Book Club: Book One – A Quiet Leadership by David Rock

In August we chose the first book for our newly formed book club. “Quiet Leadership” by David Rock was chosen. Having seen a few reviews on LinkedIn we thought it would be an interesting one to get started with.  Five of us committed to reading the book with one new team member joining us, ambitiously, with a week to go before our meeting.

The first thing to note is that we started book club on the premise of pure transparency… and within 5 minutes, all but one confessed to not finishing the book (well done Allan!). When discussing why a majority struggled to complete the book (when we were all so motivated with it being our first!) we decided that the readability of the text was too complex and did not convey its messaging clearly or succinctly enough to engage us. Some felt that life commitments overwhelmed the time available to read, but then agreed that if the book had grabbed our attention enough then time would have been made! We did all agree that selecting books that pushed our boundaries and our normal reading selection was what the book club is all about so we felt positive after this experience none the less.

The general feeling of the group was that the book was outlining a coaching style approach to leadership. David explains a 6-step structure to get the best of an individual that you are essentially managing.

Some of our main take-aways….

·        When you focus on a problem instead of solution it’s counter productive

·        It is easier to create new habits then to amend an old one

·        Establishing permission at the beginning of a conversation is key to building trust

·        Help others in their thinking instead of dictating

·        By questioning an individual’s thinking opposed to assuming helps remove your “filters” (the preconceptions you have on a person or situation)

We may have been overly ambitious with our first book being a bit too “worky”. However, our conversation was still valuable and gave us the opportunity to nail down what we all want from the book club.  With this in mind we have picked Jimmy Carr’s Before and Laughter as our next choice. Watch this space for our thoughts on this…..it will be interesting!

Recommend: 3/10

Value: 6/10

Readability/listening: 2/10

Overview: Although there was some value the readability made it difficult to engage in it.

ISBN: 978-0060835910

Next book: Jimmy Carr “Before & Laughter”.