The Leader You Want to Be: Five Essential Principles
for Bringing Out Your Best — Every Day
Amy Jen Su
Harvard Business Review Press (October 2017)

“People won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Theodore Roosevelt

Many less experienced managers aspire to become C-level executives, not realizing that their organization needs leadership at all levels and in all areas of operation. In fact, all organizations need people — with or without a formal title…with or without being asked — who take the initiative when there is a problem to be solved or a question to be answered.

Amy Jen Su wrote this book to help those less experienced managers to function in two separate but interdependent modes, A and B.

As she explains, when in Leader A mode, “our energy and enthusiasm run high. We feel liked we’re making a difference, adding value, and having a positive impact. Our work feels meaningful, as if we’re working not just to hit an external target but to fulfill a deep sense of purpose. Even if some days are jam-packed, they are, as one leader recently described it to me, ‘good-busy’ days.”

With regard to the Leader B mode, when in it, “we may feel rushed, reactive, overwhelmed, or exhausted — or all of the above. We may feel like we’re having little or no impact, or that no matter how much effort we expend, we’re not moving the needle. Leader B days can be especially hard if you don’t feel connected to other people or if you find yourself in heavy-conflict interaction. Another sign that we’ve slipped into Leader B mode is that we are more agitated, on edge, or irritable at home. All too often, it’s our loved ones who are negatively stressed at home.”

As I worked my way through Su’s narrative I was again reminded of what Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (pronounced “Mee-high cheek-sent-mee-high”) has to say about what he characterizes as “flow”: a mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does.

As for those in the Leader B mode, they really aren’t leaders. They  struggle through “periods of disillusionment, dissatisfaction, and frustration. The cost of being stuck in Leader B mode is quite high; if left unchecked, it can even be career-ending.”

These are indicators of what this book is about.  I highly recommend it to those in leadership positions or who aspire to become a leader. I also highly recommend it to those who are involved in leadership development initiatives, be they formal or informal as when supervising direct-reports or in coaching as well as mentoring relationships.

Let’s allow Amy Jen Su who created this brilliant book to have the final words: “”When you’re living and leading from a Leader A mindset, when you and your team are bringing your Leader A game to the table and delivering superior results that make a difference in the world, you are living the life of a servant leader who, with every action, is paying it forward. There are few things in life more rewarding. This is the pinnacle not only of leadership, but of living.”