Blog Post

SurveyConnect has great customers, and some of those customers have written books on management and leadership.  Over the coming months we will be reviewing these books, and sharing thoughts with our community.

Rebooting Leadership

By: Meredith Kimbell, Richard Hadden and Bill Catlette

With the many challenges we face in today’s economic, political and business climate, Rebooting Leadership takes an honest and enjoyable approach to how front-line leaders can rediscover their leadership attributes to become more engaging and nimble in the business world.   Kimbell, Hadden and Catlette provide simple tools and exercises to remind leaders of the significance that their roles play in contributing to business success.

More often than not, business leaders have taken on the burden of additional responsibilities and are often placed in leadership roles without proper training.  With such an overwhelming increase in job responsibility, it’s important for leaders to adapt to a changing operational environment while continuously re-earning the trust of those they lead.

Rebooting Leadership revisits the fundamental characteristics leaders should possess (e.g., honesty, building trust, friending, and accepting failure), and teaches how to use these characteristics to re-energize themselves and build trust with their teams.  “Without trust, everyone operates at best deliberately, at worst protectively, and in either case, slowly” (Kimbell, Hadden, Catlette, 2010).

The exercises provided help to integrate the ideas in the book with the reader’s own environment.  In the chapter “Riding the Waves,” the authors ask the reader to write down a description of how they are at their best when in doubt or feeling discouraged, and how it physically feels.  Upon doing so, leaders will have an accessible resource to refer to and practice on a daily basis or when facing challenges.    The authors continue to write about the importance of creating friends in the workplace, accepting failure, and the importance of influencing the world around you.

In uncertain economic times and political uneasiness, Rebooting Leadership provides a simple and enjoyable read for those leaders who need to re-energize and rebuild their confidence.  It provides leaders with the crucial elements to achieve their goals in a difficult work environment and helps leaders be their best.