Customer Reviews

Big Shoes: How Successful Leaders Grow into New Roles

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

At first, I was encouraged by the slim size of this book. Far too many business books are bloated expansions of a tired set of slides given at hundreds of seminars, and when I picked up "Big Shoes," I knew it wasn't going to be one of those books.

Instead, it was another type of tiresome business book that I've seen far too many times. "Big Shoes" is long on buzzwords and platitudes, and short on nuts and bolts. I thought this might be a book with practical down-to-earth pointers for real people who are interested in building leadership skills in a new role, or in preparation for a new role. In contrast, this book seems oriented to new CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, limiting its audience significantly. Further, its prescriptions for "how successful leaders grow into new roles" boil down to things like "have a vision for the first 100 days" and "work hard those first 100 days to get buy-in and adjust your staff to make sure that vision happens." Great. We also get contradictory advice, such as a multi-page screed against multitasking (as if your CEO or board will appreciate you not returning their emails), contrasted with a paean to social networking.

"Big Shoes" also is a marketing piece for the author's consulting company, the achievements of which are touted in a self-congratulatory manner throughout this book. No wonder he tells future CEOs that execution teams for projects need to be outside consultants brought in specifically for the task.

"Big Shoes" lost all credibility with me when it approvingly cited TV's "The Apprentice" as providing a good example of leadership. I've worked in a number of industries in several capacities, and I can tell you I've never seen people in real-life business act that badly. Well, not if they weren't getting escorted out of the building the next day. To suggest that the kind of reality-TV backstabbing and bad behivior of "The Apprentice" is an example of leadership is absurd.

This is a quick read, and it's possible that someone might benefit from perusing it for a few minutes at the library. Nonetheless, for me it's too unfocused, anecdotal, and unconvincing to help me. I'd recommend a pass.

Big Shoes approaches the question of leadership growth slightly different from most other leadership books I have read. Sander Flaum takes a chronological approach to the issues that confront a leader.

He divides a leader's career into stages and then discusses the issues that most leaders will face in that stage of career development. He also gives suggested approaches about how to best handle all the issues which will come up.

The first stage is the "You are hired. Now what?" Here Flaum gives advice on how to hit the ground running. He takes a detailed look of the things a new leader should be doing during the first few months on the job.

Once you are past the honeymoon stage, you must "craft a winning culture." Here is where the leader must sell his strategies to the people he is leading. This requires a leader to sharpen their people skills. You cannot push your agenda on the staff. You must get buy-in.

The next phase for effective leaders is to start developing new products and strategies to get out in front. You cannot afford to just maintain course. Your competitors are always in hot pursuit. So the great leader is always looking for ways to stay ahead of the pack.

Then the leader needs to hone his leadership instincts. Change is happening at an ever increasing pace. The effective leader is continually improving their skills.

The final phase of a leader's career is preparing his replacement. According to Flaum, "Great leaders do more than repair companies and keep them rolling. They prepare their companies to be successful long after they are gone."

Each phase is illustrated with stories and examples - some from the author's own career, others from lesson he has observed.

While the book gives some great insights about what it takes to be a good leader, it also gives some insight about the price a leader must pay. Flaum relates how his busy schedule cost him a life long friend. Everyone looks at the CEO with a certain amount of envy. But there is a price to pay for being at the top.

The book is very short, easy to read and has some very good lessons. It does not contain the typical worksheets, exercises and extended source references found in so many "leadership manuals". It is more the personal philosophy and insights of Sander Flaum based on his every extensive experience.

A good read.

I am a teacher, and have been asked to explore entering administration, so I hoped this book would help me make the transition successfully. Basically, Flaum states his insights about leadership in a chronological and logical manner, starting from the point of hire, and ending with a chapter asking whether an executive can truly have time to rest.

I will begin by listing some of the positive aspects of this book. First, I found the chronological approach helpful. Rather than just being a series of inspirational, but vague, principles, Flaum takes us "on the ground" and gets into the heart of how to lead. Second, he recognizes the poor quality of recent "leaders" that have run their companies into the ground, in the process hosing their customers, and still leaving with golden parachutes. In other words, he writes from a realistic perspective, critical of the recent business scandals, and urges future leaders to avoid being greedy. Third, the book contains many excellent insights that I highlighted and will certainly use in the future: thank employees regularly, make sure donors know how their money is helping people, enter the job with a strong plan and actively implement it the first 100 days, ignore or let someone else handle the day-to-day distractions, and so forth. These ideas (and more) are explored in more detail in the various chapters.

There is some advice in the book that gave me pause. The first concern I have is that Flaum criticizes George W. Bush for "listening" too much during his early presidency. Flaum argues that good leaders act, and Bush listened too much, not clearly stating his plan to the public. However, Bush entered his presidency without a mandate, and when he did stop listening, and began advancing his agenda unilaterally, his popularity as a leader plummeted. While I see Flaum's point, I think it is a good idea to listen even while actively making necessary changes. The next concern I have is probably an issue I have with the corporate world in general, but basically, Flaum assumes that a leader will live and breathe his or her business. While lamenting the high rate of family problems among CEOs, I don't think Flaum thinks radically enough about how to change this. Perhaps the whole idea of hiring someone willing to give his or her life away to a business is one reason our leaders are perceived as out-of-touch, and why so many eventually become corrupt. Living and breathing a business all day, with little interaction with "the real world" could easily make a person, and business, out of touch with reality. Finally, the book is definitely geared toward business, and while many of the insights apply to non-profits and other leadership opportunities, it is not directed specifically to my situation. In fact, a lot of it seems to be geared toward people that want to be CEOs.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and discovered some great insights about leadership, even if I was visualizing the movie "Office Space" (a movie that satirizes corporate life) while reading some of it.

At 122 pages, "Big Shoes" is a quick read. Which is nice. I'm sick of tired of business (and computer) books that run 300+ pages. I just don't have the patience to make my way through that anymore. I want the good bits and I want them easily. The bad news is that there really isn't anything new here. It's the same old tired advice that I've read in every other book about making a transition into a new role. As the author writes, execution and actualization is the hardest part of leading and managing and I wish that he had taken some time to write a little more about that. He also plugs his consulting firm a little too much and his stories and examples don't really ring any bells me with so it doesn't establish any extra credibility.

The primary premise of BIG SHOES: HOW SUCCESSFUL LEADERS GROW INTO NEW ROLES, by Sander Flaum, though having some degree of merit, is also critically flawed in its' presentation. Flaum portrays the opening 100 days of the Bush 43 Presidency as an abysmal failure because Bush "listened to the commanders in the field" and assured the press corps he would "listen to friends in the Middle East before formulating policy". Flaum goes on to portray the Bush presidency as a failure because Bush "listened before taking action." Contrast that to the Obama presidency whereby Flaum touts raving success because President Obama "prepared for the new post so extensively he was able to get things done immediately".

The presentation destroys the premise when you consider the millions of Americans who are fed up with having unpopular political agendas shoved down their throats by someone many people are now viewing as severely un-prepared for the job. Personally I view the Bush presidency as a tremendous wasted opportunity, but we have to consider this before taking Flaum's advice of taking over a company with somewhat of a wrecking ball mindset; Bush got re-elected. It's looking more and more doubtful that Obama will.

Certainly when taking over the helm of a company or division, the new leader will see some things that are obviously in need of revision or even elimination, but it is sage advice also to begin a thousand mile journey one step at a time. Throwing the weight of your newfound power around simply for the sake of change can be a dangerous thing as evidenced by our newly tripled national debt.

Once past the first 15 pages, the author refrains from further political views. He also refrains from much in the way of new ideas. The book is an easy read and if you haven't read other books on leadership, you might come away with an idea or two. Otherwise, pass on this one.

Convincing arguments can be made for the point that the best educational task that budding and current leaders can be given is to read the list of Fortune 500 companies from twenty years ago and compare it to the current list. Then follow this up with a study of what has happened to the companies that have dropped off the list and why they faded.
The point of this exercise is to demonstrate that the business world is a dynamic one, with fast changes that can quickly alter even a powerful behemoth into an archaic novelty suitable only for "has-been" retrospective studies. Leadership is about seeing ahead, adapting to changing circumstances and being willing to admit to personal failure in order to increase the chances of later success.
Flaum has an excellent perspective on what skills and outlooks that a modern leader needs to have in order to be anything other than a "flash and boom success." It takes a combination of humility, adaptability, confidence, drive, energy, properly focused stubbornness and a work ethic with personal perspective that will let you admit when it is time to chill and vacation. I really enjoyed reading this book; this skill set is a rare one, yet it is one that can be acquired. One way to do that is to pay very close attention to what others have done wrong, another way is to pay close attention to what others have done right and a final way is to read and take seriously quality books like this one.

For mid-level and upper-level management, this book has little to contribute to your operations. Many of the principles are similar to what is provided in basic coursework, as an MBA, or even any college graduate. Even for the level of a college student, this would serve more as a workbook rather than recommended reading material. The format makes decent "Bathroom Reading Material" but nothing more. I had high expectations for this book but was quite disappointed after reading it. Leadership books need more substance.

Decent book but not something I would have bought.

This book is suppose to teach a leader how to survive and succeed in his/her new shoes. Unfortunately, the devil is in details, and this book lacks any detail that could make it useful. "Notch Some Earle Wins", "Understand and Empower Your Key Players", "Meet A+ Outcomes, Not Deadlines", "Sharpen Your People's Skills", "Embrace Innovation and Execute" -- these are some of the mini-chapters that suppose to enlighten a new executive. Duh! Of course these make sense, but when one considers lack of resources, from time to funds, the key must be compromosing on what's essential, and this is when the details must help. Unfortunately, no details, just some anecdotes.

This superficial treatment of the topics leads to seeming contradictions. For example, in chapter "Forget "Ready." Just "Set" and "Go."", the author writes, "The first step is to forget that being perfect is more important than being first." Well, this does contradict the idea expressed in the chapter "Meet A+ Outcomes, Not Deadlines."

The author obviously makes some good points, but there are quite a few of them and they do not get in-depth treatment. In my opinion.

This is a useful, inspiring guide for a newcomer to a top-level management position. There's nothing earth-shattering here, no rocket science, but it is a quick read that will provide the new leader with ideas. The book isn't a detailed how-to guide. Rather, it provides general advice about how a newbie can quickly make a difference in the organization. Some of the author's guidance is counterintuitive, may be challenging to follow in highly structured organizations (deadlines aren't important), and sends mixed messages. Nonetheless, it provides food for thought.

Some of the interesting advice:

- No multi-tasking. Laser focus is more effective than multi-tasking. The author posits that $650 billion annually is lost to corporations due to the inefficiencies of task-switching.

-Don't be a slave to deadlines. The author doesn't go so far as to say ignore deadlines, but he is highly critical of artifically-imposed deadlines. Quality is always more important than timeliness.

- Take immediate action. Dive in and make changes right away; don't waste too much time gathering information and surveying the landscape. Just do something. Get some early wins under your belt, stoke your staff's "competitive metabolism."

- Work without a defined goal. Innovations and creativity flow more freely where there is no direct goal. Keep your workplace creative and vibrant.

-Change before you have to. Change is a constant and critical for survival in today's global marketplace.

-Have an execution strategy. There's no point in wasting time and $$ on big ideas and big plans unless you're prepared to execute them.

The author also gets a little lawyer-bashing into the mix. Although he advises humility and treating people with respect and dignity, he also states that, "On occasion, you'll also have to remind . . . . more conservative personalities that you are wearing the big shoes and what you say goes." Okay, He then adds,"For example, you'll have to keep your legal staff in its place. Lawyers should not be allowed to run your company. They're not innovators. They're not motivators. They're regrettably overtrained to mouth, 'No we cant.' In contrast, the author has nothing but good things to say about his innovative, change-happy Fordham MBA students. Hmm. I guess stereotyping based on degrees and academic discipline and refusing to listen to staff members who express doubt is the hallmark of a good leader.

Overall, this slim book is written for top-level management, those with a big salary, big office, big perks, big stock options. It won't give you nuts and bolts advice for establishing a 30/60/90 day plan, for example, but it will give you some ideas -- to take or leave, as you see fit -- for getting started.

Sander Flaum discusses in a short 120 pages his theories of leaders moving into new roles. I would say there is nothing particularly groundbreaking here, except that Flaum is able to actually deliver his message succinctly and effectively in a quick read.

The approach he takes is sequential - from starting the job to leaving a legacy and retirement. All through the book, Flaum emphasizes the need for focus, rapid decision making, learning and introspection. While many of the approaches are somewhat cliche - like the 100 day plan - they are useful and relevant. The book was written during the throes of the 2009 economic crisis as well, providing a backdrop on leadership that allowed Flaum to do many compare and contrast elements in an environment of excess.

The book is worth the two to three hours it takes to read. It allows the reader to really replay their leadership experience, and more importantly, provides that critical discussion about the legacy you leave and the big shoes YOUR successor needs to fill.