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Smarter, Faster, Better: Strategies for Effective, Enduring, and Fulfilled Leadership

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There are good business books out there on the topic of effective leadership, and then there are those "GREAT" books that come along - books that are easy to read, make sense in the real world and give ideas and tips to put into practice immediately that really do make us better. This is one of those GREAT books! Ms. Sloan has a knack for speaking directly to the reader, as if we are in a coaching session with her, listening intently and using skillful inquiry to allow us to come to know both our good and not-so-good behaviors that prevent us from leading with greater ease and skill, and ultimately getting the outcome we want. In fact, that's the key piece - Ms. Sloan's modeling of the ideas and skills she is sharing throughout her book. Often, offering ideas and solutions are the preferred "currency" in the business world because they are equated with taking action. Listening and inquiry, while desperately needed, are not often valued because they don't appear to produce immediate, observable "results." The pressure to "do" is overwhelming the need to "listen, ask, then do well." Sloan offers strategies to help us use listening and inquiry to lead to actions that make business sense. I have underlined many items and used several of her suggestions immediately in my own work, as well as shared a couple of hints with others, particularly around the myth of multi-tasking. I highly recommend this book, whether you are a first-time leader, more seasoned or work in the leadership development arena, the wise and extremely useful guidance in Ms. Sloan's work is in perfect timing to aid leaders in becoming truly smarter, faster and better.

In "Smarter, Faster, Better: Strategies For Effective, Enduring, And Fulfilled Leadership", author Karlin Sloan draws upon her many years of experience and expertise as an executive coach and leadership consultant to reveal what she calls the 'paradoxical truths' of leadership in the 21st Century. These can be summed as: 'To be smarter you, you must ask more questions.'; 'To be faster, you must slow down.'; 'To be better, you must focus less on personal gain and more on cooperating with others.' Karlin offers the reader time-tested strategies, self-assessments, case examples, exercises, and an impressively practical variety of tips and techniques to enable anyone charged with leadership responsibilities to gain perspective and self-knowledge, to seize new opportunities, to resolve difficult issues, to boost their organization's sense of purpose and social responsibility, and to improve the quality and success of their own performance as a leader. Very strongly recommended and thoroughly 'user friendly', "Smarter, Faster, Better" will teach aspiring leaders to ask questions that will make them smarter; gain hours of spare work time by slowing way down; manage their energy and keep healthier both on and off the job; tap into multiple intelligence (their own and their employees); energize their work teams; benefit from dynamic, creative, highly charged people; 'Get better with your competition instead of getting better than your competition'; and adding to the bottom line through establishing business practices that contribute to the world in a positive way.

Smarter, Faster, Better is a breath of fresh air. Although leadership has been written about in so many ways -- Sloan has managed to share many new insights that are not only innovative but are inspirational. The ideas in this book are practical and powerful for leaders at any level.

Karlin Sloan's book has a subtitle of "Strategies for Effective, Enduring, and Fulfilled Leadership". This book isn't about organizing your time or 10 tricks of Pushing your Employees. It's about a more long term approach to being a leader - ensuring that you choose a moral path and then achieve your goals in a sustainable, person-supporting manner.

The key here is to work smarter, NOT just faster. By being intelligent about your daily working habits, you can achieve more high quality output with less wear and tear on yourself and others. You consider when you have been successful in the past, and what can inspire you in each day's offerings to bring you to that same state. For example, set a five minute timer and write down all your strengths. Did you feel uncomfortable "praising" yourself? Are these strengths that you bring into play, or do you try to work from your weak side? If you know you're great with numbers, and not so great with creative drawing, then bring on someone to handle the drawing, and put your own efforts where you will easily get "in the flow". The whole company will benefit.

Much of the book emphasizes the importance of values. A company that moves strongly down the wrong path is not doing well. A company that first charts out a path which is great for the environment, for the customers and for the employees will achieve great things every single day. Make sure you appreciate each member of your team for what they contribute, and present them with the positive you know they can achieve, rather than pointing out the negatives that they have slipped up on. That is, if someone presents a report with a lot of typos, instead of criticizing them for the typos, say how you appreciate the information but worry that they typos will hold them back from the career progression they could be making. Suggest software programs and a second pair of eyes to help them achieve their goals.

Karlin talks a fair amount about having a healthy metal state and how critical this is to working at your best levels. A brain works best when it is relaxed. You might think of yourself as a firefighter - but firefighters work hard on staying in shape, getting good sleep, keeping their equipment in top notch state and acting as a team. When there IS a fire, they go in as a coordinated unit, following a well understood plan of attack and working together to put out that fire. It's not a knee-jerk, wild reaction with no preparation. To handle fires, you need that healthy "starting point".

The same is true for sports greats. They achieve those great heights not by killing themself every day with long hours and no support. Instead, the true greats work out daily, take care of themselves, get steady coaching and training from those with experience. They ask for help and rely on their team members. Even solitary sports heroes like golfers have a cadre of caddies, coaches, nutritionists and others who support them in their goals.

We might think we're more rushed than any other time in history - but really we have WAY more time in our lives than any other period of history. Back in the Roman times, people tended to die at age 25!! Think of all the YEARS we have in our lives that no others before us had. Rather than multi-task, which studies say result in each task not being done as well as it could be, we should focus on what we are doing. People can tell when we're on the phone but really doing something else. It comes across in our speech pattern and in our inflection. Don't try to be perfect - but give focus to each task you work on and do it well. Seek that "flow state" that writers and athletes talk about, where your training and attention merge to make your actions and thoughts move easily. The Theta State of Meditation can really help you focus and get great insights. There are many books which help you learn to meditate even in 5 minute breaks at work.

Working 21 hours in a row puts you in the mental state of being legally drunk. It's far more valuable to get the sleep you need and to work less hours, but in a more productive, happy manner. Set boundaries on your time. People will respect you when you set out a healthy balance of what you can achieve.

In addition to all this great advice, the book provides many stories that help the examples make sense, as well as a variety of check lists to help you get feedback and see how well you're doing in your own world.

My only real complaint about the book is that the writing style is at times rather formal and stilted. I have many other books I've read where they had a very easy-going writing style that was easy to sink into and enjoy from start to end. With this one, it was more of an effort to read - it was like reading a textbook on the subject of leadership rather than talking with a friendly person who had information to share. Still, the information is quite valuable, and I recommend that people make the effort to get through the book to learn what it has to offer.

Smarter, Faster, Better... is a very practical guide for both developing and established leaders. The anecdotes are true-to-life and raise "everyman" types of issues that almost anyone in a business setting has experienced for themselves or seen in the people around them. The checklists and exercises can be used individually or in teambuilding. And it's an easy read -- great for busy people. End of chapter summaries and call-outs for the exercises and checklists make it a great reference book once the first read-through is complete.

Watching the recent news, one can get the impression that the American corporate world is a corrupt one. Almost every night there is a new story about another executive being accused, arrested or tried for some crime. This alternates with other stories about the incredible compensations that many executives are receiving. Interspersed with this are stories of how many jobs are being outsourced from the United States and the soaring trade deficit. The combination of all these things could lead you to believe that the American business community is in a globally relative decline.
That is not necessarily the case because the American business community is still the most innovative in the world. Most of the success companies in other countries are benefiting from are due to their importing the consequences of American innovation and expertise. Therefore, the title of this book aptly describes how to be successful in the modern economy. Do you think you're smart, fast and better than others are? If true, and you may simply be deluding yourself, that condition is transient, so you better come up with ways to be even smarter, faster and better. Sloan is right on in her advice on how to advance your qualities to remain competitive.
The first and always the most important points are to understand that you cannot remain where you are, not now, not ever. Striving for a better level of achievement is not only profitable but also necessary. By following her advice you can become a bigger and faster rat and maybe morph into a greyhound or even a quarter horse.