Title: Dare to Be a Revolutionary Leader: People Are the Solution-Change Your Leadership Style
Author: Charley Swords
Publisher: PageTurner Press and Media, LLC
ISBN: 979-8886220759
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 244
Reviewed by: David Allen
Hollywood Book Reviews
Charley Swords, the author of Dare to Be a Revolutionary Leader, writes “…leadership continues to be one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth.”
Her book, the product of decades of careful astute observation of business organizations and their hierarchical structures, absolutely cuts to the quick of understanding effective leadership. Forget about ‘leaders are born, not made’ as this book clearly shows able leadership is a work in progress, resulting from the translation of self-awareness into personal and organizational action plans. Beyond that, through the interactive questionnaires, bullet-pointed charts and always accessible narrative, leadership becomes an attainable goal, the product of work upon the self and evolving progressive interactions with the business team. Leadership theory and critique has undergone major revisions in the past century.
Leadership styles have morphed in recent history, and include autocratic ‘I’m the boss’, democratic ‘Everyone gets a vote’, transactional and last but not least, transformational models. Currently, ‘transformational leadership’ is au courant, the style pursued and parsed in M.B.A. programs throughout the land. Transformational leadership is a leadership approach that causes change in individuals and social systems. In the best of all possible worlds, transformational leadership catalyzes valuable and positive change in team members, with the end goal of developing followers into leaders.
The book is an inspiring read. It energizes. From the very start, emphasis is placed on the important distinction between ‘leadership’ and ‘management.’ The former is an on-going creative dynamic between the leader and significant others. Leadership values, milestones and insights are approached at three levels: the individual, the group, and the organization. Relevant proverbs and aphorisms spark further reflection and add impetus to the read. Readers are asked to search themselves: Which leaders have inspired them? What are the characteristics and competencies of these individuals? How did they make you feel?
This book asks all the right questions, such as “Do you love what you do and do you do what you love?” Essential leadership skills, staff development and coherent transformational strategies are covered fluently and with the thoroughness these topics deserve.
Who is Dare to Be a Revolutionary Leader for? Answer: anyone. Anyone and everyone interested in the inner workings of business teams and in effectively running the elaborate machine known as Self. As Charley Swords puts it, “We are all here to serve, and we don’t do this alone.”