Customer Reviews

The Confident Leader: How the Most Successful People Go From Effective to Exceptional

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(1)
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I am only halfway through the book and wish I would have read it much sooner. Everyone should read this book! I am an RN who has known for many years that if I explain the rationale behind why I recommend something to a patient, the more likely they are to adhere to it. If, for example, I want a patient to get up and walk after surgery and I told them "Your goal today should be to get up and walk" without any explanation, the patient is more likely to procrastinate about it all day dwelling on the pain and discomfort they feel from surgery. On the other hand, if I tell them that the goal will be to walk today because by just that one action they will be preventing pneumonia and blood clots, promoting circulation which promotes healing, preventing muscle atrophy, skin breakdown and ileus ( a twisting of the intestine which can sometimes be a problem for patient's who are not moving around much after receiving anesthesia), and that we will control their pain with medications in the beginning to get them over the hump, they are going to be more likely to walk not only once but maybe two or three times! Larina Kase does the exact same thing with how we think and make decisions in work and life. It now makes sense why I keep falling into the same habits even though they hold me back. Not only does she answer WHY we come to certain decisions but also HOW to change our thought patterns to make those decisions more effective, thus achieving greater success in life. This information is not just important for our business success but can be applied to any aspect of our life. This is the next best thing to her personally coaching you. Obviously, I highly recommend it. Wishing you success! Chris from Arizona

I almost didn't order this book because the word "Leader" didn't particularly resonate with me. But I really liked Dr. Kase's other book, The Confident Speaker, so I decided to give this one a try. After glancing at the table of contents, it became clear to me that this book is for ANYONE who wants to grow. I liked that the book looks at the person as a whole and recognizes that everyone (including the most successful) has habits, fears, and beliefs that keep them from succeeding even more. I am impressed not only by the breadth of techniques the book covers, but by the clear, systematic, and well-defined action steps that walk you through fighting the usual things that keep us from being "exceptional".

I am always looking for ways to grow myself, my business, and inspire my clients - this is a book I would definitely recommend.

As a licensed psychologist, I read a lot of self-help books so I can make informed recommendations to my clients. This is one that I'll definitely recommend. Firmly grounded in cutting-edge research (which I found not only relevant but interesting and insightful) Kase lays out a clear and practical approach to help the reader go from "effective to exceptional" and then grounds it all in a variety of real-life applications. Her writing is highly engaging, accessible, and a pleasure to read. I particularly appreciated her willingness to share personal examples from her own professional journey: clearly Kase not only talks the talk, but has walked the walk. I also found the interviews with other leaders in different fields to be quite valuable. There's much here to benefit from. Well done!

Dr. Kase has packed an amazing amount of information into this compact book on business leadership. As a psychologist, I am always on the lookout for books that I can recommend to clients who feel stuck as business owners or high ranking executives. At last, here is one that I can recommend with great enthusiasm. What's more, because Dr. Kase bases her book on sound psychological research, her written words reinforce concepts that I share verbally with my clients--a really welcome change from other leadership books that are based on anecdote. As for myself, even though I run a very small business, I definitely run into obstacles of my own making or otherwise, and I am certain this is a book I will pull off the shelf again and again to get perspective and ideas for moving forward with my vision.

I highly recommend this book. In it, Dr. Larina Kase reveals a powerful perspective on how we develop and what contributes to success in our lives and in our work. Weaving together stories from her clients with psychological research, Larina helps us see our own tendencies objectively. She explains that in a situation where you are reaching beyond what you have done before, natural discomfort arises in your experience. What we do with that discomfort or anxiety, is a key factor in how much we flourish in life. In my opinion, this objective perspective and insight is a gift, because it liberates our potential to change how we respond and grow. Where before we may have semi-consciously shied away or defended ourselves from this natural discomfort (in a myriad of ways detailed in the book), now we know how to interpret the experience differently. And Larina also lays out a simple, yet comprehensive system of development, or "GROWTH" process that enables us to change.

Not only is the perspective powerful, but Larina takes care to help us immediately take action--for each insight revealed in the book, she gives us action steps. To top it off, the book is full of interviews with experts who have demonstrated the effectiveness of the growth mindset in their own lives. Sharing their insights on the subject matter fills out the book and makes it a rich resource that I will keep coming back to again and again.
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This is no ordinary business book. Thank you Larina for bringing your depth of understanding as a business psychologist and executive leadership coach to bear on every page!

After seeing all of these five star reviews and the high number of recommendations, I thought this book would be very useful with lots of detailed and important content. This book is well marketed. It has a great title, interesting sounding topics are listed in the table of contents and as I mentioned there are many recommendations. But this book comes up short in detail because it tries to cover too much and doesn't explain the covered topics in depth. Instead the author spends the first several chapters discussing her GROWTH model then tries to fit it into every context thereafter. In many cases I didn't see how this model fit, and it seemed to apply only by the starting letter G,R,O,W,T,H. Secondly, there are no detailed case studies, just alot of cursory conclusions of cases. As I read the book I found myself wanted more detail and desiring clear detailed examples, but found none. There were some useful conclusions, but I found that many of them had already stated more clearly and were better supported in other business/leadership books I've read previously. A good book that fit this example is "The One Thing You Need to Know" by Marcus Buckingham. If The Confident Leader had covered less, but provided more detail of what was covered, I think it would have been much better, and would have offered much more.

I thoroughly LOVED this book! I have heavily marked, flagged, highlighted, studied, summarized, and journaled on this book. Larina's background as both a therapist/psychologist and coach really came through clearly in this book. Not only does she describe the various challenges a leader faces, she also provides the psychological background behind each, and specific tips on how to address these challenges and become what the book's title claims - a more confident leader. I have benefited greatly from this book, and have bought 2 additional copies to share with colleagues. Highly recommended!

I have read this book three times in the last year and discover something new ever time. Highly relevant and actionable. Very helpful!

As a performance psychologist and business success author and coach, I've followed Dr. Larina Kase for years. I highly recommend that you subscribe to her value-packed newsletters.

Here's my confession: I bought this book under the guise of a birthday present for my 14-year-old entrepreneur so he'd be sure to read it...but once I started reading it he had to fight me for it!

This book, in Kase style, is grounded in cutting-edge research (singing my song!) yet written clearly and engagingly enough to appeal to my budding leader teenager. The personal examples and interviews with successful leaders in a variety of fields adds to its appeal.

So young entrepreneur or older executive, pick up this book by Dr. Larina Kase today and take a quantum leap in your personal journey toward being exceptional ... and embrace that as a leader, you will take many others with you!

To your success!

Mollie Marti, Ph.D.
www.BestLifeDesign.com
Author, The 12 Factors of Business Success