I
thought that when I asked to review The Leadership
Handbook: 26 Critical Lessons Every Leader Needs (John Maxwell, Nelson
Books, 2015) that I was going to get some new stuff. Wrong! This book was published
previously (2008) as Leadership Gold . And now that I've voiced my disappointment
there, let's proceed.
Maxwell
may be well regarded as a leadership guru, but this collection of tips and
anecdotes falls short of what might be expected from the guru. From my
perspective the best thing about many of the chapters was the title. Some of
them are quite catchy, and I wanted to read those chapters (i.e. Don't end your
ducks to eagle school) and skip over
some of the one with more prosaic titles.
A lot
of his tips seemed familiar rather than new, and then I realized that since the
book was originally published several years ago, I've probably heard all the
ideas since, probably at conferences
where others who may have incorporated some of these ideas, were sharing
them as their own
The 'Mentoring
Moments' at the end of each chapter were helpful, as were some of the
'Application Exercises', but the anecdotal accounts were more than I wanted to
read through.
NOTE TO PUBLISHER: Like at least one other reviewer has mentioned,
I'm annoyed when I get a book and it seems familiar because I have already read
it. Have as many updates and new
editions as you want, but please don't just change the name without making it
very plain from looking at the cover.
There are so many books I want to read, that it's painful to spend time
and/or money on something that I've read before (and probably wasn't impressed
with or it would still be on my shelf.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest
review . The opinions expressed are my own.
3/5
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