useem describes nine situations in which leadership emerges. The situations outlined are very diverse, including a mountainclimbing expedition, a pharmaceutical company's decision, a firefighter's dillemma, and a Central American emerging democracy's negotiation with terrorism, to name a few. Roughly half of the stories are cases of success, half are failures, which makes it interesting exploration of both sides of the coin.Overall, the stories are very interesting per se, and worth the read. Some of these are classics of management and ethics, such as the Merck Riverblindness case. At the end of each story, Useem tries to do an analysis of what the leader did right or wrong. In this section, I did in fact disagree with some of Useem's conclusions, and what bothered me was the fact that I felt like the author did not leave enough space for alternative views. For example, he argues that Roy Vagelos of Merck was a great leader because he guided his company to do the right thing and spend all the money on the disease though it would not recoup costs. I would argue that he did recoup, by the free publicity, which Useem helps extend, but Useem never mentions the possibility of it being worth it. I did like the book and would recommend it, especially the stories, which are told in a very fast paced and easy to read manner. However, not so sure about the analysis.
Rating:
Summary: VERY ENTERTAINING READ, OKAY ANALYSIS
Review: In this book, Mike Useem describes nine situations in which leadership emerges. The situations outlined are very diverse, including a mountainclimbing expedition, a pharmaceutical company's decision, a firefighter's dillemma, and a Central American emerging democracy's negotiation with terrorism, to name a few. Roughly half of the stories are cases of success, half are failures, which makes it interesting exploration of both sides of the coin. Overall, the stories are very interesting per se, and worth the read. Some of these are classics of management and ethics, such as the Merck Riverblindness case. At the end of each story, Useem tries to do an analysis of what the leader did right or wrong. In this section, I did in fact disagree with some of Useem's conclusions, and what bothered me was the fact that I felt like the author did not leave enough space for alternative views. For example, he argues that Roy Vagelos of Merck was a great leader because he guided his company to do the right thing and spend all the money on the disease though it would not recoup costs. I would argue that he did recoup, by the free publicity, which Useem helps extend, but Useem never mentions the possibility of it being worth it. I did like the book and would recommend it, especially the stories, which are told in a very fast paced and easy to read manner. However, not so sure about the analysis.
Rating:
Summary: I highly recommend this book.
Review: Searching for a book on leadership for a graduate level management class, I came across this title and was fascinated. If you are going to read one book on leadership, it should be this book. Michael Useem has written an amazing book in which he shares the stories of nine leaders and the decisions they made in leadership moments. Within each chapter the true story is explained, followed by implications noting the leadership skills applied to make the decision that was made in each case.
Rating:
Summary: great service
Review: The book arrived on time, and in great condition. And they also included another book for free with the order!
Rating:
Summary: great service
Review: The book arrived on time, and in great condition. And they also included another book for free with the order!
Rating:
Summary: 9 impactful stories that teach you how to be ready to lead
Review: This book by Michael Useem was the first book I tackled in my MBA class on current managegemt theory. It fullfilled my need to research leadership, and captivated my subconscious mind as well. Everyday that has since passed has presented many opportunities for recall from one of the nine impactful stories on leadership. This book teaches one how to be prepared to be a leader when the opportunity presents itself. The subject of vision, a necessary tool for individual and corporate leadership, is so completely incorporated in the first story of Roy Vagelos and Merck that the reader will never find the topic of vision as a pie-in-the-sky theoretical corporate gimmick without deep-seated attachment to core values again.
Rating:
Summary: I only can only hope there will be a sequel !
Review: Useem distills lessons for the reader from the 9 events described in his book. Some of his example case studies have heroic elements to them, yet he focuses on the basis of the decision making process of the principal - rather than only the net effect. Thus, providing the reader with tangible leadership tools to help steer any group, team or organization to their goals. A good read for any manager, coach or leader.
Rating:
Summary: Leaders in action
Review: Useem's description and depiction of each character deviates from the mundane monologue usually produced in hardcore texts. He presents a diverse set of leaders with unique circumstances. Each case is a dramatic narrative. At the same time, Useem provides readers with the underlying details that occurred prior, during and in the aftermath of the major leadership decisions. This is one of a few accounts that examines leadership of men, women, minorities and international leaders in both corporate and non-corporate organizations.
Rating:
Summary: Impactful and Useful
Review: What a great book! I didn't expect it to be so good. What I liked best about the book was the variety of leaders and situations Useem wrote about and how each leader's style fit or did not fit into the situations into which they were thrust into. My favorite story was Eugene Kranz'. His optimism and force of personality helped get Apollo 13 back to Earth. A real life hero.
<< 1 >>
|
