of too many bosses and too few leaders...

This book was given to me by my colleague who got it personally autographed by the author Rajeev Peshawaria dated September 13, 2013 for me..two days before my birthday. 

Rajeev is CEO of  the International Center for Leadership in Finance or ICLIF Leadership & Governance Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He was  a founding member of Goldman Sach's leadership development program called Pine Street and served as Chief Learning Officer for Morgan Stanley and the Coca-Cola Company as well as Global Director of Leadership Development programs at American Express. Very much like me I guess, a HRD guy but very deep into the exciting and intriguing world of finance. I was  once Director of Training & Development at Malayan Railways.

Which reminds me of what my mentor once told me, that Balance Sheets are like bikinis. What is revealed is interesting, What is concealed, is even more exciting. hehehe. 

When I typed leadership on google, 434,000,000 results came out in less than 0.16 seconds. When I typed management, 2,590,000,000 results came out in 0.19 seconds. On google scholar, 2,470,000 results were out in 0.04 seconds. One can imagine the popularity of these two topics or subject area or discipline if you may. Some would say Bosses do things right (or wrong? hihi) while Leaders do the right things..haha.

I tell my MBA students, that there is no right or wrong in management and leadership. What was wrong then, may be right now. What was right then, may be wrong now. It all depends. We can spend three days and three nights arguing about the differences between a boss and a leader ok.

Rajeev tells us, in his lively and remarkably empowering book, that you only need to focus on three essential principles to become and extraordinary leader. Which he observed  are the foundations of the best leadership - that great leaders clearly define their purpose and values; that nobody can motivate another person because everyone comes pre motivated ; and that a leader's job is not to directly produce results but to create the conditions that will harness the energy of others.

And of course, he goes on to detail his unique and proven program for achieving that leadership excellence that he talked about and shared plenty of illuminating stories from Ford, American Express, Coca-Cola to Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com. Revealing how extraordinary leaders marshall and sustain the level of energy in themselves that is required and how they enlist a core group of proficient co-leaders..

I guess I should leave it at that...telling you everything wouldn't be much fun isn't it? Go get a copy of your own...and tell me that what I said was not in the book at all...hehehe wink2x dot3x. Have a great weekend folks...