Bill Treasurer’s new book Leaders Open Doors is exactly what the subtitle suggests: a radically simple leadership approach that I certainly can image would lift people, profits, and performance in any organization.
The premise of the book is that a simply selfless approach to leadership that has one opening doors and creating opportunities for others is the jackpot mentality to effective leadership.
As a self-confessed former complexifyer of leadership, he went from a journey as a young man in graduate school where his thesis was this: “The efficacy of the initiation of psychological structure through the use of directive leadership styles as a negative correlate of role ambiguity and positive correlate of employee satisfaction in workplace that have undergone a recent reduction in force.” to understanding from a simple conversation with his five-year old preschool son Ian about what it means to be leader where his son answered the question “What did you get to do as the class leader?” with this gem…”I got to open doors for people!”
This simple statement struck the author with such clarity that he renounced his quarter-century membership in what he calls the “Legion of Leadership Complexifiers (LLC)” and takes a pledge to speak plainly and simply.
And in this book, he does just that. His simplicity and clarity is radiant and the radical approach to dropping complexity and picking up a servant-leadership mentality is pure genius. He takes a machete and cuts through years of Organizational Development (OD) and Leadership Development hairballs and allows his voice to speak simple truths in a busy world.
A Reader’s Guide To Leaders Open Doors
One of the things I enjoyed in this book is how the author breaks down for the reader what they will be reading and tells them how it will benefit them. He has a place early on that tells you what you’ll understand and key chapter takeaways in the introduction and in each of the nine concise chapters.
The reader will easily understand the following ten points:
- What a leader is, simply
- Why leadership means opening doors
- Why focusing on problem-solving is far less effective than focusing on the opportunities those “problems” nearly always provide
- Why making people uncomfortable – in a way they can absorb – is every leader’s primary job
- Why giving people opportunities to prove themselves taps into people’s need to excel and can supercharge motivation
- How the actions leaders take can help broaden and shift people’s perspective so they can face challenges more creatively
- How you can gain deep loyalty and commitment when you open a door to a second chance, especially after big mistakes
- Why leaders need to pay special attention to the needs of people who are outside the majority
- How instrumental leaders can be in bringing about career and life transformations for people
- How you can have the greatest positive impact on people only when you open yourself up and show your true self to those you lead
Book Review Rating by Tom Schulte of Linked 2 Leadership
I give this book the L2L 5-Star rating and strongly recommend getting it for yourself, your team, or even your boss. I give it my highest recommendation. You can buy it here.
I rate it this way because of its stunning clarity, its humble, honest, concise and practical approach, and for the step-by-step way to get anyone to become a more effective leader.
*This article originally appeared on Linked2Leadership as a book review by Tom Schulte*
