Wallet on the Rental Car Roof: A Guide for Young Professionals Growing Their Leadership Skills - by Ann Drummie
Date read: 2022-10-08How strongly I recommend it: 6/10
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I met Ann through one of my networking avenues and recruited her as a mentor for The Forem. Ann specializes in coaching new and emerging leaders, as opposed to most coaches focusing on the C-level. This very short and concise book is filled with great advice on how become a leader - whether you are one today or not - and includes stories of Ann when she was a professional curler, a world traveler, and a consultant to help reinforce each chapter. She also provides you with actionable advice through weekly exercises that you can easily accomplish. Recommended for any new or aspiring manager looking for sage advice that's presented in a fresh and new way.
My Notes
This book is perfect for young professionals who want to expand their career opportunities yet can’t seem to get momentum. Trust me, you, too, can succeed in this area! This book is also good for mentors who want to support emerging leaders but aren’t sure how to create an environment for them to grow. And this book is valuable for well-established leaders who feel rusty and may have even noticed that how they led before is less effective now.
Being accountable means being willing to be seen. It means having and sharing your thoughts and ideas, even when they aren’t fully formed yet. It means asking questions, checking assumptions, and seeking input and help.
When you notice that an assumption can be challenged, you have an opportunity to experiment. Experimenting is based on accountability - taking action while being willing to be judged for it.
As a good leader, you don’t wait for motivation or consider it a puzzle to solve. You are always striving for high performance. Knowing that being competent or even exceptional at tasks isn’t enough to reach high performance, you focus on deepening sustained motivation.
If you stay within the constraints of what others have defined as success, then you will be limited to only those opportunities. This happens when you believe that the boxes on the organization chart are the only ones ever available to you and that the path follows the lines on the chart.
Without coherence, you are blindly following a career path that leads to feeling stuck and frustrated. With coherence, you have a compass to guide you and your team toward challenges that interest and propel you.
Impressive knowledge and expertise isn’t persuasive. It’s the choices you make to be visible, present, and engaging. It’s sharing with humility that you don’t have all the answers, that no one does, and a new venture means discovering new things together based on the strengths that everyone brings.