Saturday, December 6, 2008

Must Read - 'Sex in the Boardroom'

Recently I got in touch with Merydith Willoughby – an award winning International Organization Development Consultant with more than 20 years of experience. This happened during my search for experts who can share their experience with me on leadership and assist me to understand leadership and ways to create difference.

During our course of discussions I came to learn about her new book which she has recently written called 'Sex in the Boardroom'. The book focuses on development of leadership qualities and provides key strategies to enable organizations to thrive in this economic environment.

I didn't have a chance to read whole book, but I liked its synopsis. I strongly feel that it's worth reading, keeping this in mind, I am sharing the synopsis with you, have a look and enjoy reading.

Synopsis:

Numerous books are written each year about the theoretical perspectives of leadership development yet few, provide readers with key techniques, strategies to use or key questions to help them move out of the ‘don't know what to do stage' to being powerful leaders in their own right. One without the other is not useful and many books just end up on the bookshelf collecting dust. Being a powerful leader doesn't just happen. It requires a lot of hard work, is time consuming and although some may have a natural tendency towards it, every leader has to continue to strive for excellence. Sex in the Boardroom has a systems approach to leadership development and it can be used as a tool to review what you are doing, to make minor changes or to make radical changes in the way you lead. You can learn how to focus on what will give you the most gain for your organization instead of focusing on peripheral issues that just take a lot of time away from what you really should be doing. It's a bit naughty in parts: there are cartoons in it, powerful insights and case studies. The book is a truly global leadership book and represents a number of countries. And whilst Sex in the Boardroom isn’t about work/life balance this is exactly what those in business are getting when they work with the process.

Some organizations realize they have to put the time and effort into developing their leaders because the so-called level playing field has either gone or taken a beating with the increased competitiveness of the global market. Most organizations don't provide their leaders with enough if any development because they just expect them to know what to do. What development they do provide is usually 'training' because they don't know what else to look for or what else actually works. Training provides knowledge and gives participants information but it does not provide them with the strategies, guidance or support to change what is not working well in the workplace. Training also doesn't ask them the 'tough' questions that elicit insights. Sex in the Boardroom does.

Go to www.ibcoaching.com.au for more information or to purchase a copy of the book.

Do share your comments on this!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Synopsis seems to be good varun - let see if I can get more information about this through her website.

Anonymous said...

Hi there, Thank you very much for the favourable comments. For more information about the book you are welcome to contact me, Merydith Willoughby, author of Sex in the Boardroom through my website www.ibcoaching.us.

Best wishes
Merydith