Introduction to the second edition: what’s new?
I was pleasantly surprised (as a first-time author) by the success of the first edition of The Leadership Book, where the practical structure seems to have struck a chord with practising leaders. So when I was asked to update The Leadership Book for its second edition, I decided to retain much of the original structure. Much of the original content still in my view remains essential reading and is as relevant as it was when I first wrote it.
It was never my intention that The Leadership Book should be read cover to cover, and so it remains with this second edition. Its clearly understood and common structure makes it easy to dip into time and again; this may go some way to explain why, at the time of writing, editions have been published or are planned in Dutch, Vietnamese, Arabic, Chinese and Korean.
The dip in and out style I use in this book has had a tremendous reception. Almost without exception the feedback from workplace professionals is that it is precisely these features which make The Leadership Book practical and accessible.
However, it has been three to four years since I wrote the original and things have changed in the world of leadership. As such, there are four new sections:
These have been included to reflect what I believe have become the overriding leadership and management challenges of this time.
The book also now includes a section called ‘The Leadership7’ – the seven action topics which I think are absolutely priorities – which brings together some observations for putting the Leadership7 into action (and which itself has been updated from Leadership6 in the first edition). In addition to adding new sections, I have updated the text throughout, and added new and up-to-date examples.
What has not changed one iota, though, is that this is not a book of rules: it is a guide to show how getting the best out of people makes the very best leaders.