Clarity in Crisis

Leadership Lessons from the CIA

De: Marc E. Polymeropoulos

Narrado por: Tom Parks

Duración: 4 h y 56 m

Resumen del Editor

Meet your next crisis head on and get through it stronger than ever by using the hard-earned strategies and core principles from Marc Polymeropoulos, a highly decorated, 26-year operations officer with the CIA.

Marc Polymeropoulos has had to live with the consequences of decisions made under the most high-stress circumstances you can imagine as a senior intelligence officer in the CIA, retiring from his 26 years of service as one of the CIA’s most decorated field officers.

Though your crisis situations may not entail international counter terrorism as Marc’s did, in our age of social media and a 24-hour news cycle, the consequences of mishandling a crisis can escalate quickly, leaving irreparable damage to a company’s reputation and bottom line in its wake.

In Clarity in Crisis, Marc shares how true leaders need to lead in and through times of crisis and thrive under conditions of ambiguity, rather than message their way out or duck from hard decisions.

This book provides proven strategies and core principles that leaders can apply to meet any crisis head on and lead through it, including:

• The critical elements to managing crisis, such as knowing who you can always count on to execute under high-stress situations.
• An understanding of the importance of following and stressing key fundamentals and avoiding shortcuts that often do more harm than good.
• Implementation guidance from the “Mad Minute” section at the end of each chapter that summarizes key points and action items you can begin applying right away.
• How to gain confidence that you are ready for the next crisis and embrace any situation with no fear.

Far from mere theory, Clarity in Crisis outlines the unique mindset and strategies Marc himself practiced and honed throughout his remarkable career. The core principles outlined in these chapters will help you find unshakeable clarity in crisis and lead when others want to flee.

©2021 Marc E. Polymeropoulos (P)2021 HarperCollins Leadership

Good balance of stories and principles

Polymeropolous brings leadership concepts developed through adversities within the CIA. I'm a fan and enjoyed the mix of stories and concepts.

Great lessons for all!

I loved this book. He broke down leadership perfectly. I learned so much. I found ways to improve myself as a person. I am not a leader in the business world. I am a mother and a grandmother. I can do this job better with the lessons i have learned here.

Take time to read this book and take it to heart in your every day life. The world would be a better place if we all did.

It’s OK.

I read this after hearing the author’s interview with Shawn Ryan. The interview was amazing, but the book was disappointing.

Pros: The parts on CIA history and some of his own Ops are interesting. Some of the personal leadership lessons were cool.

Cons: It’s tough to take someone like the author seriously when they are so drunk on the U.S. government worker Kool-aid. Despite his life experience in war zones, he seems quite naive. But the naïveté comes with the ego of someone who ascended the government worker hierarchy. I understand that he basically had to adopt a “trust everything the U.S. government says”-attitude to be good at his job, but I can’t take him all that seriously because of it. Also, the humble bragging bleeds through the “lessons”.

If you are interested in a leadership book, I’d look elsewhere. If you want to hear a few war stories from a CIA officer, it may be worth your time.

good till the end

This is a good book but the author should have kept his opinions to himself at the end of the book

Average self-help book.

discovered the author while watching the Sean Ryan show and was really intrigued about the person's story and their adventures in the CIA. unfortunately everything discussed in this book was already in the podcast so you don't gain any extra insight here and the rest of the book is just full with self-help on how to be a leader. I would say it's pretty average for a self book help book on leadership and done in a very bland way. The entire first chapter is writing about diversity and how it's super important, now the blue haired woke lady who gets a boner for buzzwords like diversity isn't going to read a leadership book by the CIA. The stereotypical white dude like me who's been in the military all his life is going to know that it's not about diversity it's about finding the right person for the task at hand, so the whole first chapter was a waste.

Loved it!

I have enormous respect for the author and thus, would've bought and devoured any book by Polymeropoulos, regardless the topic. Conveniently though, I'm a public policy/management student and found his lessons on leadership so brilliant and helpful.

Great and entertaining story, and lacks real leadership techniques

He takes you through a few good CIA stories that any soldier would tell you around any campfire or dinner, party or family event or when any other time soldiers get together and talk. Very cool very good read but also the humble bragging was a little hard to Bear. I wish it would've been a little bit more Like his interviews on television were when he promoted the book

Should be Mandatory Reading for Present and Future Leaders

Marc Polymeropoulos has a unique gift of putting complex scenarios in a format that is easily understood so the general reader or in this case the listener understands everything immediately and gains instant recognition and increased level of knowledge . Marc Polymeropoulos conducts himself very well at interviews . The narrator did a terrific job , But maybe next time Marc Polymeropoulos himself can possibly narrate his next literary work . Well Done !

Meh….

I listened to the author on the Shaun Ryan podcast and really enjoyed their conversation. After listening to this book however, it does not compare to the podcast or other books on leadership such as “Extreme Ownership”.
Although I respect the authors credentials and work history, I feel as though this book could be more in depth with more instructions to his principles as opposed to the stories he goes over.
The last 10 or so minutes of the book also goes into a political rant about covid 19 responses and what we should be doing in terms of mask wearing and getting the vaccine…which in 2022 we now know was incorrect and misleading information. I feel as the author would have known better than to propagate such information back when the book was written.

great book

really enjoyed this book very much!!!! great job of telling excellent stories , teaches me how to be a better person and father