Stealing from the Future
It’s easy to argue that there are far too many books on leadership already however the evidence suggests that as a species we're still not terribly good at it.
So what’s missing?
Is it a chronic misunderstanding of what leadership actually is?
A lack of understanding of the context that leadership needs to be practiced in?
Something else entirely?
Separately and together, Neil Crofts and Mark Thompson have participated in and helped to shape some of the most demanding corporate change efforts of the early 21st century - including the rehabilitation of BP after the Gulf of Mexico accident in 2010, and Barclays Bank after the LIBOR and PPI scandals from 2013.
With their years of experience working with thousands of leaders world-wide, the authors have now filtered their knowledge into an easy-to-read handbook for constant change – how to deal with it and how to lead effectively in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world.
They suggest that most conventional companies have prioritized management over leadership for the last 50 – 100 years. Management being fundamentally about reliability; leadership being fundamentally about change.
Leadership, culture and change have often been handled as three separate subjects however their true power lies in being interconnected and treated as one whole.
Organizations now have to be able to be both effective, reliable and deliver skillful transformation all at the same time but how do they do that? The arrival of this state has been so swift it has caused the predictable reactions of shock, denial, anger, blame, resistance, and retreat.
In Part I of the book the authors look at the ‘why’ - exploring the nature of what is happening across the world of the 21st Century and providing the philosophy and argument for promoting universal authentic leadership.
In Part II they offer the ‘how - accumulated insights into the habits and disciplines that can be adopted at both individual and organizational levels to encourage sustainable success.
"Stealing from the Future" is not strictly a business book, nor aimed exclusively at CEOs and senior leaders (although many could do with reading it!) It is useful for anyone who wants to encourage and enable positive change in their community, organization or society. It inspires those who have aspirations to lead and provides useful advice for those who want to expand their existing scope and influence as a leader.
If you want to know what great leadership looks like and start the journey to achieve it, I'd recommend reading this. I've given it to my employees, my friends, my clients and my mentors. All have taken something different from it and found it useful.
It's a great reference book that you can dip in and out of and it's genuinely the best £10 I’ve spent on Amazon in a while!
Find more reviews of Stealing from the Future here
Here's a great presentation on Stealing From The Future with Neil and Mark: