The act of leadership : a playbook for leading with humility, clarity and purpose

Unlock your true leadership potential with this insightful guide In The Act of Leadership , acclaimed leadership and performance coach Dan Haesler shares the insights, techniques and habits you need to thrive, professionally and personally. By combining real-life case studies, cutting-edge research and incisive coaching techniques this one-stop leadership playbook will help you better understand yourself and the people around you, so you can be not only the leader you want to be, but the person your people need you to be, both at work and at home. As a leader, you might know exactly what you need to do, but might be less clear on how to do it. You might know you need to have that difficult conversation, but you’re less sure about how to have it. You might know you need to hold your team accountable, but don’t know how to do it in a manner that builds authentic engagement rather than mere compliance. The Act of Leadership goes beyond the theory. It is a coaching playbook designed to empower you to be the leader you want to be, and the leader your people need you to be. Most books explain the what and the why of leadership, The Act of Leadership demonstrates the how . Author Dan Haesler takes a coaching approach, combining his years of experience as an educator and now coach to corporate leaders, elite athletes, teams and educators, to reveal the pivotal insights and enlightening case studies that will help you to define what kind of leader you want to be and understand how to get the best out of yourself and the people around you. You will also discover the importance of thinking and acting mindfully, instead of on autopilot, using the mindfulness techniques used by World Champions to lead in the moment, sharpen your intent, and increase your impact. Let go of your biases and assumptions and see the impact we have on others Take on a growth mindset to help you deal with setbacks and mistakes Create organizational change that actually succeeds, by engaging people so that change is done with them not to them Adopt a coach-like mentality and use engaging techniques to improve your day-to-day interactions with the people you lead With each chapter serving as a one-on-one coaching session, The Act of Leadership will help you create new habits and new ways of being in your day-to-day leadership, as well as life away from work, that are actionable, immediately. Perfect for leaders, professionals, educators, and athletes seeking to improve their own performance, The Act of Leadership will also earn a place in the libraries of anyone hoping to improve the lives of the people who follow them, in business, sport, and life. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents About the author Introduction Part I The ‘you’ stuff Chapter 1 Is this book for you?: What kind of leader do you want to be? So, what makes a good leader? ‘With great power comes great responsibility’ What’s your style? Chapter 2 Be mindful, not mindless From Jerusalem to Jericho It’s not character but conditions The two minds: Red and Blue Do nothing — just breathe Chapter 3 Assume nothing: The biases that stop you from seeing what’s really there Blindspot bias Curse of knowledge bias False consensus bias Confirmation bias Sunk cost fallacy bias Spotlight effect bias Fundamental attribution error bias Halo effect bias Dunning–Kruger effect Group-think bias Chapter 4 How to turn it around: Why you don’t learn from your mistakes Fixed mindset Growth mindset Automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) Part II The ‘you and them’ stuff Chapter 5 Mum was wrong: It really does matter what others think of you What we get wrong with 360 feedback Chapter 6 Make it safe to stuff up: High performance is not about being perfect Is it safe here? Chapter 7 Less carrot, less stick: Find out what makes people tick Understanding engagement The carrot-and-stick approach We need more tribes Chapter 8 Be better at change: Stop trying to get people on the bus Vision: what, why — and crucially — why now? Skills: the how Incentive: what’s in it for me? Resources: what’s this going to take? Plan: ideas and good intentions are not enough Chapter 9 Less is more: Create space so your team can step up Delegation isn’t just giving people more work to do Be present Be curious Be useless Part III The tactical stuff Chapter 10 Stop wasting people’s time: Running meetings that matter Do we need to meet? Chapter 11 No more sh!t sandwiches: Have better 1:1s with your team Et voilà, a sh!t sandwich Chapter 12 Have less difficult conversations: Start having adult ones instead But what if ‘difficult’ conversations needn’t be difficult at all? Conclusion Roger Federer still feels the need for a coach, and you don’t? Seriously? Appreciate the nature of change Set better goals Stop relying on willpower alone Acknowledgements Index EULA