Many people occupy a position of leadership but fail to inspire people to follow them, while some who never get a title of leadership, still manage to inspire many. Angie Morgan stresses this point when she declares “Leadership isn’t about a job title – it’s about action and behavior”. In Spark: How to Lead Yourself and Others to Greater Success, the authors define their vision of what a Spark means and help readers cultivate leadership skills for themselves and become the driving force for others in a organization.
Courtney Lynch and Angie Morgan are the co-founders of Lead Star and co-authors of the best-selling business book Leading from the Front. Both women advise executives on strategy, organizational development, and talent management initiatives.The have served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps.
Sean Lynch is a senior consultant at Lead Star and specializes in designing and delivering leadership program. He holds a BA from Yale University and served as a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force.
Spark: How to Lead Yourself and Others to Greater Success
Authors: Angie Morgan, Courtney Lynch, Sean Lynch
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (January 3, 2017)
ISBN: 0544716183, 978-0544716186
Spark Book Review
The authors begin by introducing their concept of a Spark. A Spark is a person who has the courage to say that things can be better than they are right now, the will to go forward with her ideas, and commitment to follow through and achieve the goals set for herself or the organization. The authors also point out that in spite of different courses advertised as leadership programs, these short courses mostly focus on how to do things like project management. According to them, a leadership program must focus on imbibing behaviors that will propel people to act and give them the ability to influence others.
The authors tell you stories from their Military classrooms and field experience to explain what true leadership is. With these story as the base, the show the readers how values and actions together makes a character of a true leader. This leadership character rests mainly on your credibility. A leader must first be credible, people around you must trust you and your intentions before they can follow you. The authors discuss the for key ingredients of becoming a credible leader. To make your followers accountable to you, you must first take the responsibility of failure of the group and be accountable yourself.
After discussing these core qualities of a leader, the authors then recommend you behaviors expected of a true leader. Other than being action-oriented and accountable, the leader must also be loyal to his followers and be responsive to their needs. Showing that you exist for their benefit are ready to help the achieve their goals will get more work done.
Spark: How to Lead Yourself and Others to Greater Success stresses more on behavioral aspects in your day-to-day life as a leader in the workplace environment than on specific How Tos. The authors believe that leaders are made and not born. Their philosophy is that a leader can be found anywhere and everywhere and it is up to the organization to expose all to basic leadership skills.