Mike Easley is an author you may not know, but after reading his new book, Becoming a Leader Worth Following, I am convinced you should get to know him.

The book is not a fable or research-laden tome on the “mystical” qualities necessary to be a great leader; it is a journey that takes readers from leading themselves to leading teams to leading an organization. The more I read, it appeared to be a sort of guide to the mechanics of leadership, with hundreds of experience-backed suggestions for how to best move people to bring a vision to reality.

Topics in the book include motivating yourself, controlling emotions, critical thinking, building and leveraging teams, operating effectively in a larger organization, and, if you are or want to be a CEO, how to work with a board of directors.

Easley talks extensively about the importance of clear communication and active listening. He also walks readers through something he calls motivational interviewing, which many might define as coaching. This section put a smile on my face as it mirrored many things in my own book on the coaching topic.

Near the end of the book, Easley shares three fatal areas for leaders to avoid. He calls them the three No-Os of leadership, namely, ego (being self-absorbed), dinero (making decisions for personal financial gain), and libido (engaging in inappropriate relationships). I found this section invaluable because he confronts three definite danger zones for leaders that many books fail to address.

Throughout the book, Easley takes short side trips to share lessons from his own life where he fumbled or failed and found better ways that led to success. He uses these real-life tales instead of reams of data to practically illustrate the points he describes. This is refreshing with so many books trying so hard to “prove” points with data overload.

I recommend this book to anyone looking for an easy, comprehensive read on the essential logistics of leading. Giving this a read would benefit any person who is in the early stages of a leadership journey. It would also be good for any leader who is struggling, as they would surely find ideas here for where they may be missing the mark and how to turn it around.

Many thanks to Mike Easley for giving us this gift of his lessons and experience.

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