Pivot Leadership: Small Steps…Big Change – A Book Review

Pivot Leadership Author, Angela Craig grabbed me right from the beginning with a great dance step analogy to explain the basis of Pivot Leadership (For you sports minded folks, she’s got you covered as well).  Now, I’m no dancing queen, but I do have rhythm and my high school friends will confirm that I can do a mean electric slide 🙂  You see when you pivot, you are not flying across the dance floor, one foot is firmly planted while the other makes a turn, a turn that changes your position.  This analogy set’s up Angela’s tool box of a book perfectly.  She is not touting an “Extreme Leader Makeover Edition” or asking you to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but she shares with a passionate voice how small changes can actually make a monumental difference in your leadership impact.

I’m sure if you’ve tried your hand at leadership, you will agree, it’s not for the faint of heart!  While the majority of times, it’s one of the most rewarding aspects of my life, there are times (shocker) that it can be the most draining.  I have found that managing work is one thing, that’s actually the easy part, its leading people where things can sometimes get messy.  Pivot Leadership does a wonderful job speaking to real life, front line, leadership challenges.  What do I do when the workload demand is insane but caring for the people I lead should be my priority?  I’ve been there and messed that up.  Then there’s the always challenging topic of communication, for me lately, I’ve been attempting to focus on how I’m listening.  Am I listening actively or listening while rehearsing my reply?  How do I make those I lead feel when I’m listening to them?  Am I present, really present?  Am I engaged?   Do those I’m listening to feel valued?   I’ll put this in the “I’m improving” bucket, with plenty of room to grow.  Angela’s authentic personal stories and lessons learned made it easy for me as a reader to identify areas of strength and of weakness in my leadership.  Even more exciting, each chapter provides practical tools and exercises to implement, those “pivot” steps, that can  change our leadership trajectory for the better.

Whether you manage in the public sector like me, run a non-profit or are a business entrepreneur, if you desire to use your influence to make a difference in the lives of others and want to be equipped with some practical means of doing so, then this book is for you!  If you desire to continue to grow in your leadership skills so that you can make a positive and lasting  impact in your world and you want to hear about it from a true believer in the potential of others, then you need  a copy!  This book is not a dust collector!  It is brimming with tools, practical applications and valuable insights that both you and I will refer back to often as we continue to hone our dance…, I mean leadership skills!  Speaking of dance though, I have a feeling Angela could probably hold her own with me on the electric slide?!  I’m ready to pivot any time you are 🙂

Pivot Leadership: Small Steps…Big Change is available for purchase through Amazon or Barnes and Noble.  You can also purchase and find out more about Author Angela Craig by visiting http://www.pivotleader.com.