Transform Yourself- Transform Your Organization: A Book Review

Andesa Services Book Club recently finished discussing Michael Marino’s terrific book on culture and leadership, including a special appearance with the author to conclude our sessions.  Manager of Business Operations Minza Salman offers her perspectives on the lessons she experienced.

Leadership is not limited to those with a title. We are all leaders in some capacity. We can all do our part by starting with ourselves and then inspire others to bring out the best in themselves. Actions speak louder than words and leadership is all about the mindset and leading by example, which is why leaders go first!

Transform Yourself  Transform Your Organization is about being the change you wish to see in others and your organization, like we so aptly refer to at Andesa as “#ITSTARTSWITHME.” The book journeys through sharing some helpful insights and tools for the leader, encouraging them to first fully recognize, define and develop their own skills to then inspiring high performing teams. The end goal is to develop and sustain a healthy, thriving, organizational culture.

The book highlights the true role of a leader.  It is not about power and control but quite the opposite; its about responsibility, serving others, being humble, sincere, always learning and sometimes “unlearning” to learn and grow even more. Several insights into effective leadership are offered throughout. The rules are pretty basic and applicable to any one in any leadership role either personally or professionally.  A couple of key takeaways for me were:

• “Leadership is a social thing”– Leaders use their social influence through words and actions to bring out the best in one another and their organization.
• Mirror first, then window– This concept is all about self-reflection/awareness before judging when it comes to addressing a problem.
• Define your unique purpose– I really liked that the author challenges leaders to define their unique purpose. I have done this exercise personally, thanks to my mentor’s encouragement and would highly recommend others to consider doing so.
• Building and sustaining high functioning teams– Focus on strengths and the following five traits from P. Lencioni, P. MacMillon and R. Hackman:
  • Foundation of Trust: Care, Character, Communication, Capacity, and Consistency
  • Healthy Conflict
  • Committed Alignment
  • Mutual Accountability
  • Measurement and Celebration of Successes
• Building and sustaining a healthy culture– How to get there, what to look out for and how to sustain it.

I would highly recommend this book to:

• Anyone who has been in leadership and struggled with driving team performance and building a healthy culture.
• New leaders to help them create a framework as they embark on their leadership journey.
• Anyone looking to learn, grow, improve themselves and make a difference in the lives of others. The lessons in the book are applicable even outside a corporate setting.