Monday, September 27, 2010

Review - The Leadership Event: The Moments of True Leadership That Move Organizations by Warren Blank and Aaron Brown


Short review: Rah! Rah! Leadership is an event!

Haiku
Leadership! Huzzah!
It is an event! Huzzah!
Go do it! Huzzah!

Full review: The Leadership Event is more or less a companion book to The 9 Natural Laws of Leadership (read review), also written by Warren Blank and Aaron Brown. At only a 103 pages, The Leadership Event is a quick read, and little more than a summary of the theories outlined in The 9 Natural Laws. In this regard, The Leadership Event is at the same time better and worse than its thematic parent. Because it is so short, the book boils down Blank and Brown's wandering theory of leadership into its essential elements. On the other hand, the brevity means that the book gives some areas a short shrift with insufficient explanation, making it less than useful as a stand alone volume.

The essential element of this book is that leadership is not an attribute that some people have and others do not, but it is rather an opportunity seized at the proper moment by the individual who is prepared to take the risk of stepping forward. The book lays this idea out and then spends much of its pages encouraging the reader to do just that when the opportunity arises, or to support someone who steps forward themselves in order to aid them in their leadership efforts. As a result, much of the book is an extended effort at cheerleading, trying to get the reader excited enough to jump at opportunities and claim their spot at the front of the pack.

While this book is not one that I would recommend as a stand-alone volume, due to the shallow treatment it gives of the subject matter, as a handy reference to refresh one's memory of the ideas contained in the much longer The 9 Natural Laws of Leadership it is worth keeping on one's bookshelf. That way, whenever you need inspiration to jump forward, you can get a quick refresher on the theory and a little bit of cheerleading to pump you up for the leap.

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