Tag: leadership

Book Review: Leadership and Culture – John and Katie McCann

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For high performing or aspirational readers who are about to undergo the appraisal and objective-setting season at work, today’s book may just be of interest! In today’s review, I share my thoughts on the practical guide, Leadership and Culture by John and Katie McCann.

Are you looking to develop yourselves or your career in 2024?

I downloaded and read Leadership and Culture after seeing the book available on Netgalley. I am not at a managerial level at work, but I would like to give myself the skillset to be considered in future. Even if you’re not – consider this. Leadership comes from a select few, but workplace culture is a collective environment and contributed to by everyone. We all have the power to change culture. For that reason, I think this book has value to all.

Shall we take a look in more detail?

 

Leadership and Culture – John and Katie McCann

Genre: Non-fiction

Pages: 210

Audience: Adult

Publisher: 27 Sept 2022

Publication Date:

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Goodreads – Leadership and Culture

Every team has a manager… But not every team is lucky enough to have a true leader. Get ready to break the mold!

Did you know that 82% of employees would consider quitting their job because of a bad boss?

And it isn’t just that you don’t want to be a bad boss… You don’t want to be a boss at all – you want to be a leader. A boss commands … A leader inspires and influences – and that’s the route to happy employees, a dedicated workforce, and an organization that achieves its goals .

Whether you’re a new manager, an aspiring one, or an experienced manager or business owner, there’s always more to learn… and there’s always room to develop your leadership skills so that you can be sure you’re an inspirational and empathetic leader … and not a disconnected boss.

It all starts with the workplace culture you cultivate… one that is positive, inclusive, and authentic … one that motivates your team to go above and beyond… and to do so happily.

Any successful organization has, at its core, a team that trusts and respects its leaders and is willing to do what it takes to help the company reach its goals… and behind every team like this, there’s a leader who knows just what to do to steer the ship.

You can be that leader.

And with this comprehensive guide by your side, you’ll have something to refer to every time you flounder. Inside, you’ll And much more.

Every company has a boss… but the most successful ones have a leader. And if you have any doubt in your mind as to whether you can be one, it’s time to silence that inner critic for good.

If you’re passionate about leading your team to success, you have everything you need to be the driving force behind an outstanding team… All you need now is the manual…

 

My Thoughts

 

Structure

The book is broken down into five key skills, and then further into related chapters with subtopics on each skill. From building trust to inspiring motivation, Leadership and Culture starts from the ground up.

The length of the book makes it approachable to pick up. At 210 pages in its entirety, it concisely covers the skills, examples and action points to succinctly set you on the path for success.

Although I read the book in chronological order, I would argue that it would be possible to go back to any of these sections at any point and revisit the content. To an extent there are references to early chapters and content as a foundation, but this wouldn’t stop anyone from being able to read a section standalone.

On a practical level, it means the book can be picked up countless times and never lose its value, regardless of how many times you pick it up again. I can see myself picking this up and revisiting the book, especially if there are certain skills I want to brush up on, or scenarios where I am inexperienced in handling them!

 

Ideas

The content of the book would be especially great for either aspiring or first time managers, or as a refresher of fundamentals for the more experienced. The book’s content is both approachable and relatable, whilst demonstrating the extensive research that asks up each idea. Throughout, I was able to visualise the examples in the practical terms of my own experience at work.

Not only do the scenarios in the book ring true, but then the author’s have outlined practical action points for managers to adopt to resolve conflict or pressure in a way that promotes positivity. It’s as much a practical guide as it is a compilation of case studies of what can happen when things go wrong.

I think this also has value for all employees. As I mention in the introduction, culture isn’t strictly created by the few at the top. It’s about the whole workplace. Sure, managers and senior staff will have a lot of influence over it, but not entirely.

Leadership and Culture has value in helping us understand where workplace culture isn’t working and raise awareness. Often, we can recognise that something isn’t quite right but are unable to identify a problem exactly. The topics and downfalls explored in this book are ones that I can see happening in every workplace at some point in time. Even in big name companies! Many of the examples within are names we know.

 

Summary

Leadership and Culture is all about positive change. If you are looking to make positive change in your life in 2024, or would like to start making improvements in your workplace, this book is a great place to start!

Are you looking to develop yourselves or your career in 2024?

 

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Sunday Summary – 27th August 2023

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Welcome to my Sunday Summary update post this August bank holiday weekend. I hope you’re having a good weekend whatever you’re doing. My time off work is coming to an end, but I’ve made good use of the time!

Aside from reading, I’ve been keeping to my usual blogging schedule. My first post of this week went live on Tuesday; I shared several books I unhauled earlier in the week. It’s not a common post I share, but it felt apt as I’d just gone through my shelves to make some room anyway!

Next, I shared my regular Friday feature post – Well, I Didn’t Know That! For this week’s feature, I shared some of the tips and tricks I’ve learned taking an online course on social media marketing. If you want to improve visibility and engagement on your posts, why not give some of these a try?

 

Books Read

 

A Brief History of Time

I left off in last week’s Sunday Summary having read 25% of A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. If you haven’t read this book, it’s quite a technical science book about space, time, and the theories as to the history of the planet and universe as we know it.

I’m not a science geek, so I ended up reading and understanding the concepts in the book on a superficial level. It was easy enough to follow, especially as Stephen Hawking helped explain some of the principles of the theories in approachable, everyday terms. I was initially sceptical of the later chapters being a bit difficult. But, the way the book has been written means that what we’ve read and understood previously helps us understand these later concepts!

I enjoyed this non-fiction book, not only for the subject matter but also for the change of pace. It was a stretch out of my comfort zone, but I wouldn’t rule out reading similar books in future!

 

Leadership & Culture

I jumped out of one non-fiction book into another, and quite a different subject matter entirely! Leadership & Culture concerns management in the workplace, and how different management styles can affect the work dynamic, trust and ultimate success of companies. The book mainly targets current managers, however, can easily be read by aspiring managers too. I’d argue if you want to get into a position like that, you want to learn this before you start on the wrong foot!

The authors of the book both have extensive leadership experience. They draw upon techniques and real examples of how leadership vs. management impacts employees and companies, as well as suggesting exercises to identify where improvements can be made by the reader in their own environment.

Leadership & Culture was a very quick read to pick up. It had a nice tone and easy-to-follow narrative style that I enjoyed. Should I find myself in a management position in future, it is a book I will revisit to implement the strategies detailed within.

 

Wizard and Glass

The final book I started this week is Wizard and Glass by Stephen King. This is the fourth book in The Dark Tower series -one I have really enjoyed to date!

Getting into Wizard and Glass has been a breeze. Since I’ve not left it so long since I read the last instalment earlier this year (compared to the four-year gap starting The Waste Lands in May), I’ve been able to pick up where I left off without a recap. The events of the book pick up exactly where he Waste Lands finishes. That book had a really interesting cliffhanger of a conclusion, so it was great to get straight back into that and resolve what was happening early doors.

As of this Sunday Summary update post, I am 159 pages into Wizard and Glass. Overall, I’m still a little behind schedule to finish my reading by the end of the month. However, I’m not too far behind and what I’ve read of Wizard and Glass has gone really quickly. I found this with the prior book in the series as well. If I remember correctly, I read that in just a handful of days! I’m hoping for a similar experience here!

 

Books Discovered

Having read a great recommendation/review earlier this week, I have added a book called Among Thieves to my TBR. I even did myself a favour and made a note of the link to that post, so you can go and check it out for yourself!

After reading the review and the synopsis of the book, I have every faith that I’m going to enjoy it. I have read similar books and themes previously and got on with them really well! here’s hoping I have the same experience with this book!

 

Coming Up…

My first blog post next week is going to be another book review. As I’m sure you won’t find it difficult to believe, I have quite a list of books to catch up with and share my thoughts on. Next week’s featured book is one I read even though it is a genre I don’t read a lot of. I decided to pick it up purely because I enjoyed the Netflix series, (against all odds I hasten to add!) If you haven’t guessed already, it’s The Duke & I by Julia Quinn.

On Friday, we will be officially in the month of September! With the coming of the new month, I’ll inevitably be kicking off with a wrap-up of the books I read throughout the month of August!

As always, I will be sharing another Sunday Summary update with you next weekend and going over the latest books I’ve picked up, any I’ve added to the reading list, and a schedule of what you can expect content-wise the following week.

That’s a wrap for this Sunday Summary post! Let me know in the comments what book you are currently reading!

 

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Book Review: Lean In – Sheryl Sandberg

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In today’s post, I have the pleasure of sharing my thoughts on a non-fiction book that I really enjoyed last year. My sister was given a copy of the book to read as a recommendation from one of her work colleagues. This in turn was recommended to me by her.

Lean In made for an interesting read, as it offers a very personal experience of leadership as a woman who, unfortunately, remained in the minority throughout several companies she worked at. The book goes a long way to advocate why more women need to be in senior roles.

 

Lean In – Sheryl Sandberg

Genre: Non-fiction/Self Help

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Knopf

Publication Date: 12 Mar 2013

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

 

Goodreads – Lean In

Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In is a massive cultural phenomenon and its title has become an instant catchphrase for empowering women. The book soared to the top of bestseller lists internationally, igniting global conversations about women and ambition. Sandberg packed theatres, dominated opinion pages, appeared on every major television show and on the cover of Time magazine, and sparked ferocious debate about women and leadership. Ask most women whether they have the right to equality at work and the answer will be a resounding yes, but ask the same women whether they’d feel confident asking for a raise, a promotion, or equal pay, and some reticence creeps in. The statistics, although an improvement on previous decades, are certainly not in women’s favour – of 197 heads of state, only twenty-two are women. Women hold just 20 percent of seats in parliaments globally, and in the world of big business, a meagre eighteen of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women. In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg – Facebook COO and one of Fortune magazine’s Most Powerful Women in Business – draws on her own experience of working in some of the world’s most successful businesses and looks at what women can do to help themselves, and make the small changes in their life that can effect change on a more universal scale.

 

My Thoughts

Whilst Lean In is written by a woman and predominantly for women, I would argue that there is a basis for anybody to pick up this book. A lot of the advice is about what women can do in order to advocate for themselves. However, one big dependency of that is women working in an environment where that attitude is fostered and actively encouraged. The current bias of men in senior roles means it is a change that has to be supported by men.

Through Sheryl’s own experience, the book highlights examples of women’s health that ought to be considered when they wouldn’t necessarily come to the fore otherwise. As an example, Sheryl openly admits in the book that she only considered a need for accessible parking for pregnant women at the time when she needed it herself. Without a senior woman to represent such issues, it’s unlikely that women will see similar benefits in the workplace.

  • There is some criticism for this book in that the advice is offered by a woman from a privileged and wealthy background. Sheryl doesn’t shy away from this in my opinion. Rather, her circumstances highlight the disparity in opportunities based on wealth (in terms of money and resources). Women shouldn’t be held back from returning to work by childcare fees, but more often than not, they are.

The important message of this book is about personal growth and development. Whilst there are some wider issues broached in the book, the point is that these can be tackled by individuals collectively working towards a more equal and fair society. There are distinct differences between men and women. Some examples are how ‘qualified’ individuals need to feel before applying for a job, or varied feelings of imposter syndrome. This isn’t a fault of men or women, but recognising these differences can help us to understand how disparities in roles originated, and what we can do to equalise them.

I have learned a good deal from reading Lean In… about work, but also about myself.

Have you read Lean In? Is this on your list to pick up sometime?

 

 

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