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Book Review

The Everything Leadership Book

The 20 core concepts every leader must know

Adams Media Corporation – 2001 (311 pages in paperback)

Author Bob Adams

ISBN 1-58062-513-4

To the serious leadership professional, the first reaction to this book may be skeptical and negative. This book is part of the Everything® Series book collection. This collection is obviously a direct competitor to the innocuous yellow-covered For Dummies^TM Series. To put it mildly, most would not consider any of these paperback books a serious reference in the educational world. However, The Everything Leadership Book does have some merits for a specific audience, and is proof you should not judge a book simply by its cover.

Adams covers a very broad perspective in regards to leadership in this publication. The twenty chapters deal with expansive and complex issues such as definitions, communication, motivation, coaching, power, organization/time management, change, employee hiring/management, volunteering and personal success. Like all books of this genre some of its answers and solutions are rather simplistic and too dogmatic. Yet, an important area of the book that needs more thoughtful discussion are ethics and values.

However, in spite of its obvious weaknesses, The Everything Leadership Book does have some strengths as a basic introduction to the world of leadership. It is well organized and easy to read. It has numerous leadership “Profiles” of individuals, leadership tips and “Words of the Wise” quotations. It incorporates the needs and attitudes of the growing number of independent, creative and self-reliant workers known as the New Workforce. Adams provides some interesting personal assessment tools. He also leads the reader to a number of helpful websites to learn more about volunteering opportunities and further leadership resources.

This is not the kind of book one wants to read in order to develop the serious skills or traits of a leader. However, if one is a novice or simply wants to learn the very basics of leadership, The Everything Leadership Book has a place. It has the ability to prompt the reader to want to learn more about this vital topic and does fill a niche for those who need or desire to begin their personal journey of leadership development at step one.

weLEAD rating - mildly recommended

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