Rating: 
Summary: Take it with a pinch of salt
Review:
I wanted a book that was closer to the Asian model of leadership, hence "Leading quietly" stood out from the other leadership books on the shelves. Can Asians be good leaders? Must they necessarily conform to the Western ideal of leadership - loud and heroic? Or can they use the `reticent inclination' in their culture to their advantage? These were the sort of questions that I hoped the book could address.
Yes, Badaracco did expound his views on how `quiet leadership' can function in the modern world of unexpectancies and fluidity. But whether those guidelines function well in reality remains to be seen. It is virtually impossible to carry `quiet leadership' to the extremes. You will inevitably sacrifice decisiveness and efficiency for that extra bit of prudence and caution. I feel the ideal is a cross between `quiet leadership' and `showy, heroic leadership'.
"Leading quietly" was to me still a book on quiet leadership in a Western context. I guess I should start looking at Asian writers for a real picture on the Asian model of leadership.
Rating: 
Summary: Thankyou To Amazon.com
Review: "Leading Quietly" is the result of a professional five year study on leadership by Joseph Badaracco. It is NOT your run-of-the-mill "how-to" book on the subject, designed primarily to make money. That sets it apart from all the other books out there. As a Harvard professor, the author uses the same type of case study methodology as is used in the MBA and Law School programs. I found that "Leading Quietly", standing alone, was enjoyable and useful enough to recommend to everyone interested in character and leadership. But, following suggestions I read on Amazon.com, I went on to read Norman Thomas Remick's "West Point: Character Leadership Education....Thomas Jefferson", and found the combination of the two books to be a dynamite education on character and leadership. I can only say thankyou to Amazon.com for leading this horse to water. I strongly recommend that you do the same ----- if you really want to be a good leader.
Rating: 
Summary: Great thought and a tough subject - poorly produced.
Review: I agree with an earlier sentiment, if you're looking for a leadership book, there are other books that will provide you a more emotionally charging read. Will they highlight and focus on some of the most vexing ethical issues leaders must face? Probably not. This book attepts to operate in the horrible space of ethical ambiguity formed by the intersection of personal, professional, and business ethics. How do you balance personal ethics, a desire for a career, and finacial success? Indeed, can you? I hate to give this book so few stars because it took courage to write, it probably won't be well received by anyone who isn't a total slacker, and it is genuine.
However, it's poorly organized and poorly edited. Sounds like a nit-pick, but with a topic that could be misconstrued as championing mediocrity I expected better. If I, with my plebian grasp of English, can find over a dozen errors . . .
So, maybe they (Mr. Badaracco and his publishers) followed their own advice. They restrained themselves from thoroughly editing the book (compromising quality for speed), were modest about the audience they would find (slackers looking for more excuses and general self-confidence), and are tenaciously defending their work as a new break-through in business.
Rating: 
Summary: Very dry and academic with little practical advice
Review: Contains some interesting observation by the author but the book is very academic with very little practicable advice.
Rating: 
Summary: Restraint, Modesty, and Tenacity
Review: I was told that leading quietly is an unorthodox guide to doing the right thing; and indeed there is much grist for the leadership mill buried in this excellent book. There are many memorable points of view, but perhaps the one that sticks most in my mind is that quiet leaders possess three very unglamorous virtues: restraint, modesty, and tenacity. "Each of these is a habit of mind and action, and each helps men and women use the tools and tactics of quiet leadership in responsible, effective ways." But what is quiet leadership and who are the quiet leaders? Quiet leadership is dealing with the messy, everyday challenges, and the quiet leaders are those who labor endlessly to meet those challenges and keep things moving in our corporations. They are NOT the "flashy, public hero" kinds of leaders. They simply get the work done and make the hard decisions.
Badaracco convinces me more than ever that it is imperative that we define our corporate moral values and clearly articulate the ethics process we use to choose between competing moral and/or economic values. The reason is that the hard choices are embedded in our everyday corporate life. In these situations, individuals rarely take bold or courageous steps. Rather they step back, study, analyze, worry, and finally, make the best decision they can make - then stand behind it and move on. Quiet leaders possess a positive attitude, but they are also very realistic, not cynical, in evaluating the situation. These leaders work with four basic principles: 1-You don't know everything; 2-You WILL be surprised; 3-Keep and eye on the insiders, and 4-Trust, but cut the cards! They learn to trust mixed motives rather than trying to define their actions in purist terms. In other words, they accept that the right solution can also include positive results for themselves as well as the company, employee, and/or customer. This well written and well organized book is definitely worth the time and should be in any management library.
Rating:
Summary: Scary Book
Review: I was very disappointed in this effort from a Harvard Business School professor. Not only did I think that this book would deal with the ethics of leadership, I also was expecting to read about success stories of leaders. Although the stories presented do show some of the elements that leaders can use to accomplish things quietly, the reader is left hanging as to what long term impact is felt from the decisions made. For example, the first story used is of a new hospital administrator who faces a difficult situation and resolves it using the techniques of a quiet leader,ultimately leading the second in command to tender his resignation. The disappointment is that we never find out if the administrator has lost the ability to lead those left behind or what other long term impacts there are to this type of leadership. All of the other vignettes follow the same pattern, with no long term follow up on the effectiveness of these leaders, and how they dealt with other leadership challenges that arise in the future. This is also shown in the story of a new Army captain who reports a lapse on the part of inspectors, which is greeted by superiors with a "That is good to know", and then we never find out what changes are made to improve the situation, or if the captain is labeled by superiors as someone not to trust, or, hopefully, as someone with strong character. However, what scared me most about this book was the chapter entitled "Buy a Little Time". In this chapter the author reflects that "But if he must choose between creative accounting and firing people unfairly, Williams may need to depart from highest standards of accounting precision and play some of the games that managers often play." (p. 67) As would be rather obvious to most, this sounds like the path that certain corporations have recently taken with disastorous results (See Enron - {"Accounting of several transactions 'is creative and agressive but no one has reason to believe that it is inappropriate from a technical standpoint..." Quote from Vinson & Elkins law firm regarding potential financial wrongdoing at Enron as quoted in the Wall Street Journal 1/16/2002, p. A18}). It is this "stretching" of the rules that is too often used to explain what most would consider unethical or immoral behavior. It scares me to think that recent and future graduates of the "premier" business school in the country are being given this type of guidance in business ethics.
Rating:
Summary: indispensable
Review: I'd like to compliment personally mr Badaracco for his excellent work. It is among the first five books I quote and recommend to my clients and collegues (I'm a senior consultant in HR mangement and training). Absolutely to have, and study, and use daily.
Ugo Bonora
Rating:
Summary: Leading Quietly
Review: If you're looking for a peppy guide to lead you into leadership, don't buy this book. The premise of this book is that leadership is not an easy task, leaders don't have easy decisions, and ethics are never manifested as angel/devil alter egos to pick from. The reality is that there are rarely quick or easy tasks when leading. If your path is not filled with tension and booby traps, they you probably aren't even leading. The best you can do is to move slowly, thoughtfully and with integrity through the leadership's multiple minefields. After reading the introduction I thought: "Well, there it is... I just paid twenty bucks for ten pages!" However, I stuck with it through about 170 pages of case studies. I'm glad I did, because it is these specific case studies that I think back to when I encounter challenging leadership situations. Forget charging the hill or "Damn the Torpedoes..." slow and thoughtful wins the leadership race every time and Instant Karma will sink you consistently!
Rating:
Summary: No quick fixes here...
Review: If you're looking for a peppy guide to lead you into leadership, don't buy this book. The premise of this book is that leadership is not an easy task, leaders don't have easy decisions, and ethics are never manifested as angel/devil alter egos to pick from. The reality is that there are rarely quick or easy tasks when leading. If your path is not filled with tension and booby traps, they you probably aren't even leading. The best you can do is to move slowly, thoughtfully and with integrity through the leadership's multiple minefields. After reading the introduction I thought: "Well, there it is... I just paid twenty bucks for ten pages!" However, I stuck with it through about 170 pages of case studies. I'm glad I did, because it is these specific case studies that I think back to when I encounter challenging leadership situations. Forget charging the hill or "Damn the Torpedoes..." slow and thoughtful wins the leadership race every time and Instant Karma will sink you consistently!
Rating:
Summary: a leading business ethics book
Review: In a period where the ghost of Enron and other business malpractices wanders over the stock markets, a book like this certainly has it's value. However, after reading the book I wonder whether people applying what's written down in this work would have helped to prevent these malpractices, and I must say that I have my doubts. More specifically, instead of doing some whistle blowing, you might decide to back off, in order to save your career. That might be "emotional intelligent" in the sense of understanding the emotional reactions of others against whistle-blowers, but its not really "integer" according to my definition of that word and thus certainly doesn't fit my European interpretation of being an ethical person. That explains why from a business ethics point of view, I prefer Linda Tobey's "The Integrity Moment" or even Badaracco's previous book "Defining Moments". Actually, when I bought the book, I hadn't fully grasped I was buying a business ethics book. I though I had a leadership book in my hands, which explains my average rating. While its' true that personal restraint, modesty and tenacity are virtues for leaders, if you want a book on leading quietly, I prefer Jim Collins' "Good to Great" by far. His level 5 leadership is also a form of leading quietly, but it's much more a book for people willing to lead in the business meaning of that word. Patrick E.C. Merlevede - author of "7 Steps to Emotional Intelligence"
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