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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Book Review - The Power of Magnetic Leadership: It's Time to Get R.E.A.L.

What do the leaders of top companies do to create an inviting workplace filled with fully engaged and enthusiastic employees?

Dianne Durkin, author of the book The Power of Magnetic Leadership, uses the lessons learned from dozens of successful company leaders to explain how the best leaders engage employees, set the example by showing how to play well with others, and inspire people by demonstrating that every action they take is relevant to them.

“The best leaders,” she says, “are people who know how to listen, can make a promise and deliver on that promise, and have stepped up to the plate and made the necessary investment to successfully engage their employees”.

The best leaders motivate, inspire and energize people by connecting the vision, values, purpose and business goals of the organization to individual values and needs. Here are some of the top actions she recommends to people seeking to improve their success as a leader.

  1. Develop Your Vision. Make sure you have a vision with the purpose and values to make it real. State where you are going clearly. State your purpose simply. Express your values – the things that you use to guide every action people take at work – directly.
  2. Identify Your Leader Type. Knowing who you and what type of leader you are helps you and others identify where, when and how to best behave and act to focus their energy to achieve the goals and objectives you set out for them.
  3. Track Your Leadership Development Progress. Keep a leadership log to document what you do and what happens. Review what happens regularly. Reflect on what you are learning and how you are changing.
  4. Recruit and Retain the Right People. Identify what makes individuals successful in your culture, and recruit for those skills. The culture will keep them loyal and happy, and exceed all expectations. Improve your interview and listening skills so you can hear what your employees are saying. Document and take immediate action when you identify something that needs to be improved.
  5. Engage, Empower and Enrich Your Employees. Invite employees to become part of your vision. Empower them to be a force of change and be enriched by your culture. Make your employees part of the solutions, by giving them a role and the responsibility for implementing solutions to major business issues.
  6. Create a Work Environment that Fosters Creativity and Innovation. Go beyond simply improving the physical environment. Focus on how people feel to work there. Evaluate the energy when you walk the floors. How connected to their teams do virtual or remote workers feel? Make changes to ensure that the work environment fuels your objectives and helps to achieve your goals.
  7. Appreciate and Reward Your Employees. Develop and deploy a schedule that regularly and meaningfully rewards employees to create a culture of appreciation. Assess and improve the way you reward people so that you are sensitive and responsive to the differences in age, education, maturity, and demographics
  8. Focus On the Things That Inspire Your People. Identify what inspires you and your employees. Do they need more education and training, more creative time and cross-training opportunities, wellness programs to promote less stress and better health, or even a sabbatical? Develop and improve the key programs that your people need to stay engaged and loyal
  9. Improve The Most Important Things First. Identify the most significant of your short comings head-on. Identify what is impacting your own progress and what is holding you back. Are you a poor listener, a technophobe, or do you yell and rave? Admit it. Then take action to get help, fix your problem, and improve your own performance, skills and abilities.
  10. Visualize the Future. Identify where you see yourself in 10 years, 20 or even 30 years? Define the characteristics of the leader you want to be and what the future looks like for you. Describe the way you will balance your personal life and that of your organization and its people. Document how you will build loyalty and trust with your leadership.

The Power of Magnetic Leadership is a vault of valuable business strategies based on Durkin’s decades of experience changing the leadership course of major corporations. It provides insight on how leaders can lead magnetically by fully engaging and empowering employees, transforming them into innovative thinkers and major contributors to the organization’s success. Appreciating effort and rewarding results are underscored as the means to generate loyalty and impact profitability.

For more information www.LoyaltyFactor.com

About the Author
Dianne Durkin heads up Loyalty Factor, a consulting and training company located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She has more than 25 years of experience in training and development, finance, direct sales and international marketing.

She has been Interviewed ABC News, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, USA Today, Investor’s Business Daily and the Boston Globe, on several occasions. A graduate of Rivier College, Ms. Durkin holds a Master’s Degree in Mathematics from Duquesne University. She has also completed advanced management programs at the University of Santa Clara and Babson College. She is an adjunct professor at Plymouth State University and the University of Massachusetts in Lowell.

Carey Earle is a serial entrepreneur and marketer who began her career on Madison Avenue,Carey has worked with some of the world’s most respected brands and high-growth companies crafting adaptive marketing and brand strategies. She has interviewed on CNNfn, CNBC, Bloomberg and PBS, was featured in a documentary about women business owners called “Alpha Female,” and also was quoted in The New York Times, Fortune Small Business, Business Week, Working Woman, Adweek and American Demographics.

Carey is an adjunct instructor of marketing at New York University. She also lectures at her alma mater, American University, where she serves as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for the School of Communication.

My Take on the Book
I have read a lot of leadership books over the years, most of the time because I try to incorporate this into not only my own everyday work practice that also in the interactions that I have with the students that I work with I tried to infuse the idea of leadership into those conversations. When I look for books on leadership I am looking for books that are easily implemented and have practical tips on how to not only be a better leader but also on how to encourage and motivate others to find their own leadership potential. This book is both. The book was an easy read and provides valuable tips on how to be a better leader. I love the fact that it is written for world that has generation Y and X individuals working in it. The book also go shares many tips on how to make your own organization stronger, which is something I always looking for as well. In tough economic times it takes a strong leader to be able to pull their company through, and with books like this a leader can know that they have the strength and the skills to be able to leave their organization into the future.


All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company.  Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Disclaimer  for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

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