Leadership from the Inside Out

Rating:
Summary: It is about both leadership and personal development.
Review: "While reading this book you may think, 'Is this book about leadership, or is it about personal development?' It's about both". Kevin Cashman writes, "As much as we try to separate the leader from the person, the two are totally inseparable. Unfortunately, many people tend to split off the 'act of leadership' from the person. We tend to view leadership as an external event. We see it only as something people do. The view of this book is different. Leadership is not simply something we do. It comes from somewhere inside us. Leadership is a process, an intimate expression of who we are. It is our being in action. Our being, our personhood, says as much about us a leader as the act of leading itself. Paul Walsh, Chairman and CEO of Pillsbury, recently told me, 'The missing link in leadership development is growing the person to grow the leader'. As we grow, so shall we lead...As we learn to master our growth as a person, we will be on the path to mastery of Leadership from the Inside Out" (pp.18-19).

Within this framework, Kevin Cashman identifies seven pathways to mastery of Leadership from the Inside Out. He says that "These pathways to mastery are not stages of development arranged in a sequential or hierarchical order. Rather, they are an ongoing, interrelated growth process in which the pathways constantly are illuminating one another" (pp.28-29).

1. Personal Mastery / Leading Through Authentic Self-Expession: It is the onging commitment to unfolding and authenticaly expressing who we are.

Principles: Take total responsibility, practice personal mastery with others, bring beliefs to conscious awareness, develop awareness of character and persona, listen to feedback, consider finding a coaching process, and be flexible.

2. Purpose Mastery / Leading by Expressing Our Gifts to Create Value: It is the ongoing discovery of how we express our gifts to add life-enriching value to the world.

Principles: Focus on how to make a difference, get in touch with your values, act "on-purpose", be purposeful in all domains, encourage others to find purpose, seek the goal, learn from "failure", and be flexible.

3. Change Mastery / Leading in the Flow: It involves embracing the purposeful learning contained in the unending, creative flow of life.

Principles: Be open to learning, practice present-moment awareness, integrate immediate focus and broad awareness, trust yourself, develop resiliency through mental-emotional stretching, practice the change mastery shifts, and take the leap.

4. Interpersonal Mastery / Leading Through Synergy: It is the dynamic blending of personal power with synergy power to create value and contribution.

Principles: Build relationship bridges, balance personal power with synergy power and contribution power, build awareness of intention-perception gap, personal mastery and interpersonal mastery are intimately connected, become aware of your structure of interpretation, and practice the five touchstones (know yourself, listen, express, appreciate, serve) to authentic leadership.

5. Being Mastery / Leading Through Being: It is connecting with the silence and peace of the innermost depth of one's character to support more dynamism, effectiveness, and contribution.

Principles: Take your own journey into being, resolve life challenges by going to a deeper level, consider learning to mediate, and integrate more reflection into your life.

6. Balance Mastery / Leading by Centering Our Life: It is the dynamic centering of our life to build resilience and to enhance effectiveness and fulfillment.

Principles: Choose wisely, be on-purpose, rest and reflect more, exercise for enjoyment, simplify your life, and loosen up.

7. Action Mastery / Leading as a Whole Person: It is the ongoing commitment to creating value through enhanced authenticity and self-expression.

Principles: Seek the most essential first, approach growth and development as an integrated, lifelong process, take total responsibility, value consistency over intensity, set aside worry, doubts, and negativity, don't just walk the talk, become the talk, and build awareness through inside out journaling.

Finally, Kevin Cashman argues that "Certainly the principal purpose of Leadership from the Inside Out is to give people tools for personal growth and transformation leading to leadership growth and transformation. But its true potential contribution is more than that. Its purpose is more than just helping a bunch of seperate individuals to grow...Growth is fulfilling as it touches and enriches the lives of others" (p.203).

I highly recommend.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing original
Review: If you think "learn to master yourself before you master leading others" is a revelation, then this book is for you. Because this book offers advice on how to become a goal driven and ethical leader with a good attitude. If this sounds like something you have heard before in maybe 100 other leadership books and seminars, then you are right. This book offers nothing unique or original. In fact, if you have read lot of leadership books like me, then this book will bore you to death with the "obvious".

Rating:
Summary: A great book!
Review: Kevin Cashman, founder and CEO of LeaderSource, an executive coaching firm based in Minneapolis, MN has chronicled his dynamic training perspectives Pathways to Mastery (1998). With a prestigious client list to his credit, Kevin's unique efforts are potent due to their comprehensive focus on cultivating the core of being and potential, the inner self, versus simply developing extraneous skill sets and behavior modifications. As rightly stated on the jacket cover, "..most books on leadership see leadership as only as something we do rather than as an expression of who we are... we learn what to do instead of how to be. This book is different-it gives you self-expression that creates value." Knowing Kevin as I do, informally but over time, I've had occasion to casually chat about spiritual philosophies that we both cherish. I truly believe he has a marvelous gift, the ability to convey these oft-elusive principles in a manner both understandable and practically applicable. If there were one book that hits the nail of self-development and leadership on the head, I'd say this is it

Rating:
Summary: A Valuable Personal Resource
Review: Leadership from the Inside Out is a wonderful book about becoming a better leader, not only of an organization but of one's own life.

Cashman covers all the bases, from Being - the innermost core of who we are - to Action, which he talks about as "leading as a whole person." He offers expert guidance, based on more than two decades as a coach to leaders worldwide, on aligning with our core purpose, authentic self-expression, adapting (and giving direction) to change, creating balance in our lives, and building synergistic relationships.

The book is packed with stimulating quotes, questions to foster self-understanding, and meaningful exercises for growth. All this in a well-designed format for easy reading. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: Top Notch
Review: Leadership is a behavior -- not a job title. This book does an excellent job of explaining how and why.

Rating:
Summary: weLEAD Book Review from the Editor of leadingtoday.org
Review: Some authors approach the subject of leadership from an external perspective. They define leadership as qualities, traits and skills. Other authors approach the subject from an internal perspective. They define leadership as a reflection of what lies inside the heart of the leader. Author and consultant Kevin Cashman uses the later approach with great success and clarity. Leadership From The Inside Out reads like you are having a one-on-one discussion with the author over a fine meal. It speaks to the heart because it defines leadership as a "process, an intimate expression of who we are." Cashman reminds us immediately that "we are the CEO's of our own lives" and we are on an ongoing journey to express and unravel our inner selves to make a positive impact within the world we live.

From beginning to end, Leadership From The Inside Out is intended to be a journey of self-discovery. In the first chapter Cashman begins to explore three essential questions to enhance our leadership effectiveness. He presents these as 1) How authentic are we as a leader? 2) How deep and broad is our self-expression? and 3) How much value are we creating? One of the major goals of the book is to help the reader to connect with their essential character, their central core in order to create effective leadership development. The end result is that the reader learns to no longer define their identity by the mere external results of their life, which are vulnerable, at risk and fragile.

To offer a new perspective on personal growth, Leadership From The Inside Out strategically leads the reader down seven "pathways" to discover the mastery of leadership from within. These pathways are articulated as personal mastery, purpose mastery, change mastery, interpersonal mastery, being mastery, balance mastery and action mastery. Cashman and his associates, LeaderSource, have developed these pathways as the "distilled insights from working with hundreds of leaders". Leadership From The Inside Out also encourages the reader to establish a leadership journal and offers numerous quotations throughout the text to provide additional insight.

This is a book that holds the promise to change you from within! At weLEAD, we have read hundreds of books on the subject of leadership from every possible perspective. However, if you are looking for a book that offers positive insight, encouragement and the real potential to gain a significant leadership transformation, Leadership From The Inside Out is it!

Rating:
Summary: review of Leadership From The Inside Out
Review: This book is a classic. It takes readers on the reflective journey that Cashman himself has travelled through his years of coaching national and international leaders. Cashman takes a long-needed fresh perspective on the essence of leadership, parting ways with those who have viewed leadership as a collection of "techniques." He is among the first to gleen that the key to effective leadership is inherent in the leader him or her self. As he points out in this great book, effective leaders are those who come to understand that who they are, and what they value will drive how they uniquely add value. Cashman's definition of leadership is a fascinating one. He posits that "leadership is authentic self expression that adds value." Read the book and you will surely agree!! It's a must read for those grappling with the concept of executive excellence.

Rating:
Summary: Very boring and monotonous
Review: This book is VERY boring. It states the same points over and over again. It is very similar to an infomercial. Spend your money elsewhere - there are many other, much better books out there.

Rating:
Summary: Leadership from the Inside Out
Review: This is a must read if you are authentic about developing your ability to lead. There are thousands of books that provide canned lists of leadership success formulas. The fact is, life is not that simple. Cashman's books is pragmatically profound. To lead is to engage life. To engage life, you must first understand self...then you can begin to lead.

This is one of the best books read on the subject of leadership and making sustained, constructive impact both personally and organizationally.

Rating:
Summary: For those committed to their own leadership journey
Review: We use this book as a core text with the personal leadership course in our Pepperdine University Doctoral Program in organizational leadership.

Why? It stimulates a journey on becoming a leader of yourself, which we believe is central to sustainably leading others.

I highly recommend it to those committed to engaging in a personal leadership journey.

Vance Caesar, Ph.D.
Leadership Faculty
Pepperdine University
vancecaesar.com