Review by Annie2019 -- Leadership by Craig B. Whelden

Annie2019 · Post by **Annie2019** » 08 Jun 2020, 05:49

[Following is a volunteer review of "Leadership" by Craig B. Whelden.]

4 out of 4 stars

Share This Review

Leadership by Craig B. Whelden is an inspirational, innovative, motivating, and informative book from his life and professional experiences. It has valuable knowledge on key quality traits and skills a person should possess for effective and successful leadership.

The Retired Major General, began his journey as a leader from age 14 years, into high school, then university, and an amazing career path in different ranks in the military. The author described how he’s moved from different positions in the military, handling different programs and groups that enhanced his leadership skills in various parts of the world. There was a narrative of the various encounters he’s had both with his juniors and superiors. Craig gave remarkable insights and perspective on essential areas an effective leader should have from character, trust, mentorship, working under pressure, effective communication, loyalty, risk management, and dealing with crises et cetera. The fundamental insight I picked was leaving an impactful legacy as a leader and a person. He advocated for leaders training and education for better results.

As a fascinating, creative author with some sense of humor, he portrayed the positivity, determination, and all can-do attitude to achieve the intended goal. He made it real, practical by putting into perspective the real-life examples. Further emphasis was on delegation, empowerment, and having confidence in your juniors. Engage your people, appreciate, recognize, and embrace teamwork. He quoted on page 70: “…I value teamwork even more.” Some outstanding statements in this book included: “Support your team and let them do their job and you’ll be amazed at what they give back” on Page 20 and “Good leaders don’t patent their behavior; they willingly pass it on” on Page 23, came out clearly for me as a leader.

Unfortunately, the author gave tragic death stories of young men because of inadequate proper use of equipment and following safety protocols attributed to poor leadership or supervision. The 9/11 terrorist attack swift response by the author to help in times of crisis came out well. The touching personal stories that there was light at the end of the tunnel moved me personally and inspired me too. Leadership is demonstrating care and encouragement to others. The need for leaders to show care helps to minimize the tragedies in waiting. Something to ponder on was what the author asked, what rocks to fill your glass jar?

The Leadership book is profound with real-life experiences making it easy to resonate with and valuable to the reader. The traits of a leader are well-illustrated, easy to understand, and embrace. He reported excellent guidelines and principles to follow to become who others wanted to follow. Craig acknowledged the positive impact his immediate bosses had on his leadership growth, what he embraced and what he dropped that shaped him to be who he is today.

Leadership is displayed as a learning process, climbing the ladder. Despite the author giving a military background, the guidelines and principles shared cut across to other work environments as well. I enjoyed the use of relevant rich quotes well put at the start of every chapter and powerful testimonials from colleagues. Moreover, I appreciated the honesty, fairness, respect, dignity, integrity, and equality he displayed during his leadership journey. Although the book had many characters that I can barely recall, it didn’t distract my reading and understanding. The language was straight-forward with clarity, not forgetting the flow of information and stories falling into place accordingly. Indeed, the author is a magnificent story-teller.

This book is an enjoyable and worthy read, well-edited and proofread. It is flawless, no profanity, and I loved the font! It’s a valuable essential asset for success in leadership. Therefore, I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars plus highly recommended for all leaders and those who aspire to be. Please, I urge you to read this book as it has beneficial information.

My best quote for me was at the beginning of chapter 7: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” This honestly speaks volumes.

******
Leadership
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon