The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership

As the author best states: "The purpose of the this book is to get you to think about leaders and leadership from a fresh and original point of view - from what I call a contrarian perspective...The Key is to break free, if only fleeting, from the bonds of conventional thinking so as to bring your natural creativity and intellectual independence to the fore." He further argues that: "One of the important and contrarian point we can make about leadership is that it is highly situational and contingent; the leader who succeeds in one context at one point in time won't necessarily succeed in a different context at the same time, or in the same context at a different time."The principles of such leadership are then discussed over ten (10) chapters as follows: 1) Thinking Gray, and Free 2) Artful Listening 3) Experts: Saviors and Charlatans 4) You Are What You Read 5) Decisions, Decisions 6) Give the Devil His Due 7) Know Which Hill You're Willing to Die On 8) Work for Those Who Work for You 9) Follow the Leader 10) Being President Versus Doing President. The author then concludes the book with an illustrative example through his experience at the University of Southern California.A great recommended read that brings fresh perspective on servant leadership!Below are key excerpts from the book, that I found particularly insightful:3- "The essence of thinking gray is this: don't form an opinion about an important matter until you've heard all the relevant facts and arguments, or until circumstances force you to form an opinion without recourse to all the facts."4- "...clients who benefited most from my services were leaders who never became too dependent on me, who always maintained their intellectual independence, and who never kidded themselves that expertise could be a substitute for leadership."5- "The key contribution of the supertexts is not a set of timeless truths about leadership, but rather some timeless truths about human nature. One of the great fallacies of our age (and perhaps any age) is the belief that we are fundamentally different from our ancient forebears, that we have somehow outgrown the barbaric and benighted practices of centuries and millennia past...we are every bit as human, and no more human, that the characters in the Old Testament or the people of sixteenth-century Florence."6- "All leaders, whether contrarian or otherwise, are heavily influenced bu what they read. Indeed, in many cases leaders are directed and inspired as much by their readings as they are by their closest advisers...In reading as in so many other areas, maintaining one's intellectual independence is an essential prerequisite for effective leadership."7- "The contrarian leader's approach to decision making can be summarized in two general rule: 1) Never make a decision yourself that can reasonably be delegated to a lieutenant. 2) Never make a decision today that can reasonably be pt off to tomorrow."8- "The challenge for the leader isn't to delude himself into thinking that people are intrinsically better or worse than they really are; rather, it is to find ways to bring out the best in his followers (and in himself) while minimizing the worst."9- "An outstanding candidate (for an open position) must be at least two notices above the leading insider in order to be a good risk."10- "In the long run the most difficult part of building a diverse team of lieutenants is to integrate people whose intellectual and moral perspectives cover a wide spectrum and are not simply isomorphic with those of the leader."11- "It has been my experience that money is often as essential element in attracting and retaining outstanding people...however I don't believe money is a very effective tool for inspiring people to reach for and achieve extraordinary goals; rather, the actual motivation in such instances seems to be pride or the desire to beat out the competition."12- "The challenge is for the person at the top to be such an excellent supervisor - fair, supportive, demanding, a good listener, motivating, and inspiring - that these values will be internalized and replicated via people chains at every level in the organization."13- "The contrarian leader knows that he himself must answer the question of what's right both a worldly and a moral perspective. This at times will make his experience more exhilarating than that of other leaders, and at times more excruciating. But it will always be his experience - one for which he willingly takes responsibility And what could be a greater or more meaningful adventure in leadership than that?"

I first heard about this book in Bill Hybels "Courageous Leadership." Hybels requires all of his leaders in his church to first read this book. Surprisingly this book is not based on Christian leadership. The main idea behind the book is that Sample takes ideas that are commonly thought of as a leaders best practices and show why leaders should do just the opposite. (Contrarian definition: a person who opposes or rejects popular opinion) I had no idea what a contrarian was before reading this book, but learned alot of valuable ideals.This book really challenged me to think outside the box. As the title says, the topics covered in this book usually go against what everyone holds as a leaders best practices. In each chapter I had to think about what was being covered and why it made sense to go against the popular belief besides what Sample was simply writing about. I did not want to just take him at his word, but challenged myself to see why his points either made sense, or did not at all. I highly recommend this book to stretch your mind in leadership practices. Very early on in the book Sample challenges the reader to make a hypothetical decision that no-one ever would want to have to make, but it sets the tone for the book for getting the reader out of their current mold and challenging why they think that way.This book also has alot of practical applications and is not just all theory and thought. I tend to learn through example and find it easier to connect with a book that has practical implications rather than be just about theory. This book has a good mix and Sample makes sure to have practicality in all of his chapters and topics.Some of my favorite quotes from the book:"... the leader's role is to be sufficiently broad so as to be able to integrate the advice of several experts into a coherent course of action."- Showed me that a leader does not have to be the know-all in all particular fields that they observe, that is what the experts are for. The leader just needs to have experts in specific areas that they trust and have the ability to gather all the information and formulate an appropriate plan."..., an effective leader must sell himself first and his vision or policies second."- A leader must have followers, if not they are not a leader. If a leader does not first sell themselves and show others why they should follow, then the leader has no chance of getting people on board to follow their vision. So when being a leader you need to make sure those you lead trust you as a person before they trust your vision."If you leave a white post alone it will soon be a black post. If you particularly want it to be white you must be always painting it again." (Quote from G.K. Chesterton)- A simple thought but can be applied to alot of places in life. As with leadership and inspiring others to a vision, eventually excitement will wane. Thus everything will take continued work. You are either improving or degrading, no staying the same.

A great book for anyone wanting to learn how to be a better leader. Easy to read and full of challenges.

Highy recommended!

Sample has given us a realistic and altruistic approach to leadership. This book provides you with thought provoking context, which simply put, are common sense.

Steve does a good job at helping leaders learn basic principles which will help them to be sucessful leaders. His personal experiences make the book very practical.

One of the most realistic guide to leadership