The Five Temptations of a CEO: A Leadership Fable

Rating:
Summary: FIGHT THE TEMPTATIONS!
Review: Pat Lencioni delivers a strong message in this book to anyone in a leadership position, not just CEOs. And that message is that when things go wrong, leaders have themselves to blame. And it offers a challenge to all leaders asking whether the have the courage to accept the responsibility of failure and make the necessary adjustments. The book is effective in its story telling, as well as, being a capable tool for self-assessment. The story of Andrew O' Brien, the CEO of a failing company facing his yearly review, was compelling and all too real. I believe everyone has a little Andrew O' Brien in all of us and, at times a lot more of him in us. This book read like a good Hollywood screenplay with a surprise ending. Along with the story, the book also discussed the points that were mentioned in the story and offers a questions and exercises which can be used as self assessment to determine what temptations the reader may be suffering from. As a graduate student, I am so glad that I have found this book because it has helped me discover some potential temptations that I have and I can get an early start on not falling victim to them. I recommend this book highly to everyone who is in a leadership position. And it should be on the course syllabus for any class teaching leadership or management skills. When I'm in a leadership position this book will definitely be required reading for all of my subordinates.

Rating:
Summary: A great read on leadership
Review: Pat Lencioni weaves a wonderful and intelligent story that allows the reader to really think about the meaning of leadership and true success. This is not an obvious or predictable tale, but a thoughtful exploration of some universal principles of leaderhsip that seem simple but are incredibly difficult to master.

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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.

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Summary: Fantastic job of making difficult issues for CEOs come alive
Review: Patrick Lencioni has successfully distilled a wide variety of difficult issues that CEOs deal with on a daily basis into five easy-to-remember "temptations." Although told in a deceptively simple fable form, the lessons are timeless and memorable. I look forward to his future books

Rating:
Summary: creatively simple
Review: Patrick Lencioni is not just a business man but an aspiring screen writer. He writes a story with the idea of teaching the reader about leadership. The book reminds me of another book I enjoyed, Ken Blanchards, Gung Ho! After Five Temptations takes you through the 'fable' it then summarizes and applies the material to your personal experiences using questions. I also like the way Patrick repeats the lessons throughout the book many times over. It helps with retention. Simple ideas to focus on, difficult to cure. I can't wait to read your other books.

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Summary: Awareness and Success is for everybody !!!
Review: The authors delivers a great message to any CEO, Manager, Team Leader or even any employee to how and what to watch during his working life. The success is not only for CEO's and Highly Educated individuals. It is for every individual that is aware of success.
Great Job....

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: 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: Outstanding way to gain an introspective view of CEO's.
Review: The book gives a very interesting and innovative way of portraying the reasons for success or failure of CEO's. Written in a fable format gives the reader a sense of reading a fiction novel thus creating more interest in pursuing the rest of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Not fresh but not bad
Review: The people who continue to complain about the popularity of these "parable books" just amaze me. Don't they realize that the storytelling framework just enables difficult topics to be covered in a much less threatening way? I love these books because I can give them to my staff without worrying that the lessons and basic truths will be lost amid too much theory and ever-shifting paradigms. And these short books mean that they are also much more likely to be read. Keep 'em coming, as long as the stories themselves are engaging.