Leading with Soul: Book Report

We cannot lead successfully an organization as a manager without having conscience of ourselves in relation to the group who surrounds us. If there was one message among others that the authors of book wanted us to broadcast, it could be one of them.

In fact, considering ourselves also means the sense of the life. What are we doing? What life do we have? Our life is set by rituals and habits that become a routine we don’t like anymore. Is our life a non-sense?

Throughout the book Leading with Soul: An uncommon journey of spirit, the authors retrace the psychological journey of Steve Camben, a senior manager having problems to do his job because every decision he makes to lead his team is unsuccessful and his superior wonders if Steve is competent enough to be a manager. However, Steve does not understand what is happening because the management he did in the past worked but now every action goes wrong. He seems to have lost his passion for what he is doing.

We understand by Maria, his advisor and even more his psychologist, that as a manager if we can manage ourselves then we can give a better management to the organization.

Indeed, I think that it is valuable to know how to manage ourselves in order to after be able to manage others because management requires to deal with other people who can be very close and this management has a specific goal: work more efficiently and more effectively. In other words, work better among people in a same company.

The feeling that leads this story also reminds me a African saying that I won’t never forget: If you don’t know where you go, remember where you come from. I believe this is a powerful sentence that has to be applied in management in general and particularly in Steve’s case because he doesn’t know anymore what to do as a manager, who determines goals, plans a strategy and implements a strategy in order to be successful in the future. In other words, it has two steps. No matter the adversities we face, we know that we took good decisions in the past because we knew how to stick with the reality, and knowing our background helps us to act positively in the future.

One of the essential messages that the book addresses us is as well the four spiritual concepts that are mentioned. As a manager, the first concept to size is the gift of authorship. Tasks given to people in order that can find the solution themselves is an attitude of faith because to show how a manager can trust his workers demonstrates to workers that they have a power of decision in theirs hands and more confidence. As a result, they will have a greater motivation and the capacity to improve their skills and face future major problems.

If a manager is truly concerned about his people, he also helps them in the difficult periods. The gift of love is important because a manager deals with people, with humans. After all, we are all