Book Review: The Taboos of Leadership: The 10 Secrets No One Will Tell You About Leaders and What They Really Think

From a recent Harvard Business Review

John T Landry.  Harvard Business Review.  Boston: Jun 2007.  Vol.  85, Iss.  6; pg.  34

Abstract (Summary)

The Taboos of Leadership: The 10 Secrets No One Will Tell You About Leaders and What They Really Think Anthony F. Smith (Jossey-Bass, 2007)

"The demand for solid leadership advice outstrips the supply, and the result has been a plethora of plausible theories supported by intriguing anecdotes but little deep analysis. 

If only executives would reduce their outsize compensation, stop playing favorites, show some vulnerability, improve their work/life balance, and diligently groom their successors, their organizations would be far more effective. 

Smith, an executive coach, offers a provocative counterpoint.  Leadership, he says, still depends on projecting authority and confidence, and that inevitably necessitates self-centered people who screen out the rest of life, manipulate colleagues to get to the top, delight in privilege, and instinctively resist any talk of replacements.  Everyone knows that managing the egos of other people is an important executive role, so why should we expect leaders' own egos to disappear?  The book is far too sketchy to be convincing, but it's a useful call for leadership advocates to balance their natural optimism with realism."