Just finished reading Steven D. Wood's "Be Bodacious: Put Life In Your Leadership" and I must say I am impressed.
This book is solid theory for personal leadership development, presented in the form of a story about a guy who learns some powerful lessons from his boss. The boss is a colorful character nicknamed "Cowboy," who teaches through a series of stories from a Journal he's assembled during his life.
To be transparent, I avoided this book for a little while because I'm kind of tired of these "leadership fables" - there have been a lot of them in the past several years, and they sometimes take too long to get to the advice. Now, I wish I'd jumped right in.
I'm happy to report that "Be Bodacious" doesn't waste time in getting to the point - with just a little story setup, you get to the meat of the learning pretty quickly.
This is an easy, entertaining book to read and it goes quickly (it's only 150 pages). In this book, you'll learn:
- How to get out of crappy jobs and into jobs you really enjoy and feel passionate about;
- How to lead a team by igniting their drive and spirit;
- How to get to know your team as individuals so you can give them what they need to be challenged and successful;
- And a whole lot more.
Some other things you'll learn are just as important - like how to get out of the trap of comparing yourself to others, which can really mess with your confidence and limit what you can achieve. Closely related to this are some good techniques to help you identify when you are hanging on to old habits that are preventing you from being successful (the chapter "Rocket Fuel" was very relevant to me).
The book also deals with some proven "sharpen the saw" techniques to make sure you spend time on yourself, so you can improve your own skills. There are some thought-provoking elements on this topic.
This book is a quick read, and I think it's perfect for anyone who's a business leader or aspires to be. You can find out more at Be-Bodacious.com including seeing the "Be Bodacious" movie (it's short, but good), and you can download a sample chapter.
You might also check out Wood's blog, where you can get a taste of his writing style, philosophy, and leadership mojo.
So, 'nuf said - Be Bodacious, and put some life in your leadership.