Rating: 
Summary: For employers or business leaders
Review: This book is an effort to help employers and employees deal with the transitions that one experiences as advance through passages that move them up through the corporate ladder. The authors all have had extensive experience in a corporate setting where they were able to see this strategy at work, and be able to tweak it to make it more effective. It was developed to try and alleviate problems that occur when workers within a company begin to progress through the passages (promotions) to take on new and challenging responsibilities. The focus is to highlight the differences, challenges, and hang-ups that come with each new level. In highlighting these things, the goal is to be able to train individuals to change their way of thinking so that they will be able to more quickly adapt to their new positions and be successful at it.
The concepts outlined in this book make a lot of sense. There are a lot differences between each position and this book does a good job illustrating what the positions typically look like. It is good for any employer to be aware of how the employee will need to change in order to be successful in their new positions. In order to make the business the most efficient that it can be, this book is helpful to develop some sort training program to aid in the advancement through the passages discussed in this book, and to do it effectively.
This book was interesting, but was a difficult read. There seemed to be a lot of time spent on illustrating points that really seemed pretty self-explanatory. This made the book seem to drag on at points. I would not recommend this book unless someone was an employer, or a leader of an organization where immediate application could be drawn (the immediate context to apply the concepts would have been helpful). It could be helpful to other people, but I think that there are probably other books that address their specific needs more succinctly. Overall, there were good principles in this book for the head of an organization, church, or business, and could be very useful to address the needs of those people.
Rating:
Summary: Clearcut answer to a dilemma that goes beyond commerce
Review: Charam's book was assigned reading for a leadership course I am taking from, of all places, a seminary. This team of authors has hit upon an important concept that goes beyond the business world: organization's do well for themselves and their workers when they develop leaders from within. Furthermore, as we climb our organizational ladders, each promotion brings with it a call for what used to be called paradigm shifts. Should we fail to make these changes in our thinking and practices, relying instead upon previously learned skills and approaches, we hinder our effectiveness.
Much as Adam Smith explained capitalism using a simple frame work and instructive anacedotes, so Charam and his team has laid out a classic "build from within" model that is practical for large international corporations and for modest parishes.
My one suggestion, should an update be in the works, is that the authors might address the issues that sometimes arise when work colleagues suddenly become supervisor and supervised.
Bottom-line: An excellent explication of in-house leadership building and the necessary thought changes that leadership promotions bring.
Rating:
Summary: Step changes
Review: Effective change usually begins with raising awareness and this book does an effective job of raising the awareness level of the need for continuous development. Too often we promote (or hire in) our top performers to increasing leadership responsibility and expect the shift in skills to magically occur. The Pipeline provides a unique perspective on the why/how/when of leadership transitions.......good cornerstone development tool!
Rating: 
Summary: Not just for the top level execs.
Review: I am not a CEO and my company is not even close to the size of a Marriott or GE, but that does not matter, this book will help anyone (everyone) who takes the time to understand it. The concepts laid out by Mr. Drotter (et all) definitely will assist the "Big Players" in ways that they can not even imagine but it will also make a difference for those striving to move up the corporate ladder.And for those working, starting, growing a Dot.com I would suggest reading this book, it may assist you in taking the next step UP in lieu of yet another side step.
Rating: 
Summary: Dated and poorly editted
Review: I found the concepts described in this text to be dated and somewhat out of touch with the demands of today's flexible, high speed organization. While the concepts developed in the book are thought provoking, I found it very frustrating reading because each chapter is written independently and likely by different authors. The format and flow of each of the chapters describing the leadership transitions varies so much that it's hard to make comparisons from one level to the next. A compilation of the transitional indicators would have been valuable - there is one in the first chapter but not in any of the others. If you read it, plan on taking notes on each chapter so you can make sense of it in the end.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for beginner leaders
Review: In the book, The Leadership Pipeline, Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter, and James Noel discuss the complex notion of adequately and appropriately equipping current and future leaders as they progress up what the authors call the Leadership Pipeline. The authors explain, in detail, the progression of leaders up six passages from the role of an individual contributor to the role of an enterprise manager. "The challenge for organizations is to make sure that people in leadership positions are assigned to the level appropriate to their skills, time applications, and values." As someone progresses up the Leadership Pipeline, the importance of being equipped for the current and next stage (or passage) of leadership is consistently stressed. Ultimately, I find this book to be difficult to get into, therefore hard to read. While it contains good, albeit familiar, information, its relevance to my situation and to the situation of the "typical church" is lacking.
Again, this was a very difficult text to read, for a couple of reasons. First, the authors are speaking directly to those who are currently working in the business market. Naturally, because the book is written to those currently in businesses, it directly applies to the business market, of which I am not a part-in other words, I struggled to find relevancy of this book to my situation. Second, the concept of effectively equipping current and future leaders with the knowledge, skills, and values needed to be successful in their current position as well as, equipping them so that they can progress to higher levels of leadership is not new information. If the authors truly believe that they have come up with some powerful, new strategy, they are incorrect, because the progressive equipping of leaders is not innovative.
Another difficulty of this source is its relevance to the normal church. Implementation of this concept at churches the size of Willow Creek Church in Illinois, Saddleback Church in California, or even Kensington Church in Michigan is possible, though with some necessary modification to definitions, roles, and responsibilities; however, it is important to state that churches of that size have 60+ staff members and cannot be considered the "norm" for churches in North America. That said, it becomes increasingly difficult to apply this model to most churches, which have two to six staff members. It is possible to apply the model, but it would require heavy modification of almost every aspect, essentially creating a new model. While applying this specific form of leadership development is incredibly difficult, integrating the "progressive equipping of leaders" thought could have the potential to dramatically change how many pastors do church. If most pastors would see their congregation not only as their "flock," but as a collection of current and future leaders... the potential for growth would be amazing.
What the authors have very successfully done is package the progressive equipping of leaders notion in a different manner-one that is perhaps highly relevant or helpful to the business world. They have also more than adequately explained some of the important differences between the varying levels of leadership. This will be a beneficial source to offer to future congregants who work in business, because it is written for and geared towards those in the marketplace. The book also helps me to understand the growing complexity of the business market, which will aid me in understanding the struggles of many of my future congregants.
Rating:
Summary: One Part of The leadership / Organizational Puzzle
Review: Many of us have been on a quest to better understand / codify work designand leadership at different levels of complexity !!! one of the early thinkers / researchers in this area was Walt Mahler. He past away in the last 18 months. His early work is the basis for leadership development at GE and the principles still hold today !!! A new book call the Leadership Pipeline - ISBN 0-7879-5172-2 by Ram Charan, Steve Drotter and James Noel captures many of the principles about multi level leadership that Walt under covered 20 years ago - he is referenced at the beginning For those trying to better understand work complexity , and select / develop leaders when making significant career changes - leading managers who lead others, leading multiple functions and process, leading stand alone / sustainable P&L business unit etc. Global CEO These descriptions here about how leading others changes are helpful . There are some problems with the books description of work at each Level of Complexity ! Some are at the wrong level based on the research of Jaques, Van Clieaf, Billis, Stamp and others and some leadership turns ( big career changes ) don't capture the real difference in work / competencies that make the difference to shareholder value. The authors dont describe what are the unique outputs / contribution at each level the way Van Clieaf's research does but focus more on how the managerial leadership role changes - which is important !! they don't really capture how the role of resource management changes at each leadership level nor how the interface with customer / stakeholders by complexity level. they also confuse the differences between e-process - level 3 complexity e-commerce - level 4 complexity e-business - level 5 complexity e-industry - level 6 complexity as it related to the internet. with that said this is a good contribution to undertanding how work, leadership and leadership development and selection changes at different complexity levels
Rating:
Summary: One Part of The leadership / Organizational Puzzle
Review: Many of us have been on a quest to better understand / codify work designand leadership at different levels of complexity !!! one of the early thinkers / researchers in this area was Walt Mahler. He past away in the last 18 months. His early work is the basis for leadership development at GE and the principles still hold today !!! A new book call the Leadership Pipeline - ISBN 0-7879-5172-2 by Ram Charan, Steve Drotter and James Noel captures many of the principles about multi level leadership that Walt under covered 20 years ago - he is referenced at the beginning For those trying to better understand work complexity , and select / develop leaders when making significant career changes - leading managers who lead others, leading multiple functions and process, leading stand alone / sustainable P&L business unit etc. Global CEO These descriptions here about how leading others changes are helpful . There are some problems with the books description of work at each Level of Complexity ! Some are at the wrong level based on the research of Jaques, Van Clieaf, Billis, Stamp and others and some leadership turns ( big career changes ) don't capture the real difference in work / competencies that make the difference to shareholder value. The authors dont describe what are the unique outputs / contribution at each level the way Van Clieaf's research does but focus more on how the managerial leadership role changes - which is important !! they don't really capture how the role of resource management changes at each leadership level nor how the interface with customer / stakeholders by complexity level. they also confuse the differences between e-process - level 3 complexity e-commerce - level 4 complexity e-business - level 5 complexity e-industry - level 6 complexity as it related to the internet. with that said this is a good contribution to undertanding how work, leadership and leadership development and selection changes at different complexity levels
Rating:
Summary: A Good Read!
Review: Organizations need leaders, but natural leaders are at least as rare as natural athletes. And, even natural athletes need careful training and development - given that almost everyone is capable of developing some degree of athletic potential. Similarly, the right training and development program can help almost anyone cultivate some degree of leadership potential. In fact, it can help a few people develop extraordinary leadership abilities. Ignoring leadership development is foolish, but at many companies, short-term priorities eclipse the long-term thinking needed to develop a good leadership pipeline. This book's plain, sensible approach is simple without being simplistic. It is generally lucid and clear, and - somewhat to our surprise - it does not suffer from having three authors. If you are a leader or need to develop leaders for large corporations, this is a very useful volume.
Rating:
Summary: This helps with church leadership as well
Review: The Leadership Pipeline is an excellent resource that can be applied to various situations. For example if this principle were applied to a local church setting. In a church setting this could be used in order to train people for various positions within the congregation, for example, Sunday school teaching. If a person who demonstrates to be very knowledgeable in scripture, and desires to become involved in a church will move from what the book calls "managing self to managing others." This person may be put in charge of a small bible study or better yet training others to teach Sunday school class within the church setting. As time goes on this person may begin to train someone else to train others while he/she watches over the training that is done. This is stage two according to the book "from managing others to managing managers." A great deal of coaching comes into play here as well, as one person becomes the overseer of all of the Sunday school training of teachers. After this a person moves to the next passage, which is "From managing managers to functional manager." This person now begins to try to innovate the Sunday school curriculum with fresh and bright ideas. While at the same time communicating with the other trainers to make sure everything is going ok, and that his/her ideas are good and can be used. Not every step from the book needs to be implemented but the concept could work for any position in the church that requires some sort of training.
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