The Versatile Leader: Make the Most of Your Strengths Without Overdoing It (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) [Hardcover]

Bob Kaplan (Author), Rob Kaiser (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 14, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0787979449 | ISBN-13: 978-0787979447 | Edition: 1

In this groundbreaking new book, Bob Kaplan and Rob Kaiser introduce an innovative approach to identifying and correcting lopsidedness in leaders. You will discover how to make optimal use of your strengths and avoid getting trapped in a one-dimensional mindset that results in ?too much of a good thing.? Based on twenty years of research and extensive work with senior leaders, The Versatile Leader is packed with illustrative cases and practical applications. The book is equally useful for self-improvement and for coaching other managers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"thought Leaders" webcast hour long interview (HR.com webcast, July 17, 2006)

When it comes to strengths, can managers have too much of a good thing? Yes, according to leadership consultants Kaplan and Kaiser (partners with Kaplan DeVries, Inc.), who posit that "overdoing" one's strengths can lead to ineffectiveness. After suggesting that other management assessment scales do not measure such excesses, the authors describe their Leadership Versatility Index (LVI(tm)), a "360-degree tool" designed to identify whether a leader is forceful or enabling, too strategic or too operational. When leadership is skewed to either end of these scales, it becomes lopsided: overenabling leaders may be too quick to avoid conflict; those who focus exclusively on operations may develop tunnel vision. In three sections, the authors describe the importance of moderating strengths, discuss the leadership dualities described above, and suggest ways to "throttle back" or "rev up" strengths as needed. The book is engagingly written and provides case studies, charts, and highlights at the end of each chapter, but it feels more like an extended and sometimes redundant advertisement for their LVI(tm) (described more fully in the appendix) than a standalone manual for improvement. Recommended for larger public or business libraries only.
—Sarah Statz Cords, Madison P.L., WI (Library Journal, June 15, 2006)

"This terrific new book…" (GovLeaders.org, May 17, 2006)

Review

“Robert Kaplan’s book, The Versatile Leader offers a valuable mapping of the terrain of outstanding leadership, and a useful road map for how to get there.”
—Daniel Goleman, author, Emotional Intelligence

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Pfeiffer; 1 edition (April 14, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787979449
• ISBN-13: 978-0787979447
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #802,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Right-sizing" Leadership, August 30, 2006

By 

Kathleen Connolly "PagesOnPages" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Versatile Leader: Make the Most of Your Strengths Without Overdoing It (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) (Hardcover)

I approached this book with a little skepticism: Here it comes, another spin on leadership. (I read more than a hundred books a year, many of them related to management and leadership.) By the third chapter, however, I concluded that Kaplan and Kaiser are not just dressing up old concepts for a new day. They offer a paradigm shift and research to back it up. Think optimize, not maximize. Think right-sizing. This places the onus on leadership aspirants to develop the elusive skill of versatility, which is partly based in the individual's personality psychology. The authors have researched and validated an approach to measuring this skill and providing individuals with the specific marching orders they need to capture this subtlety for themselves. The book includes their research.

I was simulataneously reading a new book, "Personality and the Fate of Organizations" by Robert Hogan, Ph.D., author of the popular Hogan Personality Inventory. Hogan praises Kaplan and Kaiser's work, which is no small praise given Hogan's 30-year career studying the science of personality in the workplace.

The book is also well written, avoiding the dryness of many management books with a broad array of illustrations from literature, history, and other research. Highly recommended.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best New Leadership Book in Years, July 27, 2006

By 

Robert Witherspoon "Executive Coach & Author" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Versatile Leader: Make the Most of Your Strengths Without Overdoing It (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) (Hardcover)

Part leadership guide, part applied research, this engaging book explores leadership through a new lens to reveal a powerful set of insights for leaders at all levels, as well as for coaches and mentors who would help them.

As a research tool, this book starts with a novel concept of leadership versatility and explores the implications. Kaplan defines "versatility" defferently from other meanings of the word. One key implication for this definition is that overdoing a leader's strengths is as much a problem as lacking the strengths. Leaders need to learn how to make the most of their strengths--but without overdoing it.

A second level is the book's new leadership model, comprising two complimentary skill sets--forceful and enabling leadership, and strategic and operational leadership. Forceful leaders take charge and make tough calls, for instance; enabling leaders, by comparison, empower others to share the limelight and so on. These dualities will describe what is required of leaders and where they go wrong.

As a leadership guide, the book operates at a third level by offering actionable advice about addressing strengths, weaknesses and strengths overdone. Here the book brims with practical tips.

Kaplan presents his cases with the candor and conviction of someone who's clearly been there--behind closed doors in coaching sessions--helping leaders to learn.

Last but not least, I recommend the book's appendix ("Research and development of the Leadership Versatility Index") by Rob Kaiser.

In sum, Kaplan and Kaiser are at the top of their game. I believe this is the best new leadership book in years.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pam Mayer - Succession & Development Manager, May 11, 2006

By 

P. Mayer (Carmel, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Versatile Leader: Make the Most of Your Strengths Without Overdoing It (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) (Hardcover)

The Versatile Leader demonstrates great insight into the challenge of practicing managers to adequately recognize their strengths and calibrate their use for best results. I have used the LVI 360 assessment tool successfully with my clients for several years and I have been waiting for this book - it did not disappoint. It is, in fact, a masterful description of both the "what" and the "how" of leadership effectiveness.