BOOK REVIEW
Book Title: Real-Time Leadership: Find Your Winning Moves When the Stakes are High
Author: David Noble and Carol Kauffman
Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
List Price: $30.00
Format: Hardcover, 288 pages
Publication Date: February 2023
ISBN: 978-1-64782-393-1
Reviewer: Mark Wettreich, PMP
Review Date: July 2023
Introduction
Two famous leadership coaches impart their wisdom regarding decision-making. Developed through years of experience coaching high level CEO’s and executives, Noble and Kauffman advocate that the key to making wise choices in corporate leadership roles is to carve out a small pocket of time between the immediate stimulus and your response to it. This time should then be used to systematically evaluate the best course of action through the application of a series of guidelines and disciplines that the authors present in detail. Their recommended approach is in distinct contrast to the inclination of so many newly-installed executives to panic, rely purely on instinct, or simply default to their natural tendencies when making crucial business decisions.
Overview of Book’s Structure
The chapters are structured around the elements of “MOVE”, a pneumonic device the authors coined as a doctrine of their respective Executive Coaching practices. The “M” in “MOVE” stands for “Mindfully Alert”; “O” stands for “Generating Options”; “V” stands for Validate Your Vantage Point”, and “E” stands for “Engage and Effect Change.“ Noble and Kauffman discuss each tenet in elaborate detail within the text.
Accompanying “MOVE” is a further series of strategies which, if mastered, will prove exceedingly useful in your life as an executive. These include:
- The Four Stances (Leaning back, Leaning In, Leaning With, and Not Leaning)
- The Three Dimensions of Leadership
- The Five C’s (Calm, Clear, Curious, Compassionate, Courageous)
- Articulating “Leaders Intent” to Stakeholders.
- Achieving Ten “Out of Ten” Outcomes
The authors use anecdotal real-world examples from their client-files to make the above concepts spring to life. They expertly highlight specific instances when a certain decision-making technique or evaluation strategy lead to a positive result for their executive coaching clients. The underlying implication is that as you embark on your leadership journey, “MOVE” can and should be deployed whenever you find yourself at an important decision-making crossroads.
Highlights: What I liked!
The book is cutting edge for 2023, and serves as a ‘playbook’ of sorts – offering a replicable process that people can turn to again and again in their career when faced with tough management and executive-level problems. The idea is that once the “MOVE” process gets ingrained, it becomes a new mindset that kicks in like clockwork. I appreciated the authors’ use of real-life world examples from their clients to hammer home certain points and demonstrate that their proven techniques actually work! These anecdotes lend credibility and give insight into their respective executive coaching styles. Tangentially, I also found it very interesting to hear of challenging decisions others have faced while serving in high-pressure executive roles.
More…
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How to cite this work: Wettreich, M. (2023). Real-Time Leadership: Find Your Winning Moves When the Stakes are High, book review, PM World Journal, Vol. XII, Issue IX, September. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/pmwj133-Sep2023-Wettreich-Real-Time-Leadership-book-review.pdf
About the Reviewer
Mark Wettreich, PMP
Dallas, Texas, USA
Mark Wettreich is a certified PMP with ample amounts of project management experience in a number of diverse roles and industries. He currently serves on the Board of a number of micro-cap public companies. A confident speaker, writer, and communicator, and an active volunteer in the Dallas Chapter of PMI, Mark’s previous roles include Chairman of a publicly listed merchant banking company, President of an antique art gallery, and Chief of Staff of a telecommunications company. Mark and his family live in Dallas, Texas. He thrives on making new connections, actively encouraging anyone so inclined to reach out to him at markwett@gmail.com.
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