Survival Kit for Leaders is one of the rare books that actually carries out its stated purpose-that of providing a practical, interactive guide to developing relevant leadership skills. The authors know what it takes to teach contemporary leadership and they have used their considerable experience to design a learning system highly useful as an individual or a team survival kit. Every aspect of Survival Kit for Leaders has been prepared toward this end beginning with its purpose through executive summaries for each chapter, specific examples and applications, highly useful discussion questions that make the reader become deeply involved, and key points for the readers to learn and apply.

Survival Kit for Leaders has been organized into these relevant chapters that present the critical principles and concepts leaders need to learn, recall, and apply:

Leadership for a Survival Organization
Survival Thoughts for Leaders
Profile of a Leader
Leadership and the Art of Mentoring
Leadership and the Art of Feedback
Leadership and Management
Using the Law for Competitive Advantage
Time Management Techniques for the Effective Leader

These chapters engage both fledgling and experienced leaders and very effectively draw them into the development process. As a result, Survival Kit for Leaders becomes an individual seminar taught by not only the authors, but by the many successful leaders cited throughout the book.

Readability Difficulty Index

6 out of 10 (where 10 requires intense concentration). The book challenges the reader to engage in self-reflection, a task that goes beyond simply reading the book, but calls for interaction with and deeper understanding of its content.

Recommended Audience

Survival Kit for Leaders is primarily targeted at individual leaders, in all situations, to help them survive the challenges of the 21st Century. That said, it would be equally effective in a group setting as a focus for stimulating discussions.

Most Interesting Part

The book has many interesting illustrations that are right on target. For example, in Chapter 5, Leadership and the Art of Feedback, the authors use the term "FEEDBACK" as an acronym to stand for each of its component parts. This mnemonic helps readers relate the concept to their own situations. For example, in discussing "D" for "Dialogue-oriented," the authors not only illustrate how dialogue can be used appropriately in leadership situations, but also cite Stephen R. Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People to reinforce the salient points. This technique is used very usefully throughout the book.

Most Insightful Part

The most insightful part was Chapter 3, Profile of a Leader, a case study of the leadership principles employed by Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish citizen, during World War II. Wallenberg is believed to have saved 100,000 lives through his courageous and compassionate leadership. The chapter not only describes Wallenberg's heroic actions, but also does this in a manner that identifies leadership principles that we can apply to our less heroic lives. This chapter alone is worth the price of the book.

Most Unique Part

Many leadership books have discussion questions. What sets Survival Kit for Leaders apart are its finely crafted discussion questions. These questions not only challenge the reader to interact with the book, but do so in a manner that brings about the essence of its content. The questions also increase the book's flexibility as a seminar/classroom discussion vehicle.

Weaknesses of the Book

The authors' emphasis on "survival" may give some readers the impression that leadership is a matter of "getting by." Leadership is more than surviving leadership challenges; it is anticipating, meeting, and transcending these challenges. More might have been done to place the book's message in this broader context. The larger role of leadership is there, but it could have been much more explicit such as including discussion questions on the meaning of survival.

Memorable Quote

"Leadership styles resemble fingerprints in the sense that each is different and highly individualistic. Thus, in studying leadership styles, people should learn how to sort the good from the bad, the effective from the ineffective, from the perspective of their own unique personal qualities and circumstances. Through this process of shifting and selecting, through the lens of their own eyes, they can begin to develop the basics of their own leadership style." (p.35)

Why Read?

Survival Kit for Leaders is not one of the trivial "self-help" leadership tomes. It is a serious, finely crafted learning tool designed by experienced, pragmatic authors to help readers make significant process in their personal leadership development. . If you want to improve your leadership effectiveness, buy and use Survival Kit for Leaders

Survival Kit for Leaders is clearly an exceptional book written with wisdom in a clear analytical style. This stimulating book is loaded with exciting stories of successful leaders and superb models including women and minorities. A very important book that absolutely should be required reading for leadership aspirants at all levels.

There are a myriad of different management books available today. This one is different. You already know why you need a new book on management or you wouldn't be looking into this book now. What was available before "The Survival Kit for Leaders" just didn't fill the need. We need to more than survive. We need to flourish and it's a jungle out there. This book provides a workable roadmap that can be used to navigate the pitfalls that can befall both new and veteran leaders and allow leaders to do more than just get by... this book will help direct you to success. The chapter on mentoring alone is worth the cost of the book. Do you know why you should be both a mentor AND be mentored? You will after reading this. After this read, not only will you want to mentor... you will actively want to FIND a mentor for yourself. Each chapter brings new level of revelation/insight to sometimes seemingly tired concepts. While you are setting your goals, make the first one to read this book. The time you spend reading "the Survival Kit for Leaders" will be an investment that everyone around you will benefit from. A good leader has an edge. A great leader has also read this book.

This was the funniest book I've ever read. I suppose you have to be able to remember something of the late 60's and early 70's to think so, but there you have it. If you get a huge kick out of Lester Bangs, you'll love this book. It's not all about music, tho, in case that's an issue.

After it was reissued in '91, "Gulcher" was the main spark that sent me down the wayward path of becoming a rock critic--a horribly self-destructive vocation that I am proud to have all but escaped from since. Foisted my copy of the book upon some so-called friend a couple years later...still waiting for its return. Memories of the book remain fond, though.

I don't know whether this book should be called Witch Doctors Part 2 (see Micklethwait's and Wooldridge's book) or vice versa theirs should be called Managing Without 2. Anyway, this book goes further than fingering management consultants as witches, and questions whether boards of directors in command and control organisations are to blame. Perhaps, they buy complex management consultancy to keep themselves occupied, intellectually or worse to make themselves an indispensable fixture as all else changes. How many top people rush into downsize everyone else than themselves? I think that the UK House of Parliament makes an excellent example of an organisation which will protest that it's willing to change anything apart from its top members' privileges. Why on earth does a country the size of the UK need to be governed by 650 + politicians in an era of interactive information? You don't need to be a modern day Guy Fawkes to join our witch doctors club which questions which management consultants and company boards are passionately, relentlessly, creatively worth their meal ticket? Join us to try to sort out the good, the bad and the ugly in the games that turn of the century company leaders - and their court jesters - play with their people and their consistent, boundaryless right to learn... ............................................................................... Chris Macrae, editor of Brand Chartering Handbook & MELNET www.brad.ac.uk/branding/ E-mail me at wcbn007@easynet.co.uk

I think it was a great book and it teaches you a lot about Maryland Its past and present.

While the photography is great, it was limited to only a couple areas of Maine. I was hoping for more small town, quaint images. The only town featured was one that's not even on the map.

Stunning photographs and poetic/romantic writing. Makes me wish I had gone to Maine (during the summer of course!) while I was in college in New Jersey. This is a special book and it left me wanting more.

On the recommendation of a friend, my wife and I stumbled into a photo gallery in Deer Isle, Maine, last week during our vacation (we are from New York) to see the work of Terrell Lester, not even aware Knopf had recently published this book. We were, in short, completely blown away by his photos, all of which, and more, are collected in this remarkable book, along with four essays of varying interest. Lester's photos are like fine art, to be specific, like the best of the Hudson River School of painters back in the 1800s who created such vivid landscapes, saturated with reds and blues and yellow (and that's just in the sky). His photos of islands, mountains, rocks, lakes, surf, trees and spectacular blueberry fields blazing red in autumn are rich with emotion. They deserve to be, and in fact are, on museum walls. For the most part, they are reproduced well in "Maine: The Seasons," but in this case, you can't tell a book by its cover-- a wonderful (but rather too typical for a Maine book) photo of a father and a son heading off to work in their lobster boat. You won't be disappointed.

Sorry, but this book was a disappointment for me. It should have been published in the seventies, not today, when so much information about the Beatles' movies has been made available on various media. Firstly, anyone can buy any of these movies on video. Also, there is a lot more about the making of the Beatles' movies on Mark Lewinson's "The Beatles Chronicle", or even on the special laserdisc (or DVD) editions of "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help", which include theatrical trailers, radio spots, behind the scenes, still pictures of scenes which were not included on the final edit and much more. Diehard fans may think this book is worthwhile for the allegedly "previously unpublished" pictures. If that is the case, fine. But even the pictures disappointed me: considering the shallowness of the text, this could have been compensated by the inclusion of a lot more stills from the movies. This book will surely look nice on your bookshelf, like an oversized movie souvenir, but the information it contains is mostly superficial.

I thought this was an interesting book. It helps greatly that the author got Paul McCartney's cooperation, and so there are a lot of quotes of Paul's that you won't find anywhere else. I thought I knew everything there was to know about the Beatles, but did not know, until this book, that there was talk of them making Joe Orton's play LOOT into a film. Of course, when the Beatles saw that the characters were gay, they said no. As Paul says, "We didn't have anything against it being a gay film, but we were four very butch guys, and it just didn't make sense. Mick Jagger's a bit more that way, so someone like him would be more suited to it." Incidentally, (as Paul said in his authorized biography MANY YEARS FROM NOW), Paul was one of the backers of LOOT when it was a play. LOOT was a hit in England, but flopped when it played on Broadway....A good book for any Beatles fan.

This book give a great account of everyone of the Beatles in film and the stories of the movies they made and those they almost made. I would recommend this book for any Beatle's fan or anyone who loves a great film

The majority of this book is a series of interviews between Stephen Soderbergh and Richard Lester that will mainly be of interest to fans of Mr. Lester, filmmakers and aspiring filmmakers. The first two-thirds of the book is basically a film-by-film discussion of Mr. Lester's ouevre, which too often (for my tastes) lapses into shop talk (lighting setups, film stock, etc.) and "I love it when Michael Crawford..."-type observations. I found myself skimming whole sections looking for more interesting and accessible anecdotes and discussions.

The other major part of the book is Soderbergh's journal c.1996 -- from about the time he finished editing "Schizopolis" and "Gray's Anatomy" through the months of trying to get them released, ending with his agreement to direct "Out of Sight". These sections are livelier and more amusing but get repetitive (negotiations fall through time and again, law suits drag on, procrastination is a never-ending theme) and too cute/clever (the wry footnotes get old after... well, pretty much right away).

I don't mean to be so down on this book -- I did enjoy it quite a bit -- but my expectations were higher and I know a lot of people who are not as interested in the technical side of filmmaking will find much of this material tedious. I would recommend it (highly) for those with that inclination, and also for fans of Mr. Lester's films (i.e., those who have seen and enjoyed at least "A Hard Day's Night", "The Knack", "Petulia", and one or two others). All others should approach warily.

Being a fan of his work/output over the past few years, Soderbergh's book of interview and journal entries appeared to be a must-buy. It proved to be quite interesting and very revealing. The Richard Lester interview pieces may drag in some parts (being unaware of Mr. Lester's own filmography, this may seem destined), yet the two directors do contemplate a variety of subjects outside of filmmaking (the purpose of man, religion, and many other topics). The journal entries are hilarious bits and pieces of the Writer's Deliema/Writer's Block. Soderbergh constantly engages and his bizarre sense of humor peppers the book (all of the footnotes, for instance).

All in all, fascinating read, and it even turned me on to the films of Lester (bought "The Knack" the day after reading it).

Bravo, Steve.

Finally, a window into Steven Soderbergh, the eclectic director of Schizopolis and Kafka. But I guess most people will know him as (in big flashy capital letters) "THE DIRECTOR OF ERIN BROCKOVICH & OUT OF SIGHT" as he's being billed now. I find it funny that Soderbergh is now considered this "Hollywood" director when, upon reading this book (and viewing his entire filmography), you find him almost the antithesis of your typical "Hollywood" personality. He's moody, self involved (in a good way), and a hilarious procrastinator.

But that's just one half of the book. Intercut with Soderbergh's journal entries (which date from just after he finished 'Schizoplois' and 'Gray's Anatomy' to him helming 'Out of Sight)are a collection of interviews he has with Richard Lester, the groundbreaking director of "A Hard Days Night" and "The Knack" (which I just saw and absolutely loved). I have to confess I had not seen almost any of Richard Lester's work (not including the Superman movies of which I had no idea he was involved) and since all they talk about is Lester's films I found it uninteresting to read about movies I've never seen. I did though, through Soderbergh's praise, go and watch a number of Lester's movies and then went back and read the sections that discussed them.

But the real magic of this book, at least to me and to all the Soderbergh-ites out there, is Soderbergh. His journal entries are insightful, funny, and really honest. And his style is so casual it feels like reading over letters from an old friend. I absolutely flew through his journal entries and enjoyed ever one of them. The great thing, from a fan's perspective and people interested in the movie business, is the honest, tiresome, struggle he shows of just surviving in Hollywood and the toll it takes on him. And since 'Schizopolis' may be my favorite Soderbergh movie, his journal entries being written at the time of it's release is an extra treat. And if you're a fan of Richard Lester you'll like this book even more.

So I would absolutely recommend this book: it's funny, it's informational, it's inspiring, and it's refreshingly honest. Look forward to laughing a lot too; his musings on his own procrastination are comic gems.