Authors – John Cross, Rafael Gomez & Kevin Money

Book discussed – 19 November 2019

Review by – John Keary

There are over 57,000 books listed on Amazon with leadership in the title: does the World need another? The Everyday Leader makes the case for leadership by anyone, in a wide range of situations – a noble idea that should justify its existence in this crowded field. Its approach is to fashion a vision for our long or short-term goals that receive general support from those around us.  The overall aim being to widen our thinking on what leadership signifies, in that it is not something for which someone else is responsible, but to recognize that everyone is a leader.

The book offers a series of recommendations for people who they call ‘everyday leaders.’  Each chapter deals with a different group, focusing on how every individual and organization can steer those in their communities towards a higher level of conscious behavior, and perhaps better outcomes.  The trend is of leaders tuning into their fundamental emotional feelings, and the book taps into this adjustment, as it focusses more on the emotional correction between leaders and followers, rather than just the intellectual one.   

The book is a bran tub of familiar material: superficial neuroscience; Six Thinking Hats; EQ; body language, empowerment etc. One curiosity is a chapter on leadership in whistleblowing, a rare novelty in a book on leadership, but the authors recommend re-reading chapters 1 and 15 as the key to achieving your dreams. It is written in the first person, in what the authors claim is coaching style. Coaching asks searching questions, whereas this feels more like a training manual.  Well-structured, with plenty of tables and notes supporting each chapter it has a practical flavor. Examples and anecdotes are one of its strengths. Whilst it is difficult to know to whom it is directed; it is worth dipping into.