Customer Reviews

9 Things a Leader Must Do: How to Go to the Next Level--And Take Others With You

5 star:		(3)
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3 star:		(1)
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This book is a great quick read if you're not turned off by frequent references to God, Jesus, and quotes from the bible in a book about management and leadership. Dr. Cloud's "9 Things" boil down to:

1) doing what you love, even if it requires taking risks or "a leap of faith"
2) removing everything negative from your life
3) evaluating ALL your current decisions with the long-term future in mind
4) always asking "What can I do to make this situation better?"
5) achieving large goals one small step at a time
6) gaining clarity about everything you hate, and then eliminating it with extreme prejudice or continually striving to be the exact opposite of it
7) not "keeping score" - ALWAYS give your best
8) being comfortable with who you are - you can't learn when you think or act like you know everything
9) not making fear-based decisions - make "the right" decision, own it, and deal with the consequences no matter how uncomfortable it might be

Most of this seems like common sense but, in practice, it's often easier said than done. Reading this book helps remind one of some of the things we might forget while "in the weeds" in addition to giving a sometimes necessary boost in courage to take appropriate action.

I would recommend this book to managers who want to be leaders. Dr. Cloud has a very concise and clear style of writing that makes the principles he is relating easy to understand and apply. It is very true that the "psychology" behind great leadership must be understood before one can self realize whether or not "you/i" have those traits. The Deja Vu, aspect of leadership struck me very close to my own style. I too have been in meetings, conferences etc., and felt that I had seen that person, that leader before... but what I had realy "seen" was the leadership "STYLE" and application. As one matures as a leader recognition and perhaps emulation allows a leader to develop his/her own style. "We are the sum total of all of our experiences..." why not borrow the best parts of the best leaders? I can assure you... "THEY DO!" I do believe that Good Leaders can be taught... But Great Leaders are born. Even so, Leadership as with any skill has to be excercised... applied daily and permeate all facets of the leader's life. One cannot be a great leader in his/her career and be a "tyrant" at home. Ultimately the negative will bleed into one's leadership style and undermine that foundation.

I keep this in my Leadership Library... Great Job, Dr. Cloud!

Dr. Faron Boreham

I would guess by the table of contents, this book and "Nine Things You Simply Must Do: To Succeed in Love and Life" are much the same, although I think Cloud stepped up the metaphors and writing for the leadership angle. Has it all been said many times and many ways? Yes, but I like how he writes. His words seem to grab my attention and heart better than others. I find myself realizing that I already know this stuff, but application is trickier, and the author makes me want to follow through and be the better person.

Saw this book in an airport for almost twice the price. Good leadership book. I bought it for someone and would be a great gift.

We really liked 9 Things Every Sucessful Person Must Do so we bought this one too. Turns out it is the same book only condensed with some terms changed. You just need to read one or the other. Very good books though.

I orginally bought this book in an airport, and lent it out to a friend who never returned it. So...I bought it again. It's a gem for your leadership library. Short read and straight to the point.

For a first year PhD student in Leadership Studies I found the book quite enlightening. I have two of his books prior to even considering the PhD program. It sat and sat on my bookshelf until one day I decided to truly pick it up and read it. I finished in less than an hour with good points I carry with me daily!

Good work! I am getting this book for the rest of my cohort!


Thanks

A great book as a reminder of how to live and treat others. I always enjoy Henry Cloud's books.

This is the clearest form of repackaging basic "secrets for a better life" and calling it leadership I've ever seen.

This is the exact same outline & content as "9 Things You Simply Must Do to Succeed in Life and Love" that Cloud published in 2004 with Thomas Nelson (and again in 2007)! I find this all-the-more ironic because the publisher for this book is listed as "Integrity House." That's downright laughable. I'm also guessing this is the reason why the "Look Inside the Book" feature is not offered on Amazon for this book.

While the content is short and to the point, it is not anything beyond practical commonsense. If the publisher really wanted to reflect the content well, they'd change the title to: "9 Things That Ordinary, Reasonable, Upright Members of Society Already Know How to Do."

Dr Henry Cloud's words of wisdom about leadership is sound advice. However, it's nothing that I'd label as "groundbreaking", and that left me somewhat disappointed; after all, the book's cover tells us we'd be "breaking through to the next level" after completing its 128 pages of instruction.

Maybe I broke through and didn't even realize it. If that's the case, I'll come back and change the skeptical tone of this review, after I realize what happened. Don't hold your breath.

There were some helpful pieces of information scattered within the "nine things a leader must do", and I had to smile when the author kept referring to experiencing "deja vu" in certain situations; but overall, the only "deja vu" I experienced was the feeling that I'd read all this stuff hundreds of times before in other books on the subject.

With apologies to Yogi Berra, this book is most definitely, "deja vu all over again".