The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership
Author: Steven B. Sample
List Price: $16.95
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ISBN: 0787967076
Publisher: Jossey-Bass (02 April, 2003)
Sales Rank: 6,537
Average Customer Rating: 4.05 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
Very illustrative!
Outside-the-box thinking on leadership from one of the country's most renowned college presidents.
In this provocative new book, Steven Sample, one of the nation's most highly regarded university presidents, explodes many romanticized views of leadership and demonstrates how leaders can free themselves from the shackles of conventional wisdom. Never make a decision today that can reasonably be put off to tomorrow. Don't form opinions if you don't have to. Think gray. Shoot your own horse. Don't force others to do your dirty work. The best leaders don't keep up with the popular media and the trades. Machiavelli can help make you a more moral leader. Know what hill you are willing to die on-and keep its exact location to yourself. Know the all important difference between being leader and doing leader. You can't copy your way to the top. "This is an intoxicating read, a bushwacker's delight. With swift, sure strokes, Steve Sample cuts down a lot of bad ideas about leadership and opens up a new path for the next generation to follow. No wonder he has turned around not one but two major universities
Rating: 3 out of 5
Ain't no "classic"
I don't see what the fascination with this book is. It's not a horrible book, but it isn't as wonderful as some reviewers have said. I like some of the ideas in this volume -- the notion that many decisions don't have to be made instantaneously and that being highly informed of current events is overrated, for example. However, I wasn't fond of a number of things. First of all, for a scholar, there are no footnotes and no bibliography. This is especially disappointing since Sample suggests that we should read more of the enduring books than the current ones (to be fair, he includes a brief list in one of the chapters). Besides, isn't following the example of a 400-year-old book NOT being contrarian and following the conventional wisdom? Second, there's too much generalization. I prefer concrete examples that I can sink my teeth into. Third, the text often doubles back on itself, leaving the reader with a zero net gain of knowledge. For example, the author recommends that decision-making be highly structured (i.e., decisions are made by the immediate superior) but that all levels of the organization interact. In a subsequent chapter, Sample suggests that a leader sometimes swoop in on his subordinates and make an unexpected decision to throw them off, a suggestion that reflects Machiavelli's advice.
Sample is no fool, but his book exemplifies something that he himself states -- how difficult it is to judge social science. His operating theories about leadership may be correct, but it takes more than just a book about his personal experiences in two universities to validate them.
Rating: 1 out of 5
Disappointing and a waste of time
"For example, I feel that polygyny is morally wrong, but I recognize that a sizable fraction of the world's current population...would disagree with me. While my own views are strongly held, I would be disinclined to try to impose my aversion to polygyny on peoples for whom it is a time-honored and respected practice." At that point, I stopped reading this book further. If the author can't 'impose' his views on others regarding multiple marriages, I wondered if he would have ever imposed his views on the those leading Enron, Tyco or Worldcom if they had sought his counsel? Even up to this point in the book, I felt that the author's views were not applicable to the business world where we often don't have the luxury of time and distance that the author does in formulating his opinions. I'm also disappointed in Warren Bennis' advocacy for this book as I'm a big fan of Bennis' books and have read most of them. Now, I will have to be more careful about books Mr. Bennis recommends. There are far better leadership books in the market than this one. My copy is going straight in the trash. Similar Products
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