The Act of Leadership

The Act of Leadership

by Dan Haesler
Released August 2021
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9780730392118

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Book description

Unlock your true leadership potential with this insightful guide

In The Act of Leadership, acclaimed leadership and performance coach Dan Haesler shares the insights, techniques and habits you need to thrive, professionally and personally. By combining real-life case studies, cutting-edge research and incisive coaching techniques this one-stop leadership playbook will help you better understand yourself and the people around you, so you can be not only the leader you want to be, but the person your people need you to be, both at work and at home.

As a leader, you might know exactly what you need to do, but might be less clear on how to do it. You might know you need to have that difficult conversation, but you’re less sure about how to have it. You might know you need to hold your team accountable, but don’t know how to do it in a manner that builds authentic engagement rather than mere compliance. The Act of Leadership goes beyond the theory. It is a coaching playbook designed to empower you to be the leader you want to be, and the leader your people need you to be.

Most books explain the what and the why of leadership, The Act of Leadership demonstrates the how. Author Dan Haesler takes a coaching approach, combining his years of experience as an educator and now coach to corporate leaders, elite athletes, teams and educators, to reveal the pivotal insights and enlightening case studies that will help you to define what kind of leader you want to be and understand how to get the best out of yourself and the people around you. You will also discover the importance of thinking and acting mindfully, instead of on autopilot, using the mindfulness techniques used by World Champions to lead in the moment, sharpen your intent, and increase your impact.
  • Let go of your biases and assumptions and see the impact we have on others
  • Take on a growth mindset to help you deal with setbacks and mistakes
  • Create organizational change that actually succeeds, by engaging people so that change is done with them not to them
  • Adopt a coach-like mentality and use engaging techniques to improve your day-to-day interactions with the people you lead

With each chapter serving as a one-on-one coaching session, The Act of Leadership will help you create new habits and new ways of being in your day-to-day leadership, as well as life away from work, that are actionable, immediately.

Perfect for leaders, professionals, educators, and athletes seeking to improve their own performance, The Act of Leadership will also earn a place in the libraries of anyone hoping to improve the lives of the people who follow them, in business, sport, and life.

Table of contents

  1. COVER
  2. TITLE PAGE
  3. COPYRIGHT
  4. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  5. INTRODUCTION
  6. Part I: THE ‘YOU’ STUFF
    1. Chapter 1: IS THIS BOOK FOR YOU?
      1. So, what makes a good leader?
      2. ‘With great power comes great responsibility’
      3. What's your style?
    2. Chapter 2: BE MINDFUL, NOT MINDLESS
      1. From Jerusalem to Jericho
      2. It's not character but conditions
      3. The two minds: Red and Blue
      4. Do nothing — just breathe
    3. Chapter 3: ASSUME NOTHING
      1. Blindspot bias
      2. Curse of knowledge bias
      3. False consensus bias
      4. Confirmation bias
      5. Sunk cost fallacy bias
      6. Spotlight effect bias
      7. Fundamental attribution error bias
      8. Halo effect bias
      9. Dunning–Kruger effect
      10. Group‐think bias
    4. Chapter 4: HOW TO TURN IT AROUND
      1. Fixed mindset
      2. Growth mindset
      3. Automatic negative thoughts (ANTs)
  7. Part II: THE ‘YOU AND THEM’ STUFF
    1. Chapter 5: MUM WAS WRONG
      1. What we get wrong with 360 feedback
    2. Chapter 6: MAKE IT SAFE TO STUFF UP
      1. Is it safe here?
    3. Chapter 7: LESS CARROT, LESS STICK
      1. Understanding engagement
      2. The carrot‐and‐stick approach
      3. We need more tribes
    4. Chapter 8: BE BETTER AT CHANGE
      1. Vision: what, why — and crucially — why now?
      2. Skills: the how
      3. Incentive: what's in it for me?
      4. Resources: what's this going to take?
      5. Plan: ideas and good intentions are not enough
    5. Chapter 9: LESS IS MORE
      1. Delegation isn't just giving people more work to do
      2. Be present
      3. Be curious
      4. Be useless
  8. Part III: THE TACTICAL STUFF
    1. Chapter 10: STOP WASTING PEOPLE'S TIME
      1. Do we need to meet?
    2. Chapter 11: NO MORE SH!T SANDWICHES
      1. Et voilà, a sh!t sandwich
    3. Chapter 12: HAVE LESS DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS
      1. But what if ‘difficult’ conversations needn't be difficult at all?
  9. CONCLUSION
    1. Appreciate the nature of change
    2. Set better goals
    3. Stop relying on willpower alone
  10. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  11. INDEX
  12. END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

Product information

  • Title: The Act of Leadership
  • Author(s): Dan Haesler
  • Release date: August 2021
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9780730392118