Effective Leaders and Leadership

By: Mildred Stallworth

Narrated by: Evie Irwin

Length: 1 hr and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Leadership plays a critical role in every human being's life whether it's by someone else or through the self. An effective leader is someone with a desire to begin a mission that is greater than what can be seen on the surface, and who can visualize images, thoughts, and ideas to bring forth a vision that will improve humanity.

Leaders are born every day, but effective leaders are developed; shaped and molded over time. Each person is born with basic leadership skills but may not have a specific skill that's needed to lead a specific assembly, association, body, business, crowd, division, or industry.

Leadership skills can be acquired through study and learning. People who are willing to achieve these skills can become better prepared by identifying and engaging in leadership roles that will allow them to gain knowledge and skills to take on different positions as a leader.

©2017 Mildred Stallworth (P)2018 Mildred Stallworth

Christian Leadership book in the Business Section

This book is effectively two books.

The first 2/3 is looking at what leadership is and how to do it effectively. The last 1/3 is a very Christian, very Bible quoting 'how to be a good spiritual leader' type teaching. I am a Christian, and I have no issue with the actual content of the teaching BUT I feel like I was ambushed with it. The book is in the business section. It has a very business looking cover. And nowhere in the description and blurb does it mention spiritual leadership or Biblical teaching. This section comes from nowhere, out of the blue, and I think it will put people off.

If they wanted to write a spiritual leadership book, then great. Do that. But don't try hide it as a business book. Because people looking for it will miss it. And people not wanting it will be put off. Ambush tactics of getting someone to listen to the Christianese stuff isn't going to suddenly convert people.

There are other non-business sections, talking about parents leading their children by example, and teachers with students, but these are shorter and don't stand out

As for the first 2/3 of the book - it is good. It uses a lot of quotes and examples to show that leadership isn't about your role and position - it's not about management - but about how you use the role and position you have to influence and guide. For an introduction to leadership and how to do it, it is a good resource.

Narration by Evie Irwin is good. Well paced, easy to follow and engaging. She separates the quotes and the rest of the book slightly in her narration, so you can tell them apart.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Great book

Effective Leaders and Leadership, by Mildred Stallworth, explains leadership from a wide range of perspectives. I really enjoyed this book. This book gave me all the knowledge I need to become a better leader in all areas of life. I enjoyed the examples Ms. Stallworth used in her book. I recommend this book to anyone seeking to improve their leadership skills. I received this audiobook free of charge at my request in return for my honest review.

General Leadership Advice

This book provides a general overview of what it takes to be an effective leader. Different kinds of leaders are brought up, one at a time (e.g. business leaders, school leaders, government leaders, family leaders, church leaders), and then details are provided that “teach” listeners what each type of leader must do to be effective. Quotes from various leaders are peppered throughout the book.

It soon becomes obvious to the listener that the author’s primary leadership template comes from the Bible. In fact, I suspect that the author organized the book under the premise that authority (and therefore leadership) begins with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and then flows down into earthy forms like government, school, business, etc. I believe this is why the author discusses each “type” of leadership separately.

Although I am by no means anti-Christian, I can understand why so many reviewers were turned off by the author embedding her religious views into a book on leadership/business. Even so, that wasn’t the hardest part for me. I simply found this book to be too general to be of practical use for me. Sure, it helped to remind me to prioritize, to be transparent, to have integrity-all important things-but I was hoping for strategies for overcoming some of the more vexing challenges that leaders face: changing organizational culture, getting people to collaborate, etc. The advice given in this book was just too generic for my liking.

As for the narrator-although she had a pleasant voice, I found my mind wandered off more often than usual when listening to this audiobook. Perhaps it was the content, perhaps it was the narrator-I’m not sure.

I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review.

EXCELLENT!

I thought this audiobook was awesome!
My leadership skills were slim to none before reading this, which inspired me to read others, and now I feel I've gained some useful information on how to better prepare myself for any future leadership positions. I've wanted to be a leader, but just didn't have the confidence or the tools to do so. I feel feel more motivated and inspired to do more to develop my leadership skills, and hopefully it will be of benefit someday :) Thank you!
God Bless! <3
Even you, Cos.... ;)
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Good lessons for a successful life

As someone who has lived most of my life in big Cities with diverse populations I am uncomfortable with the Christian
aspects of this Book.

However, it is a worthy effort in outlining the various components of a good leader.

Perhaps this book should be in the Religion section rather then being considered a work suitable for Business.

Regardless, The Narrator does a good job with the material and will satisfy most listeners who are Christian or are not bothered by the Christian references.



This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Good Leaders are getting hard to find

In today's era, good leaders are getting hard to find. We find that leadership standards mean nothing to society. This book goes into details giving definitions for basic leadership skills.
Leadership skills are essential in creating an inspiring vision for others to follow.
Having real integrity ~ doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.
Prioritizing activities ~ making sure everything is set up on a timetable.
Using effective communication ~ a leader should say what is meant and mean what is said.
Showing etiquette ~ where good behavior separates intelligence from foolishness. It instills a sense of trust and dependability.
Listening ~ Leadership enforces listening, influencing and authorizing.
Leading with Consistency ~ actions speak louder than words. In Benjamin Franklin's great words, "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn".
Making decisions ~ having the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.
Accountability ~ starts at the top. With accountability, the blame game cannot be played.
Compassion ~ some of the greatest leaders are those who are calm, peaceful and kind to other people.
Transparency ~ is open, honest and direct communication.
To become an effective leader one has to be ready and prepared to take on the leadership role. Most skills can be learned.
These are the keys to acquiring effective leadership.

looking for religion & leadership this is for you

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

The beginning of this book was a very good overview of leaders and leadership if you don't know much about the subject. It covered a lot of areas in a very straight forward way. I also liked how they gave you definitions of different terms and explained the difference between them. The beginning was very good, quick, and detailed.

Then the book got really preachy and started talking about how Men lead the family and got a sexist feel. The entire second half of the book is trying to save you and talking about leading in the church. I was not a fan of this type of preaching.