A review of
The Five Temptations of a CEO: A Leadership Fable
Lencioni, Patrick
Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint, San Francisco, CA, 1998
The author, Mr. Lencioni, relates the how of Andrew, a CEO experiencing his lowest point of his first year in that position, receives guidance from an unlikely mentor, Charlie, while he dozes on his ride home on the commuter train. The mentor explains to Andrew about four of the titular five temptations while introducing him to previous CEOs who all happen to be riding on the same train. Andrew figures out what the fifth temptation is, awakes from his dream, ready to set things right at the board meeting the following day, which he does to the benefit of the company.
After this fable, the author provides a summary of why executives fail by listing the temptations again and a self assessment for the reader to gain insight.
The author appears to be qualified to write on the subject of leadership as he runs a management consulting firm, The Table Group, and has written a number of other books, including The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.
The author's purpose was to introduce five temptations and provide examples of how they can undermine a CEO (or any leader) if left unchecked. He did this by having each of the previous CEOs in his dream explain them in easy-to-understand terms. The author's writing was effective and powerful in these parts.
He was effective is showing what the temptations are but gave few examples of how to combat them or handle situations differently. One could see this as a weakness, but perhaps by forcing the reader to think of their own ways to handle them, one could see this as a strength... or an opportunity for reader to contact the author's management consulting firm for much more guided direction.
Personally, I found it to be a quick read and interesting in parts and applicable to my own life, even though I am not a CEO. I recommend this anyone interested in improving their leadership skills regardless of whether they serve at a company or not.
No comments:
Post a Comment