I just finished The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership by Steven B. Sample.
Disclaimer: This is a Leadership Book. This is not a book written from a Christian perspective. You may not agree with everything mentioned in the book, but it is a great though-provoking read.
Here is what I learned from the book:
- Think gray. Try not to form black and white opinions about people or ideas until you absolutely have to.
- Think free. Develop the discipline of thinking WAY outside the lines and boundaries of traditional thought. Think OUTRAGEOUS!
- Cultivate the art of listening. Listen first and talk later.
- Be wary of expert advice since most experts have an agenda related to their respective field. Don’t neglect your own discernment concerning your organization.
- You are what you read. Sample encourages the reading of the “super-texts”. (These are the ancient spiritual text from all over the world: Bible, Quran, Bhagavad Gita, and classic Literature.) His favorite and most often quoted is The Prince by Machiavelli. Allow your staff to keep you updated on modern trade publications and newspaper events.
- Never make a decision that you can delegate to a staff person.
- Ignore past decisions that may look like failures and have unrecoverable costs. Your organization depends upon your ability to move forward.
- Know what hills you are willing to die on.
- Build the best staff and team as possible and spend much of your time resourcing them for success.
- Be willing to do leadership as well as BE the leader. It is easy to covet the title, but you must be willing to do the job with perseverance.
- Equip and invest in people rather than simply just run the organization. If you build into people, you will create motion and substance that will move the organization. Encourage and invest and you will bring out the best in your people.
- Don’t simply copy other organizations but trust your organization’s own original thinking and approaches for an unconventional product.
This is a great book and well worth the price.
