Leading IT: The Toughest Job in the World [Paperback]

Bob Lewis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 2004

Finally - a clear, quick, pragmatic picture of what leaders do every day to achieve the defining goal of their trade: Getting others to follow them. Leading IT: The Toughest Job in the World provides specific, proven techniques. If you're tired of clichés and inspiring-sounding but empty rhetoric that's devoid of concrete guidance, this is what you're looking for: A relentlessly pragmatic book, designed to help you become a more effective leader.

Product Details

• Paperback: 124 pages
• Publisher: IS Survivor Publishing (May 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974935409
• ISBN-13: 978-0974935409
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,255,370 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Lewis, president and founder of IT Catalysts, is one of the most respected advisers and commentators in the IT industry. He is the award-winning author of eight books and nearly 800 columns dealing with how to effectively lead information technology organizations, integrate them into the enterprise, and use them as part of effectively planned and executed business change programs.

Known for his unique blend of vision and pragmatism, Mr. Lewis is recognized internationally as an authority on these subjects.

Prior to founding IT Catalysts, Mr. Lewis held a wide variety of executive, management, staff, and consulting positions in the field of information technology, as well as positions in manufacturing, product development, business planning, and consulting.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The essence of leadership, June 7, 2004

By 

Celia Redmore "Celia Redmore" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leading IT: The Toughest Job in the World (Paperback)

Leadership, says Bob Lewis, can be identified by the presence of followship. If nobody is following you, then no matter how inspiring or impressive you may think you are, you are not a leader. To lead is to persuade others to follow: That is the essence of leadership.

"Leading IT: The Toughest Job in the World" is what you get when you take the best book on leadership available; remove the repetition, padding, footnotes, appendices and inspirational fluff; but leave the intelligence in place. The result is 115 pages containing the essence of leadership, boiled down to the core.

Here is a typical example from a sidebar headed "Leadership is easiest in a crisis":

"...Leading an organization is much, much harder when there's no emergency. Consider Franklin Delano Roosevelt: His greatness resulted less from his resolve following the attack on Pearl Harbor than from his response to the Great Depression. By putting people back to work and through his weekly radio broadcasts he gave people hope. Arguably, it was by restoring America's belief in its ability to solve its problems that he could lead the country through World War II...."

How's that for a timely reminder?

5.0 out of 5 stars Leading IT: The Toughest Job in the World, January 30, 2010

By 

F. Ong (Kailua, Hawaii USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leading IT: The Toughest Job in the World (Paperback)

Very well written and easy to read. Had great advise not only for those in a technical lead role but for those having to deal with technical people or situations needing discipline and rigor of process. Too often situations, HR type or interdisciplinary, leads to too many "touchie-feelie" responses with personalities dictating the responses. This will guide you beyond that.

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for IT, March 9, 2009

By 

Jon Inge (Edmonds, WA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leading IT: The Toughest Job in the World (Paperback)

Do not mistake brevity for lack of insight. This may be a slim volume, but you'll find more valuable, real-world advice here than in a host of weightier tomes, leavened as always with Bob's well-known dry humor. The clarity he brings to the essence of leadership is refreshing and valuable for all leaders, not just those focusing on IT. This isn't a how-to book; it's an expression of the eight basic principles that matter, placed into context with enough guidance and thought-provoking comments to let you apply them to your own situation. It should be standard issue to leaders at all levels of all organizations.