Take the Lead: Motivate, Inspire, and Bring out the Best in Yourself and Everyone Around You

These people range from big names like Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, both of whom she advised and campaigned with, to colleagues from her early days in business who never made it into the media spotlight.

It's important to note, at this point, that the author gained her political experience in the Democratic camp and that's where her affinity lies. But she also pays homage to a number of Republican friends and mentors she met or worked with, mainly during her years in academia. These include Elliot Richardson, Richard Nixon's attorney general at the time of Watergate, and Dick Darman, who worked under George Bush Senior.

The author says we don't have to agree with a leader's politics to respect their style and she notes her best lessons came when she kept an open mind. So if you have Republican leanings, there's still plenty in this book for you, particularly since the anecdotes come from business and academia too.

We also believe the qualities she highlights in Democratic leaders are universal, even if Republicans might take a more individualistic approach to leadership. That said, we think the author's portrayals of the Clinton and Obama camps are too positive and we'd prefer a more balanced approach.

But are the author's leadership lessons applicable to the corporate world? We believe that, on the whole, they are, although her language and approach are different to what we're used to in business and we'd argue she makes a few omissions. You'll hear more about this later.

So who's this book for? Well, according to the author, we're all leaders, even if we don't think of ourselves as such. At work and at home, we have countless opportunities to impact or influence other people's lives. This might seem more obvious if we're a CEO, a project manager, a university lecturer or a high school teacher, but it's just as applicable to parents, siblings, children, and friends, the author says.

For the author, it's not about where you're working but rather who you're being and how you're behaving to those around you. It comes down to how you make others feel.

As you may have guessed by now, the author's approach to leadership is quite gentle. She talks about self-awareness, deep connections, and living our most authentic lives. She doesn't offer readers lists of things to do or ten-step plans either. She prefers storytelling to get her point across.

She does end each chapter with a set of questions for the reader – some of them challenging – and these are designed to get people to reflect on their lives or to nudge them gently into action. If you're looking for a book that tells you what to do, "Take the Lead" isn't it. But this book perhaps can show you what to do, by setting down what other leaders – prominent or otherwise – have done.

Myers served as a senior official in Bill Clinton's administration and was his senior adviser on women's issues. She launched and directed the White House Office for Women's Initiatives and Outreach and worked on Clinton's successful 1996 re-election campaign.

In 2003, she became executive director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, before leaving to join Obama's presidential campaign where she worked as chief operating officer and chair of Women for Obama.

Before entering politics, she was as an entrepreneur, building her own insurance and financial services company. She currently directs the Center for Women & Business at Bentley University and leads workshops around the world on the changing nature of leadership.

So keep listening to hear how authenticity helped Obama win respect, why personal connections are key to good leadership, and how clarity of purpose can help us achieve our goals.

The author defines a good leader as someone who leads from a place of self-knowledge and self-awareness, is willing to ask questions rather than provide all the answers, and is effective because of how they make those around them feel, rather than because of intellect or power.

She lists seven qualities she says are the hallmarks of good leadership. These are authenticity, connection, respect, clarity, collaboration, learning, and courage.

We agree these are all important qualities for leaders in general. But good business leaders also need vision, motivation, and the ability to develop teams. The author touches on these qualities when she discusses clarity, connection, and collaboration, although we think she could be more explicit. If you want to apply her lessons to business, you may have to join some of the dots yourself – and be aware that the author is not presenting the full gamut of qualities a business leader needs.

Keeping that in mind, let's look at some of the leaders the author admires.

Take Obama, as one example. Whatever you may think of his politics, it's clear he has an ability to inspire, motivate, and energize others. His campaign for the 2008 election mobilized an extraordinary number of Americans and captured the imagination of millions of people around the world. The author says Obama embodies several leadership qualities, but let's look at how he measures up against authenticity.

We're authentic when we're fully and freely ourselves. It's when we're saying, "This is me, take me or leave me!"

Obama is someone who is who he says he is, according to the author. She first met Senator Obama in 2005 on Capitol Hill, when he agreed to talk to a group of Harvard students she'd taken to Washington.

She had 15 minutes scheduled with Obama. But instead of talking about his work as a senator, he chose to tell a story about a low point in his career. He told the group about his 2000 congressional campaign, which he lost to incumbent Bobby Rush. He shared what it had felt like to lose; talked about the mistakes he made, and said how the experience had humbled him.

His message to the students was that it doesn't matter if you fall down, as long as you get back on your feet and learn from your mistakes.

The author joined Obama's presidential campaign a year and a half later. She recalls a meeting in which the candidate told his team: "If I am who I am and we win, great. And if I am who I am and we lose, then so be it. But don't ask me to change who I am to win this thing." We think this message about authenticity is relevant to any workplace or situation.

The chapter on authenticity has some useful tips on how to get the best out of yourself and those who work with and for you. The author makes a great point in this chapter about making sure people are both "on the right bus and sitting in the right seats." By this, she means it's important to check whether your team members are in roles that suit their personalities, are in line with their passions, and play to their strengths. This isn't just about making people happy – it also makes sound business sense. If employees like what they do, they'll work more productively.

Let's now look at connection, another of the author's seven hallmarks of good leadership. If you work in a big organization, you'll know how easy it is to feel disconnected from what's going on at the top. Technology doesn't help. These days, we can often avoid face-to-face conversations if we want to.

Good leaders don't allow this to happen. They spend time building personal connections and strong relationships at all levels. They're genuinely curious about others, they listen, and they're willing to talk honestly about themselves. As a result, the people around them feel like they matter, like they have a voice.

Bill Clinton knew how to connect, the author says. He was aware that one of the biggest challenges as president was staying in regular contact with his country's citizens. That's why, in 1996, he went to the home of Mary Frances Kelley, a single mother from Denver, Colorado. The meeting was part of an initiative called At the Table, launched by the White House Women's Office to engage disaffected female voters and remind women why their vote mattered.

Over iced tea in her living room, Mary and 15 other women spent 90 minutes talking to the president about everything from day care to health care, domestic violence to gang crime, and age discrimination to the environment. Mary said the president listened more than he talked and asked good questions. The women felt better connected to Clinton and his government by the end of the meeting. Clinton's last few years in office were turbulent but he left the White House in 2001 with an approval rating of 66 percent.

Connecting with others is just as important in business as in politics. If people in your organization don't feel connected to those above them or to a mission or purpose, they'll become disillusioned, less productive, and less effective. The author suggests we all take time to form stronger relationships with those we work with – our peers, our bosses and our employees – and have more face-to-face meetings.

Let's now look at another hallmark, clarity. In the business world, this encompasses vision and good communication. If you're fortunate, you'll have worked for a team or an organization with a well-defined goal or purpose. It can be an energizing experience. Too often, though, that clarity gets blurred. We get distracted by peripheral tasks or bogged down when things don't go to plan. We end up reacting instead of acting.

Good leaders know how to keep their team or organization on track. They may run into obstacles, but they manage to keep their eyes and those of their followers fixed firmly on the prize.

Take John Davies, the author's boss back when she worked for the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company in Los Angeles. John's office was uncluttered and his desk was immaculate, the author recalls. He began each day with nothing but a blank sheet of lined paper in front of him. He'd write down his plan for the day: the work he had to get done, the prospective calls he planned to make, and the face-to-face appointments he had.

John knew that if he made enough calls and personal visits in a week, he'd sell enough policies and grow his portfolio. While others drifted in late, drank coffee, and got tied up in non-essential paperwork, he was clear about his goals and disciplined about putting in the work needed to achieve them.

According to the author, the key is to live with an outbox strategy – not an inbox strategy. Don't get distracted or thrown off course by what's coming at you. Avoid interruptions, like non-essential phone calls or emails, wherever possible. Take control of your day, prioritize and do the work that contributes to your vision. This isn't new advice, but it's something we can't hear often enough and the author's stories give it a fresh take.

In wrapping up, the author looks at Southwest Airlines as an example of a company that embodies many of the leadership values in this book. She tells the story of a young woman who approached a Southwest ticket counter desperate to catch the next flight to the city where her soldier husband was stationed. It was her last chance to see him before he deployed to Afghanistan.

The agent at the counter found the woman a fare of $179. But the passenger burst into tears. She was $100 short. The agent at the counter and two others who heard her distress decided to pay for the woman's flight, in its entirety, telling her to keep the $79 for other expenses.

The author says this behavior is typical at Southwest, where employees feel they matter, are engaged with the company's vision, and are passionate about what they do and the people they serve. This approach doesn't only lead to a nicer work environment but it also helps grow the business.

Throughout "Take the Lead," the author makes a strong case for her seven leadership qualities and, with the caveats you heard earlier, they're as relevant in the corporate world as they are in politics, academia and the home. And she reminds us we don't have to be ruthless to get things done or turn a profit. Soft values are good for business too.

Nevertheless, the book borders on being sentimental in parts and the author's stories are overwhelmingly positive. We believe the book would benefit from more balance. Great leaders learn from their mistakes so it would be good to hear about more of them.

It's also very heavy on narrative. We really liked the questions at the end of each chapter, but the rest of the book is pretty much story after story. It's a lot to take in and the reader can get lost among all the names, places, and dates.

That said, many of the author's stories are fascinating and for the most part they support her theories about great leadership.

"Take the Lead" by Betsy Myers is published by Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights. Click here to buy the book from Amazon. Thanks for listening.