The Complete Idiot's Guide to Leadership (2nd Edition)

Rating:
Summary: useful introduction -- will satisfy most beginners!
Review: I found this to be a useful introduction to leadership for a non-specialist. I found the section on conflict resolution to be especially useful -- not a deep psychological treatise on why people can be beasts, but a few helpful pointers on getting past a bad situation. My advice is to have a look at this book, then if you want more, go deeper, elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: A practical guide to how to be a leader
Review: I noted that one reviewer really panned this book, but I found it to be very useful. Granted, it's not theoretical or philosophical, but there's lots of those books available. This one is practical. It includes self-quizzes to let you know where you stand on various subjects. It gives you specific steps to take to project leadership qualities. It explains how to be a team leader, how to help groups help themselves (including how to be an empowering leader) and how to help others develop their full potential. This is not the deepest book you'll find on leadership, but it's not supposed to be. Warren Bennis writes books for CEOs (and they're good ones). This book is written for those in the trenches who want to help their people and themselves succeed. I know it's regularly used by trainers who are looking for what to use in their seminars.

Rating:
Summary: Dry and dull...How do I apply this to everyday situations?
Review: The book has little humor for a Complete Idiot book. It was more a study of leadership at different levels and situations then a how to for the reader to take on the task of a leadership position. It covered leadership in low level team leaders to CEO and Visionary. The information is sound but what about the beginner being thrown into a leadership position? What traits and characteristics does the person need? The book touched on leadership styles but didn't really go into it. How's the leader suppose to take his team and successfully accomplish the goals set out by the situation? This in my opinion was never answered. Conflict resolution was touched on in a chapter but wasn't really addressed to it's full extent. I got more information from Marine Corps MCI "Leadership" and other books mainly with a military slant. The book had some self tests here and there but they were mostly subjective. Being former military, I read this book to improve my leadership and management abilities in the civilian world. The book is good if your researching the subject and not doing it. A CEO is in trouble if he needs to read this book. I strongly disagree with the statement that a leader should not apologize even if they wrong somebody. I got more out of "One Minute Manager". It just wasn't for me after reading it for over a week.

Rating:
Summary: Useful Bibliography
Review: This book, like most 'idiot's guide' texts does a good job of looking at third layer concepts of leadership. Using a variety of outside sources this book takes you though a general overview on the topics of leadership. The best part about this book is the bibliography which will point you to many great books on management and leadership. This is a good text for those who just have not spent a lot of time thinking about, studying, or maybe even caring about leadership. Check out the bibliography for more in-depth books on this topic. Joseph Dworak