Product Description: Now can you become a more successful manager, a stronger team leader, and a motivator who gets the best results from a group? Ken Blanchard and Marc Muchnick's The Leadership Pill provides the answer. In the bestselling tradition of Whale Done! and The One Minute Manager, their entertaining and inspiring new book is a parable about the competition between two leaders with totally different management styles -- a story that reveals the ingredients of truly effective leadership.
Consider this tantalizing possibility: What if there were a pill that could actually stimulate the natural powers of the mind and body to provide leadership? In the story, an amazing new pill heightens one leader's powers, but contains the wrong ingredients, stimulating him in an obsessive and shortsighted direction with disastrous results. In contrast, the Effective Leader, working without a pill, proclaims that "only through sustainability can our teams remain motivated and successful." An inspiring and supportive leader, he supplies the right ingredients, earning his team's respect and trust with a blend of integrity, partnership, and affirmation. The hard-won result is a highly motivated team producing consistent top performance and genuine success. Ultimately it is recognized that "leadership for a lifetime" is much easier to digest than a pill for leaders looking for a quick fix.
Destined to be a transforming experience for countless readers, The Leadership Pill shows business managers at any level how to apply the right techniques for getting both results and the commitment of their people, even when the pressure to perform is high.
If it were only so simple that a pill would do!! A cute, tongue and cheek book that will entertain the reader. Blanchard and Muchnick rightfully point out that true effective leadership is not about giving orders and driving people. What they point out that so many in business overlook is that positive, effective leadership is all about people and doing the right things to bring about sustained superior performance. When we look at the current failures in the lending industry in 2008, I personally believe that it is the result of ineffective leadership.
Want to know how to be an effective leader that can produce positive results? Sure you do, then pick up this book, spend a couple of hours chuckling and then reflect. No, I am not going to tell you the secrets because then you would have believed you just took the leadership pill and you would think that you do not need to invest some time in a book worth reading.
Childish and Lame I have read other books similar to this and always enjoyed them. This book, however is lame at best. I have a hard time believing Ken Blanchard would associate himself with this work. When I read this line "Praise is the easiest way to let people know they are appreciated" I immediately felt disdain. How sad would be the manager that would read this and have an epiphany. This book was childish and 99% of the content unnecessary. The title doesn't even match the content. This should have been titled "You don't need a pill to be a good leader".
Very Good Quick Read! Excellent book! Ken Blanchard's story telling prowess gives the reader a quick look at some of the differences between being, what some consider, "a good manager" versus being an "effective leader". The lessons taught in the course of the story can be thought of as basic for an experienced professional, but some will find the book helpful in reminding them of effective leadership principles that can be applied fairly quickly in a team environment.
If you're looking for a very quick read on some effective leadership principles in a story book setting, then this is one book I'd recommend.
A complex metaphor that makes an excellent point While it is all a complex metaphor for many of the problems leading to incompetent business management, the leadership pill is an idea where the point is well understood and is an excellent one. The premise is that all of the qualities that make a good manager have been discovered and concentrated into a pill. Of course, the business world in general considers it the best of all possible quick fixes. However, one person, called "the effective leader", doubts the value of the pill. The effective leader is so convinced of his position that he offers to take over as manager of a group that is currently dysfunctional and work there for a year with a pledge not to take the leadership pill. His performance and that of his company will be compared to the achievements of another company where the leader is using the leadership pill. As first the achievements of the effective leader's company are dismal and the other company's are spectacular. When pressed, the effective leader refuses to change, staying consistent with his themes of integrity, partnership and affirmation. During the course of the year, the performance curves of the companies cross, with that of the effective leader eventually surpassing that of the other company by a wide margin. It is often amazing to me how simple the strategy for effective management is yet how difficult it is to put in practice. Being honest and forthright in dealing with your employees and allowing them the credit for their accomplishments is a simple way to succeed as a manager. Yet it is such a rare thing. One can only hope that some of the people who have listened to this tape will act on it in their work place.
Typical Ken Blanchard This is a leadership "story" (fable) told in a very Ken Blanchard style. I didn't find anything new in it. However, if you've never read Ken Blanchard, or if you are new to "leadership", I think it would serve as a very good introduction. If you have been into "leadership" for some time, and you are looking for a quick refresher of salient points, this should work.
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