Customer Reviews

The Source of Leadership: Eight Drivers of the High-Impact Leader

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The Source of Leadership is the first book on leadership that I have read that goes far beyond the traditional leadership theory books that provide lists of character traits, and the varoius identified styles and leadership types.

David Traversi identifies the state of leadership in today's society and then proceeds to show the reader how to incorporate the 8 drivers into his/her life to enable not just leadership ability, but to begin having a more satisfying and rewarding life.

To help in the "how to" journey, he provides tools, dashboards,and checklists to better explain and identify the areas of focus the reader determines he/she needs to work on towards reaching the overarching goals of being more content, accountable, present, and credible. By working through the exercises and activities in the book, the reader will emerge with many of the abilities and traits associated with effective leaders.

Finally, the book debunks the old generalization that leaders are born and not made. Almost anyone with the desire and drive to improve himself/herself through introspection and focus can employ the techniques offered up in this book and successfully develop into a leader in any setting.

The Source of Leadership is a wonderful "how to" practical on leadership and well worth the read!

Too often self-help books stimulate the reader while the pages turn, but after the back cover closes the session is over and on we go. David M. Traversi avoids that route in publishing a book, the result of his years as a motivational speaker and writer and coach, that on the surface is a primer for executive search teams to determine who among the hundreds of applicants for CEO jobs deserve to be termed 'leaders', but for the average leader, Traversi has written an extremely user friendly manual that allows the reader to open the potential of personal lives to be everything each of us can be. It is stimulating reading and an enormously helpful guide for self-improvement.

Traversi talks about the 'persona' and the 'shadow' aspects of our personalities: the 'persona' is what we present to the world while the 'shadow' contains the 'personality and behavior energies that have been repressed from consciousness, usually since childhood.' Once he has aided the reader in determining self-evaluation he begins his steps to empower and explore the myriad possibilities within each of us that not only direct toward discovering the secrets of Leadership, but in reality lead us down a well constructed path toward fulfilling the potential in each of us. His chapters by name tell the process direction: Presence, Openness, Clarity, Personal Responsibility, Intuition, Creativity, and Connected Communication: it becomes apparent that the method is first, self-evaluation and then transposing those newfound traits into the qualities needed in 'high-impact leaders.'

Traversi's layout of his information is clear, unencumbered, and supported by not only excellent definitions but also by examples of each added trait as demonstrated in 'case reports.' The importance of this volume in aiding recruiters to identify true leaders is a given. What impresses this reader is the usefulness of the book in seriously testing and diagnosing and treating the individual to succeed in living in the present and altering attitudes and habits to open windows to a far more successful mode of living, communication, working - and leading! Grady Harp, December 07

There's a lot of solid content and solid advice in this book for those who want specific advice on being more effective as a leader. Readers who are uncomfortable with new-age references or practices, or the inclusion of politically correct examples, such as a lesbian couple raising adopted children, should probably look for another book on leadership.

Traversi uses his life experience, both successes and failures, as well as those of others he knows personally to illustrate how his Leadership Dashboard can be used to achieve results both organizationally and personally. In each of the eight major chapters he describes a dominant driver and then shows how the driver impacts both the eleven character traits of a leader and the eight functions of a leader.

It's interesting that he derives his character traits and functions from what he refers to as "traditional leadership" literature such as "The Leadership Challenge," "Built to Last," "Good to Great," and "Servant Leadership," and as he says in his book, "almost anything written by Peter Drucker, John Gardner, Max DePree, Warren Bennis, Margaret Wheatley, John Maxwell, and Jack Welch." He acknowledges that all of these people provide wonderful "what's," but asserts that none of these people ever provided "hows"in their writings. To me that's a stretch and a major weakness of the book. I'm sure that hundreds, if not thousands, of leaders would say that they became more effective leaders because of the teachings of these people - both what's and hows.

The book provides examples and how to's that people can apply and be more effective. There are practical exercises that can help implement the various principles that Traversi believes are important.

I believe both the author and reader would be better served by focusing on what people can achieve by applying what this book teaches rather than making assertions about the work of others that are both difficult to prove and also cause people, who previously found value in those works, to question the value of what this book offers.

Armchair Interviews agrees.

I LOVE this book! The most refreshing book on leadership I have ever read, and I have read scores of them. My library includes a lot of the classics cited by Traversi, like Built to Last by Collins and Porras, The Leadership Engine by Tichy and Cohen, and The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner. Don't get me wrong...you have to read those. They define what the leader is supposed to be and do. Without them, you wouldn't know what effective leadership looks like. What The Source of Leadership does, though, is show HOW to be what a leader is supposed to be and HOW to do what a leader is supposed to do. The HOWs are in the form of personal drivers that exist in each leader or aspiring leader.

The book contains a lot of practical exercises for the development of these personal drivers. Chapter 1, for instance, provides a guided meditation. As recently as ten years ago, Traversi might have been discredited for bringing meditation into the leadership discussion, but today he is cutting edge. I started meditating a few months ago and the effects on my own leadership have been profound. I am so far better grounded. I make better decisions. I have better relationships. I have more energy. In the end, I produce better results. Thus, Traversi had me with Chapter 1. The rest of the book just builds on that. One of his endorsers (and he has a number of high-profile leaders, such as Lewis Coleman, President of Dreamworks Animation, who have endorsed the book) call it a must-read for leaders. I couldn't agree more.

I received this book just after finishing up the book-DVD combination of Deepak Chopra's "The Seven Spirtual Laws of Success," and there is a very visible link in my mind between the two.

This book fills an important niche and is unique in its class. It communicates all the stuff that CEOs like me do not want to hear, that is so popular in ecotopia--squishy stuff like "be in harmony with nature," etc. The book also avoids, and I share the author's view, the "be a leader" p;ontifications that come out of the varied schools or from self-promoters. I liked so much of what I saw at first glance I took this one on immediately. See my list on Collective and Commercial Intelligence for Peace and Prosperity to understand why this author's message is such a perfect fit for the CEOs of our time, in the NOW but mindful of the future.

He is focused simultaneously on the complete failure across all leadership failures, but especially government, religion, and community, and on the importance of finding leadership to get to 2020 is decent shape.

He sets the context by pointing out that technology has reduced past advantages of CEOs, and that velocity and complexity, in the absence of what I call Commercial Intelligence (an order of magnitude improvement on "Competitive Intelligence"), are reducing leaders, even well-educated and well-intentioned leaders to hapless debris in the stream of reality.

It's about character. Each of the eight chapters start with a chart of what traditional leadership books emphasize, and ends with a chart showing the difference from this approach. A self and trusted other evaluation form ends the book.

1 PRESENCE. Be in the moment, use medication, gain new insights.

2. OPENNESS. Break out of the box, a number of useful short exercises.

3. CLARITY. Includes transparency. Wonderful inventory of 38 negative traits, I was humbled to have to check every single one of them. My rehabilitation has just begun. This chapter is a *great* self-check.

4. INTENTION. Imagine the result and practice what you preach.

5. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. Embrace causality, consequences, community. Gain credibility that is priceless and has strategic value.

6. INTUITION. For me this was the other major chapter. The author lists and discusses reasons CEOs are overwhelmed and losing what the Germans call "feeling in the fingertips" or intuition. Childhood and social conditioning (I would include education too competitive and structured and incomplete), technical complexity, mega-size, there are others.

7. CREATIVITY. This is life. Workaholics are by definition narrow. If you don't read, walk, paint, play an instrument or practice something, anything, outside of business, you don't have a life and you will not be inspired, creative, or unconventional.

8. CONNECTED COMMUNICATION. "Do it in person." I recently learned from two great leaders why they never answer emails--the miscommunication, as well as the leakage into the Internet, are hazardous to their health. I have been a "broadcaster" since OSS.Net was started in 1994, but now I am going to move to face to face, and limit my interests to those with whom face to face is important enough to warrant the time and cost of meeting in that direct open manner.

This is a fine book, and I am adding it to my CEO List (Collective and Commercial Intelligence) as suggested reading.

Deepak Chopra (each sold separately, watch the DVD, then read the book):
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Pocketbook Guide to Fulfilling Your Dreams (One Hour of Wisdom)
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Pocketbook Guide to Fulfilling Your Dreams (One Hour of Wisdom)

Some Leadership Books I *Do* Like:
The Knowledge Executive
Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time
Transforming Leadership
Leading Minds: An Anatomy Of Leadership
Leadership
The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization
Where Have All the Leaders Gone?
Leadership Lessons of Jesus

While this book contains many good ideas about how effective leaders actually lead, there are some areas where the statements degenerate into the silly and ridiculous. I will start with the good ideas.
The author first identifies the eight drivers of quality leadership and devotes a chapter to each of them. Those drivers are:

*) Presence
*) Openness
*) Clarity
*) Intention
*) Personal responsibility
*) Intuition
*) Creativity
*) Connected communication

Very few people could voice any effective criticism of these selections.
However, some of the means suggested to execute these drivers are downright silly. On pages 64 and 65, which are in the chapter on openness, the author makes the following suggestions:

Break a rule - hop over a fence into a gated subdivision and take a walk (Reviewer's comment: and risk being arrested for trespassing.) Walk into a restaurant in bare feet and ask to be seated. (Reviewer's comment: And be asked to leave of course.) Be late for work.
Be weird - Scream in joy as you walk down the street, make funny faces to strangers, talk loud in a library, demand loudly what you want, throw food, rub it all over your face and cry. (Reviewer's comment: I fail to see how this is an effective way to impress people, this sounds like a two-year old child executing a temper tantrum.)

On page 100 there is the preposterous statement: "Water is the very source of all life on this planet. Dr. Emoto's work SUGGESTS (reviewer emphasis) to me that we can influence that core element with our thoughts alone. If we can change the molecular structure of water, we can change the molecular structure of ourselves." The molecular structure of water is H2O and if that is changed, it is by definition no longer water. There is no viable proof that one can execute molecular change by thinking.

In chapter 6 on intuition, Traversi argues for the value of intuition against facts. On page 137, there is the statement, "Somewhere along the way, in our pursuit of the "right" answer, many of us became addicted to facts. Indeed, we associate "facts" with virtue and rightness. Many think that those armed with facts are more credible, indeed better, than the unarmed." He then argues against the use of facts because they change over time, citing that it can only be a snapshot of reality that will be different later. However, not all facts change over time and snapshots of current conditions can be accurately used to estimate future conditions.

On page 139, the author makes the statement: "What tools are available to me? Several types of intuitive cues exist - clairsentience, clairvoyance, clairaudience, and just plain knowing." I must say that this is the first time I have ever seen the use of ESP being cited in a book on business.

It is unfortunate that the author felt the need to go so far out of bounds in arguing his case. Had he not descended into the downward absurd, this could have been a good book.

The Source of Leadership: Eight Drivers of the High-impact Leader
I loved this book and read it cover to cover in one sitting!
The principals and practices of leadership that David so clearly and explicity explains are very relevant to my life as a wife, mother and a productive member of my community and the world at large. I believe that if we all start using these practices the world would be a better place for everyone. This book would be a wonderful gift for any young person who is just starting to make their way in the world.

The Source of Leadership is no less than phenomenal. Phenomenal in how it exposes what many leaders would call subtle personal characteristics - or drivers, as Traversi describes them - as the real core of effective leadership. As I read the book, I reflected on all the very effective leaders with whom I have worked and, indeed, they possessed the drivers described in this book. For instance, Traversi identifies personal responsibility as a primary driver of credibility, which is what Traversi uses to cover integrity and competence. I remember one manager I had who had the highest integrity, and I have to say that it was his sense of personal responsibility that makes me feel that way.
Traversi rightfully describes the ability to generate ideas as critical to leadership in this day and age, and shows how openness and creativity - as opposed to resistance and stagnation - are essential to becoming a thought leader. One of the best managers I ever had was highly respected, and hence effective, because she was always out in front of everyone else when it came to ideas. As Traversi describes, she was that way because of her openness, which in turn fueled her creativity.
What I love about this book is its practical approach. Traversi isn't on a soap box proclaiming the way things should be. He provides nitty-gritty, useful exercises for developing the eight drivers. Every person, regardless of his or her leadership role or roles (and we all have them), can benefit from this book. My guess is that it will become, perhaps insidiously, a leadership classic. [...].

Travesi presents us a fresh view of leadership. The eight drivers described in the book are enriched with case studies and exercises that will help you understand and build the skills necessary to be a concious and aware leader.

When I started reading the introduction, I had high hopes for this book. I really like the way Traversi laid out his eight drivers. Then I started chapter one. That was it I couldn't get past it. As I started reading about being in the present, I kept thinking about Spencer Johnson's book The Present. If felt to me that Mr. Traversi was just repeating some of Johnson's stuff. Then I hit the section on mediation and that was it for me.

I know leaders need to find time to reflect on what they need to do and how then need to do it but I won't have any clients left if I advise them to meditate.

There may be some merit in this book but only for those who like Traversi already have enough money to live comfortably and find time to engage in the things he's suggesting. Those who are trying to get to the top will be hard pressed to follow the advice he's giving in this book.

If you're looking for a book to help you better understand leadership, find something else because this book isn't it.

In my opinion, The Nature of Leadership by B. Joseph White is a better book and much more practical than this one.