REVIEW: Lori Mazan — Leadership Revolution (BOOK)
“Let’s start with a big leap,” Lori Mazan writes, at the beginning of her new book Leadership Revolution: The Future of Developing Dynamic Leaders. The author, chief coaching officer, and business president then continues: “In the case of this book, we need to start with a leap beyond the familiar ‘leadership’ paradigm.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: https://twitter.com/lorimazan?lang=en
At various points in my career I’ve been pressured to define a leadership philosophy that out- lines “this is what it is to be a good leader.” But I have remained adamant that I am not — and my company is not — going to do that. That’s because (here’s the big leap) there is no single leadership paradigm. We need to start by breaking the myth that being a leader means one specific thing. For some reason, people resist this idea. So much leadership thinking dating back to the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s literally argues that to be a successful leader you must follow some very specific model: You have to be a leader like this. And then they’ll proceed to name, say, five particular traits. I have read dozens of books like this — and I thought every one of them was wrong.”
The aforementioned passage showcases Mazan’s talent — not just in terms of her being able to succinctly and authentically communicate the ideas, but make them feel emotionally resonant to boot. Career coaching has always walked a tonal and ideological tightrope. On the one hand, it deals with a distinctive left-brain topicality. On the other, it balances the careful inclusion of considerably right-brain, less tangible, more emotively affiliated aspects of making one’s career work within the decided-upon confines of their life.
BUY THE BOOK: https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Revolution-Developing-Successful-Workforce/dp/139417182X
Mazan keeps this extra simple in an era where the lines traditionally separating the professional from the personal have been continuously questioned, and blurred. She keeps the analogies here straightforward, and matter-of-fact — never in a manner, however, insulting to the reader’s intelligence. “So how do you find the place in the middle, blending who you naturally are with the skills and capabilities you need? It’s elusive, to say the least. Just naming five traits is so much easier than trying to identify where the self and leadership interconnect. I’ve practiced Tai Chi Chuan for three decades, and one of its ideas that I use constantly is called ‘the unity of the opposites’,” she writes, in a key passage of the book. “This does not mean compromise.
Most people think when you’re try- ing to deal with dichotomies, you have to somehow compromise or come down in the middle. But the unity of opposites is more of a blend. In this case that means blending what makes good leaders — including appropriate traits for you — with who you naturally and authentically are. This is the magic formula. It’s not a compromise, because you are still being yourself, but in a leadership role. Think of it as your authentic self, wrapped in clothing of your role. That clothing has to fit not only your body but also with your style.”
Colin Jordan
