Taking Advice: How Leaders Get Good Counsel And Use It Wisely [Hardcover]

Dan Ciampa (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2006

Leaders can find plenty of resources explaining how to give advice. But what about how to take advice? According to Dan Ciampa, too many leaders overlook this "demand side" of advice. In Taking Advice, Ciampa explains that more outside advisors than ever are offering leaders advice in increasingly costly projects. Yet as advice has become more ubiquitous, leaders have grown less satisfied with it--especially when dealing with high-stakes, unfamiliar situations that require assertive action and speed but also wise judgment. Also, leaders too often overlook help from colleagues, board members, subordinates, friends, and spouses. Good advice bridges the gap between a leader's vision and realization of that vision. When leaders fail to solicit advice or obtain it from the wrong sources, the leader and his vision suffer. By offering the broadest perspective on advice to date, Ciampa helps you avoid this scenario. He provides a topology of advice (strategic, operational, political, personal) and defines four types of advisors (expert, experienced, sounding board, partner). He also identifies the defining characteristics of effective advice takers--illustrating them with a wealth of examples from business, the public sector, and history.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

“No leader has all the answers all the time. Dan Ciampa has a unique skill for listening, engaging, and helping executives translate ideas into action. Taking Advice can help anyone who truly wants to find the right kind of help and get the most out of it.”

—Brenda Barnes, Chairman and CEO, Sara Lee Corporation

“In Taking Advice, Dan Ciampa has again broken new ground with a clear, practical guide to a topic that we all too often ignore.” —Travis Engen, former President and CEO, Alcan Inc.

“As an executive, you may spend millions soliciting advice during your career. The compelling stories, engaging logic, and tips in this book will help you understand how much of that money could be wasted and will help ensure great decision making for the future. Take my advice—you really need to read this book!” —Richard E. Boyatzis, Professor of Organizational Development and Psychology at Case Western Reserve University, and coauthor of the bestselling Primal Leadership and Resonant Leadership.

“Learning how to take advice is invaluable not only in business, but also in the context of health and medicine, relationships, personal finance, and life goals. In Taking Advice, Dan Ciampa conveys his experience and expertise in an enjoyable, interesting, and easy-to-read book. It is a ‘must read’ for improving and enhancing business or personal life. Take my advice—learn from the expert!”

—Mark Liponis, Medical Director, Canyon Ranch Health Resorts

About the Author

Dan Ciampa is an adviser to leaders moving into new positions and on creating a culture that sustains new technology and operational improvements.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 197 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press; 1 edition (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591396689
• ISBN-13: 978-1591396680
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #865,578 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Advice, March 7, 2007

By 

Michele T. Woodward (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Taking Advice: How Leaders Get Good Counsel And Use It Wisely (Hardcover)

This book is written for leaders who can often find themselves insulated and isolated. The bunker mentality is not generally conducive to good decision making, by the way.

Ciampa says that every leader should be an advice taker. And, different situations call for different kinds of advice. But all good advice takers share these characteristics:

* Skilled advice takers are deliberate in choosing the best type of help and in constructing a network of advisers.

* They manage that network actively, putting it high on their list of priorities.

* They work at building good relationships. To derive the most help from their advisers, they understand that they must take feedback without becoming defensive and, above all, listen with understanding.

* They seek advice and counsel quickly when faced with situations that can affect their plans. They also involve their advisers early in anticipating hindrances.

Every good advice taker has to be a good listener. It's important to be brave enough to select folks as advisers who are not "yes-men" -- and then listen, actually listen, to what is being said. Especially if it's not what you want to hear. That's leadership, regardless of your job title. That's also being open to growth and learning.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GEM OF A BOOK ON A QUINTESSENTIAL TOPIC FOR LEADERSHIP SUCCESS!, September 22, 2006

By 

Yvette Borcia and Gerry Stern "Stern's Manage... (Culver City, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Taking Advice: How Leaders Get Good Counsel And Use It Wisely (Hardcover)

As management consultants in organization and compensation, as well as management book reviewers, we are all-too keenly aware that the achilles heal of leaders is very often, their inability to seek, get and properly use good advice.This book addresses this need, by presenting critical, to-the-point insights into this quintessential leadership subject. To do so, it offers a framework for advice taking and an understanding of the attributes of great advice taking.

The core propositions of the author are:
1) actionable, timely and sustainable advice is essential to achieve organizational change;
2) it is the leader's responsibility to identify needs for advice and choose and use advisors wisely, and;
3) leaders must achieve the appropriate mindset to be good advice takers and master the skills to take maximum advantage of advice given them.

Among the nuggets in this book are rules and fundamental principles of advice taking, the four types of advice, and the attributes and abilities of a skilled advice taker. The book offers important insights into a subject that may seem a blatantly obvious dimension of leadership, but is often neglected, poorly understood, and taken for granted.

This book is a very important contribution to the essential literature on leadership. We highly recommended it all who are, or strive to become, leaders.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not an area you see covered in management books..., September 10, 2006

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: Taking Advice: How Leaders Get Good Counsel And Use It Wisely (Hardcover)

No one has all the answers when it comes to running a business, so it pays to have "experts" surrounding you to give you insight. There are plenty of books that cover the hows of giving advice, but there are far fewer (any?) titles that deal with how best to *take* that advice. Dan Ciampa covers an oft-neglected area in his book Taking Advice: How Leaders Get Good Counsel And Use It Wisely.

Contents: The Help Paradox; How Good Leaders Fail as Advice Takers; A New Framework for Advice Taking; Types of Advice - Strategic, Operational, Political, and Personal; Kinds of Advisors - Expert, Experienced, Sounding-Board, and Partner; The Art of Balance; Attitudes and Behavior of Great Advice Takers; Listening - the Master Skill - and Other Key Success Factors; Afterword - For Further Thought; Notes; Further Reading; Index; About the Author

It's not unusual to see leaders taking advice from a close friend or circle of insiders. What is more unusual is to see a leader pick a group of advisors that have specific roles and purposes in the advice-giving position. Ciampa breaks out the types of advice and the types of advisors that a leader will need, and then uses examples to show how these roles come into play. For instance, someone may be looking at moving into a new position at a company, and it's one they've wanted for a long time. The spouse might be uneasy about the change, and the person's current boss wonders if the new position is a wise choice. It's all too easy to tune out advice you don't want to hear, or to assign the wrong level of importance to the advice you *are* hearing. Recognizing the current boss has a vested interest to keep you is important, but they also see a side of you that includes things you overlook. Dismissing the spouse's concerns as "emotional" means overlooking insights from someone that sees you as a person rather than a position in a company. Using Ciampa's material in Taking Advice puts you on the right path towards building a solid advice team with specific roles, and will definitely help you learn how to effectively use that advice to be successful (even if it may not be what you want to hear)...

A worthy addition to the bookshelf of management at all levels...