Review of Becoming a Strategic Leader

Abstract

Recently, an executive contacted me to tell me he had taken a personality test and that the results had a profound impact on him. Part of the reason for this was because he was able to contrast his results against those of each of his direct reports. Through this comparison, he realized that he had almost the exact opposite style as everyone he was leading. He was process oriented; they weren’t. He was rational and logical, yet they responded to inspirational messages. In describing this pattern to me, he said, “I know these results are important and meaningful, but I don’t know how to make use of them. That’s what I need your help with.” This mindset of “that’s interesting, but I’m not sure what to do with it” reflects much of my professional experience in using personality testing with leaders and managers. Unfortunately, the user’s inability to make full use of the results threatens the value of these tools. Often these tests are precise, predictive, and rigorously developed. However, smart and motivated leaders still need help simplifying the findings, embracing or exploiting their positive traits, and managing their counterproductive derailers. This is exactly what Becoming a Strategic Leader seeks to do—to help us to use personality data more effectively, and in so doing release its full impact. This is a worthwhile objective, and the book is quite successful in achieving this aim.