When it comes to this years’ objective to read 15 books, I’m halfway through.
The last book I read was “Leading with Emotional Courage”, written by Peter Bregman.
Peter is the CEO of Bregman Partners, an executive coaching company that helps senior leaders create accountability and inspire collective action on their organization’s most important work. He is a contributor and bestselling author of 18 different books, including this one.
In this book, the central idea is ‘if you can feel everything, you can do anything’. Peter uses simple, yet practical and powerful concepts to help you have hard conversations, create accountability and inspire action on your most important work. For that, he asserts that you need to lead with emotional courage. During his 25 years of working with senior leaders, Peter has found a pattern of 4 elements that all great leaders demonstrate:
- You need to be confident in yourself
- You need to be connected to others
- You need to be committed to a purpose
- You need to act with emotional courage
“Personality assessments should trigger more curiosity, not less”
What did I appreciate most?
This book is at the intersection of pragmatism and deeper meaning. It shares in depth questions (start assessment on the 4 elements), practical advice and offers other forms of support to convert abstract concepts into tangible actions.
It uses personal stories to illustrate the importance of bigger notions, for example how Peters’ favorite hotel builds trust amongst its employees and towards its customers. By using these personal stories, they stick with the reader and help demystify what happens below the surface when we are having (hard) conversations.
Thirdly, I fully agree with Peters hypothesis that personality assessments simplify complexity. The big advantage is that it helps us to recognize things quickly, which is very helpful. In particular, because we have more to do than we have time for. Yet, Peter claims that “people shouldn’t be easy to understand, they are complex to understand, they are not black or white”. I couldn’t agree more with that. Whenever we use personality assessments, it should stimulate to be more curious in others, not to become less curious.
What is my tip?
The book is a collection of the authors’ most popular blogs (in the Harvard Business Review) which is compiled together. At the end of every chapter, it uses a paragraph or a few sentences to connect the current chapter to the next one. Although it fits nicely together, the flow didn’t feel so smooth all the time.
What is my takeaway from this book?
First of all, the book is a “door opener” for me, it touches on many topics and slightly opens the door on those topics. If you are interested to step in the door, I would recommend other books which delve further into that topic. For example, if you are interested in the topic of building trust with impact, I’d recommend to read the book of Steven Covey, click here.
This is the type of book that will sink in, days or weeks after your finished it. The more you think about it, the more it appeals to you, in particular when you have my profile and interests. The concept in itself is general, and the question after reading this book should be ‘how can I make this personal?’ This doesn’t happen overnight like a light switch, it emerges like a dimmer, slowly and gradually.
If you are ready to shift gears from general and conceptual to personal and practical, or if you want to trigger your curiousity after a personality assessment, let me know how I can help you to get ahead.
When it comes to this years’ objective to read 15 books, I’m halfway through.
The last book I read was “Leading with Emotional Courage”, written by Peter Bregman.
Peter is the CEO of Bregman Partners, an executive coaching company that helps senior leaders create accountability and inspire collective action on their organization’s most important work. He is a contributor and bestselling author of 18 different books, including this one.
In this book, the central idea is ‘if you can feel everything, you can do anything’. Peter uses simple, yet practical and powerful concepts to help you have hard conversations, create accountability and inspire action on your most important work. For that, he asserts that you need to lead with emotional courage. During his 25 years of working with senior leaders, Peter has found a pattern of 4 elements that all great leaders demonstrate:
- You need to be confident in yourself
- You need to be connected to others
- You need to be committed to a purpose
- You need to act with emotional courage
“Personality assessments should trigger more curiosity, not less”
What did I appreciate most?
This book is at the intersection of pragmatism and deeper meaning. It shares in depth questions (start assessment on the 4 elements), practical advice and offers other forms of support to convert abstract concepts into tangible actions.
It uses personal stories to illustrate the importance of bigger notions, for example how Peters’ favorite hotel builds trust amongst its employees and towards its customers. By using these personal stories, they stick with the reader and help demystify what happens below the surface when we are having (hard) conversations.
Thirdly, I fully agree with Peters hypothesis that personality assessments simplify complexity. The big advantage is that it helps us to recognize things quickly, which is very helpful. In particular, because we have more to do than we have time for. Yet, Peter claims that “people shouldn’t be easy to understand, they are complex to understand, they are not black or white”. I couldn’t agree more with that. Whenever we use personality assessments, it should stimulate to be more curious in others, not to become less curious.
What is my tip?
The book is a collection of the authors’ most popular blogs (in the Harvard Business Review) which is compiled together. At the end of every chapter, it uses a paragraph or a few sentences to connect the current chapter to the next one. Although it fits nicely together, the flow didn’t feel so smooth all the time.
What is my takeaway from this book?
First of all, the book is a “door opener” for me, it touches on many topics and slightly opens the door on those topics. If you are interested to step in the door, I would recommend other books which delve further into that topic. For example, if you are interested in the topic of building trust with impact, I’d recommend to read the book of Steven Covey, click here.
This is the type of book that will sink in, days or weeks after your finished it. The more you think about it, the more it appeals to you, in particular when you have my profile and interests. The concept in itself is general, and the question after reading this book should be ‘how can I make this personal?’ This doesn’t happen overnight like a light switch, it emerges like a dimmer, slowly and gradually.
If you are ready to shift gears from general and conceptual to personal and practical, or if you want to trigger your curiousity after a personality assessment, let me know how I can help you to get ahead.
