Publishers Weekly
06/10/2024
This competent manual from Conchie (coauthor of Strengths-Based Leadership) and Dalton—president and partner, respectively, at the management consulting firm Conchie Associates—details how executives and managers can improve their leadership skills. To determine the characteristics of good leaders, the authors collected data on 100 executives, identified what qualities they shared, and then verified the correlation between those qualities and effective leadership by comparing survey results from a different pool of executives with their performance reports. The authors found that the best leaders set goals, push for improvement, maintain flexibility in the face of setbacks, and cultivate meaningful relationships with direct reports while fostering their talents. When deciding what goals to pursue, the authors recommend that leaders consider how to make “the greatest progress with the least effort and most optimized cost.” To maintain good relationships with employees, Conchie and Dalton contend that executives should be “constantly curious” about others and on the lookout for “pockets of negativity” that might “require careful engagement” (though what such engagement would look like goes unexplored). The authors’ data-driven approach distinguishes this from more typical business manuals, though the guidance tends to be overly broad, if sensible. This is worth a look. Agent: Leah Spiro, Riverside Creative Management. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
The Five Talents is one of the sharpest and most practical books on leadership I have read! If you lead others, you need to read this book. If you hire or develop leaders, read this book and use it as a daily guide. It is a roadmap for developing sustainable and high performing teams.”—Tom Rath, New York Times Best-selling Author on Wellbeing and Organizational Leadership
“A game changer for CHRO’s attempting to drive performance focused on the definition and assessment of the most critical leadership talents. Data-driven and with actionable insights, this book addresses topics as important as succession planning, DEI, and leadership selection with strong, research-based authority.”—Ali Bebo, CHRO of Pearson
“This is a wise book that will change how serious people think about leadership. Conchie and Dalton bring refreshing clarity to a complex and convoluted field by elucidating the tortuous relationship between individual traits and organizational context. Their secret—meticulous science.”—Don Ronchi PhD, Senior Advisor at White Wolf Capital
“I highly recommend this book, which will challenge and broaden your thinking of leadership. It is blunt, fact-based and provides piercing insights that I will incorporate into my own leadership journey.”—Kevin Lobo, Chair and CEO of Stryker
“I loved reading this. It made me think deeply about people and strategy decisions I made in my career and how they could have been improved or, in some cases, how spot on they were. If you allow yourself to absorb the lessons in this book, there is no hiding from the truth and what is the right thing to do.” —George Borst, Retired President and CEO of Toyota Financial Services
“The Five Talents is a practical unlock around the dominant strengths that define truly standout leadership and takes this framework to how you can recruit for the five key talents using the same rigor you would use to make other critical decisions. It’s a highly efficient and well-researched work that will take your impact as a leader to a new level.” —John Clendening, Founder and CEO of Earned Wealth
“Conchie significantly advances the science of leadership prediction and performance development.”—Connie Rath, President of The Clifton Foundation
