Leadership Essentials You Always Wanted to Know: A Practical Guide to Leadership Traits, Power, Ethics, and Leading High-Performance Teams

Leadership skills are essential in all aspects of the world. The author did a wonderful job. The interview questions are great to have when preparing for a job. This book is filled with immediate “take away” material. You could immediately begin to implement some of the skills and concepts that are given throughout the book. I am definitely going to purchase a copy of this book for my niece.

Leading a team, whether it’s in the workplace or elsewhere, takes a specific skill set. Different approaches are necessary for managing a team in the most effective way possible and a book that is ready to help you hone your leadership skills is Leadership Essentials.Starting off with a definition of leadership and what it’s all about, the book then jumps into such topics as leadership traits, leadership behavior, and different types of leadership theory. There is also coverage given to such broad topics as ethics, development, organizational leadership, and more. And with each chapter, you get a summary at the end plus a quick quiz, to test your knowledge.This management book is instructional in nature and as I read, I couldn’t help but feel like I was sitting in a college management class, soaking up the facts, taking notes, and hoping to improve my own knowledge of the subject. And there are, indeed, many facts, theories, and tips in this book that are worth absorbing and strategies worth implementing. I especially liked sections such as the one on situational leadership. It was useful to read about these different approaches, decide which one best matched my own style, and look for ways to modify my own leadership to make it better and more effective than it is now.Like I said, this is a factual, instructional type of book. It doesn’t include anecdotal stories, case studies, or things like that. No, this book sticks with information. It wants you to better understand what leadership is, why it is important, and what you can do to improve your own leadership within your organization.Leaders are not necessarily born with a special talent, as many seem to believe. Leadership is a process, and everyone can learn to lead and learn to improve their leadership, at least to a degree. Leadership Essentials is ready to help you become a better leader and it would make a good book to hand out to every leader in a business or other organization, for reading and discussion.

Though I have been in leadership rolls in different capacities in my life I have never seen myself as a strong leader, which is why I picked up Leadership Essentials You Always Wanted to Know.There are key objectives for each chapter, making it reminiscent of a textbook style, making this something I could not just sit and read through, as it is fairly dry. Since my husband is in a leadership roll at his current job I skimmed the chapters and discussed key points with him, and it ended up being quite an enlightening conversation. My advice is to study this text with others, as it will help not only your understanding, but others as well.Though not a leisurely read, this book is a wealth of information that I know will benefit leaders of all kinds, helping them grow to their full potential.*I have voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book which I received from the author/publisher through LibraryThing Early Reviewers. All views and opinions expressed are completely honest, and my own.

I received a free advanced reader copy of this book to review on LibraryThing and was asked to post here as well. Both my undergraduate and graduate degrees are in business and organizational communication. I have taken several leadership classes as a result, and have read leadership books both in class and on my own. This is an excellent "tree-top level" overview of leadership, in all iterations and aspects. Dr. Picardi wrote a concise book, with each chapter having quizzes and references for further classroom work and discussion. this would be a good book for an undergraduate class as a starting point. Or, if your organization wants to improve its' leadership, this is only 200 pages so a small team could read and finish quickly.

I received this book at just the right time. I design and develop training programs and am currently researching data for a leadership program. I found the topics in this book to be very useful and will be able to apply much of the info into my program. While I wouldn’t utilize it for advanced leaders (i.e. C-Suites) I think it’s practical for entry-level leaders, or to keep as reference guide for mid-level managers. Chapters 2, 3, 7-9 will be used to shape quite a bit of my training.

A good undergrad or first year graduate school review of the theories of contemporary leadership theories .would be good as a review texr. Quizzes at the end of each chapter are helpful.