The Motive
Why So Many Leaders Abdicate Their Most Important Responsibilities
Patrick M. Lencioni
“New York Times best-selling author Patrick Lencioni has written a dozen books that focus on how leaders can build teams and lead organizations. In The Motive, he shifts his attention toward helping them understand the importance of why they’re leading in the first place.”
I absolutely love Lencioni’s books and this one is no exception! Like most of his other books (except this notable exception), this is written as a leadership fable. The fable is used to explain his business concepts so that you can see them in action. He then also goes through the theories in the more traditional business book sense at the end.
The main character in the fable is the typical CEO leader who currently delegates out his leader responsibilities and is more involved in the areas he is comfortable in. I loved the plot twists and turns and couldn’t wait to keep reading it. I would have read it in one sitting if I didn’t have to go to work. I loved the ending and thought it suited well and was needed! The main point that the author makes is that leaders tend to fall into the trap of doing the things they enjoy or are good at. This means that they are too involved in the day to day operating tasks of the business and not focusing on the harder leadership tasks that can only be done by the leader, and are required for the business to grow.
It’s shorter than the average book, however it doesn’t necessarily need to be any longer. Nevertheless, similarly to Lencioni’s other books (eg. DEATH by Meeting), I would have liked a little more in the fast forward following the fable further into examples of how to actually do the correct things. If you can fit in and explain your point in a short book, then there is nothing wrong with it. I listened to this book as an audiobook. Although it’s not read by the author, it was still read with feeling.
If you lead other people or aspire to lead other people, this is a must-read. It’s not just for CEOs but also for small business directors, smaller team leaders and middle management. It reminds you of your ‘WHY’ you are a leader and reinforces that leaders must focus on big picture tasks rather than operations.
I want to say 5 stars as I love all of Lenconis books. In saying that for it to be a 5 stars it should be a re-read and I find it hard to re-read the fables after I’ve heard the story. I’d likely read the key take away points though. 4.5 stars?
