Customer Reviews

Leadership Divided: What Emerging Leaders Need and What You Might Be Missing (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoyed all aspects of this book. For me it was the perfect read. The way the author drew you into the facts and the storyline was interesting and a real page turner. I highly recomed this book to everyone.

I believe this book about leadership, challenges and generational gaps, should be read by all leaders past old and emerging new leaders. I enjoyed reading this book and hope many more generations to come will do so as well. Carucci's points are logical, as he accurately describes a younger generation of managers as highly mistrustful of their own managers and averse to taking on leadership positions because of a very strong perception of risk. Carucci's central theme is that emerging leaders have already decided against following a traditional management style, so long-established managers must break specific habits in order to retain the needed talent. Each chapter focuses on a specific management trait and is framed by a fictional case study that Carucci admits is a best-case scenario. It is up to the new emerging leaders to define the preferred management style, and make the most of their life experiences to be successful. They also need to take what they have learned from their past and past leaders to inspire and motivate future leaders of the next generations to come.

Working for a large monopolistic organization, you tend to experience the worst management has to offer. I found this ground-breaking book revelatory in explaining why traditional approaches to leadership have failed. More importantly, Carucci powerfully and poignantly offers an alternative that can work. Too often, those of us in the management ranks of organizations, daily grinding out ways to "make it work," are invited to cynicism through the callous and insensitive behaviors of leaders who believe in the rightness of their actions. I would strongly urge anyone tasked with the development of leaders in their organizations to make Leadership Divided the centerpiece of their theory and practice.

Through the exploration of six relational patterns, Carucci blends the practical and profound in both hard-hitting research and a gripping novelette. The story is compelling as it captivates you with believable scenarios and characters you come to love and resent. Leadership Divided is truly a "must-read" for anyone claiming to be serious about their own leadership development.

A brief confession: there was a time when I was hopelessly addicted to leadership books. I knew that I wanted to be an agent of great change and subsequently I knew that becoming a great leader was the necessary foundation for catalyzing great change. So, like many of you, I began to devour everything I could get my hands on in regards to becoming a transformational leader. While there are nuggets of wisdom in most texts, I soon became disillusioned with how neat and tidy principles became soiled and muddy in the real world.

I wanted more. And frankly, I didn't think I would find it from anyone over 35.

Perhaps this desire for more is a dominant characteristic of my "emerging" generation. In reading "Leadership Divided" I was overjoyed to find a book which had the courage to dive into the immense complexities of leadership, especially the complexities that are created through a generational divide that I feel so keenly.

I have been waiting for this book for a long time.

As an emerging leader this book has spurned me to extend my hand into the divide in hopes of incredible change. It is a relationship I now I believe I cannot live without, it really is the only way forward. My increasing desire is that incumbent leaders are able to extend their hands in the same way that Ron Carucci has extended his.

Over the past year I have immersed myself in a profound search for how to truly understand the differences in generations both for personal and professional reasons. I have read numerous books from Millennials Rising to Secrets of the Young & Successful, but not until I happed upon Leadership Divided did I feel an author really put in to words what anyone who runs a business with multigenerational employees really needs to know. After 20 years selling advertising in Corporate America I decided to take another career path specializing in understanding our future business leaders and this book has become the basis for my outline. In laypersons terms, Ron Carucci really gets it and you can too! This book will prove to inspire both frustrated Boomers as well as incumbent leaders who want to continue to improve their understanding of the workforce of the future. A true sense of gratitude for what each generation stands for is essential in realizing how to propel forward versus being mired in generational differences. A must read!

this book is great for leaders looking for emerging leaders, it analyzes the

key aspects of todays leader subordinate relationship, and how it is changing and evolving.

Despite the authors optimism it provides great insight

al nymc

Ever have the gut need to just be inspired? To read material, especially on an over-serviced subject like leadership, and want to exclaim with conviction, "YES!" Leadership Divided is the book that will take you there. As an emerging leader in a major government organization, I spend many days wondering about my future and the leadership career that will unfold for me. I hear over and over that there is a "shortfall" of leaders for the future, and as such, my development is essential for the sustainability of my organization. Yet my experience doesn't match that belief. What I have found is that there is definitely a crisis, but its not one of shortfall. (Diane at Harvard Business review who wrote the review above clearly never cracked open her copy of the book - had she, she would have known the quote she references was from the TV show "The Office." She completely missed the point! That's the kind of integrity shortage that makes us emerging leaders so cynical about leadership!). The crisis is one of relationship. Page after page, I was able to locate myself in the words and stories of Leadership Divided. I am being "developed" as a fast-tracked leader, and find myself fighting not to roll my eyes at some of the empty platitudes being put forth as leadership. In the wake of such leadership trash, I have finally come across a book that rises above the noise and says something of great substance. Don't miss this one!

Everyone knows relationships matter. But the formulaic recipe books typically offered have never worked, and the movement toward more collaborative, intimate relationships in the work place continues to grow. Organizations and leaders will no longer succeed, and perhaps they never did, by trying to follow neat and tidy plug-and-play leadership models. Leadership is about relationships, and let's face it they are always messy, time intensive, and complex. It's precisely why they are the most profound vehicle for change that exists. And Leadership Divided offers an honest, inspiring and provocative look at the kinds of relationships necessary for leaders to succeed on the global stage.

As an executive search professional I'm not the target audience for this book. However, given that I spend my entire day on the phone trying to attract top professionals to new opportunities, I know leadership issues top the list of reasons most people will be open to my phone call and to considering a change. When career discussions inevitably turn to the topic of "what's leading to you explore new horizons?" the answer given most often is a lack of appreciation for loyalty, contributions, and a shortage of mentoring received from supervisors." Leadership Divided paints an accurate picture of the generational and cultural differences that contribute to stalled communication and the relational investment required from both sides to turn things around. I found the story of Brookreme interesting, and the situations believable. I was eager to get back to the book and see how things would turn out. Rather than the usual collection of canned solutions, this book offers deep insight on what open productive dialog looks like. It was obvious to me this is the result of field tested experience instead of trying to attach facts to existing theory. As far as the HBR review's comment about the book siding with the emerging leaders, someone once said "people don't leave companies and jobs they leave other people." You can't change the culture of the times you lead in, so while both sides need to step up, if you're an incumbent leader you shoulder the bulk of the responsibility to make it happen, that's why it's called leadership. This book can help

I am what Carucci calls an `emerging leader.' Amongst other things this means is that when a new leadership book comes out I gobble it up in hopes of a finding a way forward that I can subscribe to. After many letdowns, this book turned the corner for me. As I read I found myself continually saying, "Finally, someone finally gets it." Someone finally gets that I, as an emerging leader, am dying to lead, I just won't lead, or want to be led, the same way that incumbent leaders are leading.

Therefore, this book is not your typical leadership book that sets forth principles, or values, or quick-fixes. Instead, this book calls for and seeks conversation between parties, and most importantly, it doesn't place the blame of the `division' on anyone. Therefore, at the foundation of Carucci's thought is a true change of character of both the `incumbent' and `emergent' leader if we are to move forward with any level of sustainable health. This is a beautiful mandate to companies (and individuals), big and small, worldwide.

If you are in any leadership role and you find yourself struggling with a colleague that is a generation (or two) older or a generation (or two) younger than you then please read this book. You will be doing yourself, your company, and those you lead a favor.