I wanted this book to better live up to it...

I wanted this book to better live up to its promise, with its ambitious title and clever cover (it's a mirror), but it fell short. To be fair, there are so many leadership books on the market today that it is extremely challenging to write one that stands out. Though there is no doubt in my mind that the title in question is one that every leader in corporate America should be conditioned to recite into the mirror every morning. I just wish that author Sam Geist had taken the book in a different direction, one in which the people being lead are given more of a voice in the matter. We followers can teach our leaders a lot more than they might imagine. In my leaders, I'd like to see a lot less "emotional intelligence" and a lot more "just listen, baby."

There is some value in these pages, however, in the form of tough "look-in-the-mirror" questions that appear at the conclusion of every chapter. Used correctly, these give the book its only brushes with depth and focus; particularly the inquiries into what leaders believe to be the key motivators of action. For example, the question "What motivates your people to succeed?" is not as useful or challenging as "What do you do to motivate your people on a daily basis?" but together they do the trick.

With all due respect, Geist attempts to cover too much ground here, with advice on motivation, training, mentoring, hiring, teamwork, delegating and conflict resolution among other concepts, which serves only to place it in the territory of "just another" work on leadership and management.