Lead Like a Pirate! Leadership Secrets of the Pirates of St. Croix [Perfect Paperback]

Christopher Novak (Author), Steven Umbleby (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2007

Learning the secrets to effective team leadership has never been more fun then with this beautifully illustrated book set in the golden age of pirates! Sail with Captain Tiger-Eye Taylor as he shares his secrets on Captain, Crew, Mission, Strategy and Treasure - the keys to transforming bands of buccaneers into high performing legends of teamwork. A must-read resource for every frontline leader, it's the perfect tool for sparking serious discussion on what it takes to turn diversity into strength, speed into advantage and heart into leadership. Give your Captains and Crews something to cheer about with this themed-learning gem!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A thoroughly enjoyable experience that teaches valuable lessons on leadership and teamwork - a great tool to use in team-building!" --John Cerrone, Treasurer & Director of Administration, Babbitt Bearings, Inc.

Lead Like a Pirate teaches us the characteristics of effective leadership while providing ideas for bringing the real life lessons of Pirates to the workplace. A must-read for every team leader looking for an entertaining way to begin a dialogue about building a successful team that maximizes the contributions of its individual members. --Amy Diamond Barnes, SPHR, Associate Vice President for Human Resources, Colgate University

About the Author

Christopher Novak, founder of The Summit Team, is an author, motivational speaker and leadership consultant with an expertise in human resources. His business experience includes senior human resources positions with Cornell University and Syracuse China Company and hands-on leadership in labor relations, training, recruitment and organizational development. He is the author of Conquering Adversity and more than 20 magazine articles in publications that include Newsweek, HR Magazine, CUPA-HR Journal, Smithsonian s Air & Space and syndication by The New York Times. He is a highly rated speaker and has a master s degree in business management from the State University of New York s College of Technology and a dual bachelor s degree in aeronautics-mathematics from Miami University.

Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 88 pages
• Publisher: CornerStone Leadership Institute (September 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979800919
• ISBN-13: 978-0979800917
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,466,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than I expected... some solid wisdom here., February 5, 2008

By 

Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lead Like a Pirate! Leadership Secrets of the Pirates of St. Croix (Perfect Paperback)

On the surface, the book Lead Like a Pirate! Leadership Secrets of the Pirates of St. Croix by Christopher Novak appears to be yet another leadership book where the author takes some character from history and attributes a leadership system to them. But having said that, I have to admit that I really enjoyed this short read on solid leadership and teamwork skills. And if you've never read a book or taken any courses on leadership and teamwork, this will serve as a decent starting point for you.

Contents:

Leaders, Legends, and Loot; Pirate Team Leadership Model; Secret 1 - The Captain; Secret 2 - The Crew; Secret 3 - The Mission; Secret 4 - The Strategy; Secret 5 - The Treasure; Scorecard; Extended Insights; Lead Like A Pirate! Training Ideas; Notes from the Captain's Log; About the Author; Bring Pirates to your Next Event

Novak approaches the topic of leadership from the perspective of a fictitious pirate captain named Tiger Eye Taylor. Taylor shares his secrets and philosophy on leading a crew, getting them to focus on the mission, bringing them together as a cohesive group for the success of all, and how the crew should be rewarded. At the end of each chapter/secret, the reader is presented with the option of three different choices of people to bring aboard (or reactions to situations). Each one is described in detail in terms of their pros and cons, and you should then make your choice as to which one would work best for the team. Then at the end of the book, the real author explains the proper choices in each case, while also showing how the other two "wrong" choices would affect the crew and the mission.

If you've read more than a couple business leadership books, there shouldn't be any new deep insights for you here. The choices of who you should pick or how you should react *should* be clearly obvious after reading what makes a good leader or follower. However, if you're working with a group that already show signs of major dysfunctional behavior, presenting these common sense ideas in a pirate theme might be what it takes to get people to shift their normal reactions a bit. From there, you can build on the small improvements and see where you can go.

Personally, I saw the book as interesting in terms of how a team of pirates might be compared to a successful business unit. It's not the normal analogy you'd make, and I don't think I'll ever view Captain Jack Sparrow in quite the same way again. :) For the short time investment involved, this is a good book to consider to get your "crew" formed and your leadership established.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for the right audience., January 29, 2008

By 

Monty Rainey (New Braunfels, TX) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lead Like a Pirate! Leadership Secrets of the Pirates of St. Croix (Perfect Paperback)

After first reading this book, I was poised to write a not too stellar 3 star review. Luckily, I didn't get around to writing it right away and had a huge change of heart. Last weekend, we kept four of our grandsons, ranges in ages from 4 to 13. When the saw the book laying on my desk with a pirate on the cover, it immediately grabbed their attention. So, LEAD LIKE A PIRATE: LEADERSHIP SECRETS OF THE PIRATES OF ST. CROIX by Christopher Novak, found new life.

After my initial reading, I was looking at the book from the perspective of a CEO or boardroom bigwig. I still do believe many CEO and boardroom bigwigs might find the book a bit too simplistic, even juvenile for their tastes. But after sharing this book with my grandsons, I came away with a much different view. I believe this book is great for school-age athletes and their coaches. Because of the whole pirate theme, the book held their interest and was constructed in such a way that they (at least the two older boys) came away with valuable lessons on leadership and team-building skills. Even the 4 year old enjoyed it, simply because it was about pirates and I tried to use my best pirate vernacular as I read it to them.

Novak breaks his lessons into five parts; Captain, crew, mission, strategy and treasure. Each part is followed by a multiple-choice question. At the end of the book, you score your answers and there is an extended explanation as to the correct choices and why.

I would also like to qualify my earlier comments. If you have a rather "laid-back" or even "group participation" style of training, this would be a good fit for sales meetings and other business training. On the other hand, many businesses, particularly large corporations, tend to be rather stanch and stuffy, `let's get down to business' types. If that is the case, you'll want to look elsewhere for training material.

2.0 out of 5 stars Nothing new, February 20, 2012

By 

mom2cats (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lead Like a Pirate! Leadership Secrets of the Pirates of St. Croix (Perfect Paperback)

If you get any new information from this book, you've likely not read other books on leadership. It's short and couched in a story about pirates... That's different and the reason I didn't give it one star.