REVIEW: "The rules of effective leadership," Steven Covey

To be honest - this is the first book of Stephen Covey, I read. And, no doubt, not the last. The book itself is small, about 140 pages of pure exposition, but read in a few hours it will not work. Mostly I put the book that would "digest" the reading. Not without doing homework at the end of each chapter :) It I decided to perform. And now to the book itself.

Stephen Covey affects unusual subject - Leadership in times of uncertainty. The author argues that the crisis can not only build a distinguished career, but also to bring a new level of the whole company.

The book provides Four major hazardsThat await the company in unpredictable times and methods of dealing with them:

• Lack of execution. Even if you have a strategy behavior in a crisis, it can not guarantee absolutely nothing. people carry out this strategy. The whole question is whether your team can perform intentional? You've heard of the Pareto Law - the principle of 20/80. 20% of efforts gives 80% of the results. 20% of employees perform 80% of the work - they work best. Of the remaining 80% of specialists work 60% of medium - not bad, but not as hard. Covey explains how you can bring the bulk of the team to the level of those "gold" 20% (and not only through material incentives).
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• crisis of confidence. It is in difficult times, employees lose confidence in their company. Low levels of trust slows down all processes and increases costs. That is why in times of turmoil slowing economy, slowing the movement of your cash. The winning companies confront the crisis actively and deliberately building trust, showing even greater transparency than ever before. In addition, they act quickly.
• Lose focus. You have fewer resources, fewer people and more confusion. People are trying to do the job of two or three. Such an employee less focused than the one who performs a job. As a result, the chance that he will perform at least one task well is several times less. To win the competition you need to do less than they are. In other words, we need to do more of what is really important to your customers, and less of what they do not need.

Focus on their customers and manage their staff as if their life depends on your success. Warren Buffett.

• pervading fear. Economic crisis leads to psychological crisis. People are afraid. They are afraid of losing their jobs, retirement savings and even their homes. This all affects the work performed. Here we must go back to basics, namely the mission. If there is a clear, well articulated mission, people can transform their concern into action and productivity.

In his book, Covey tells not so much about the personal qualities of the leader, and the practice of staff management for proper goal-setting and the technique of execution of the very grand strategy. "The rules of effective leadership" - a book about how to get better results with fewer resources, how to achieve a great deal, not realizing the more time than is necessary.

This book is perfect for managers of small and medium-sized businesses. I am not a big business here, as the harmonization of all policies in the large companies need a lot of time and desire to do it. In times of crisis this time simply do not have. There's all decided for you, if you do not "top". :)

"The rules of effective leadership," Steven Covey

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