Are You a Badger or a Doormat?: How to Be a Leader Who Gets Results (Financial Times)

‘Shines a powerful light on to the dilemmas leaders struggle with and shows you how to develop as a better leader.’

Professor Clive Morton, OBE, Middlesex University Business School

 

‘Offers new ways of thinking to help you resolve common leadership dilemmas and adopt habits that will get you results.’

Padraig McManus, Chief Executive, ESB

 

‘There are numerous books on leadership but few that are as engaging, straightforward and practical as this.’

Alistair Schofield, MD, Extensor Ltd

 

A POWERFUL MODEL FOR EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

 

Are you a badger or a doormat? This may sound like a strange question to ask a leader, but these two caricatures encapsulate the behaviour of leaders who struggle with focusing their time effectively. A ‘Badger Boss’ is busy doing their own thing and is never seen by their team from dawn to dusk; a ‘Doormat Boss’ never gets anything done because they are constantly at the beck and call of other people.

 

Memorable caricatures are used throughout the book to show extreme leadership styles and help you recognise which behaviours to avoid and which to put into practice more often. Rosie Miller’s engaging, easy-to-read book is full of serious advice on how to avoid these extremes and how to be a balanced, focused leader who gets results.

 

Good leaders think and behave differently from good managers. Find out how to upgrade your thinking habits and how to lead with more impact.

• Lots of diagnostics and self-coaching questions to help you assess what kind of leader you are now and how best to get to where you want to be
• Gives you the combined experience of an executive coach and 20 top leaders from a wide range of different contexts
• Very appealing and attractive style with lots of checklists, summaries, cartoons and illustrations

Rosie Miller is a sought-after international executive coach. One of her key coaching talents is to translate complex or theoretical ideas into simple, practical actions busy people can implement.

She has 20 years’ experience advising and coaching senior executives on strategy, change, team development, communication and time management. Her clients include leaders  in organisations such as BP, GSK, Rolls-Royce, RBS Financial Markets, AIB, Shell, ESB, London Underground, Water UK, Deloittes and Cummins Engines. The high regard in which she is held by clients is reflected in the impressive group of 20 senior business and military leaders interviewed for this book.

Prior to setting up her own business, she held senior roles in the consulting arms of Ernst & Young, Roland Berger and Partners and Coopers & Lybrand. Her earlier working life in Shell and Conoco gave her direct experience of line management in major corporations.

Rosie is a highly regarded presenter of training on topics relating to personal impact and influencing for senior executives. She also contributes regular articles to a business newsletter.

About the author

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Chapter 1- Introduction

Chapter 2- The accessibility dilemma

Chapter 3- The communication dilemma

Chapter 4- The flexibility dilemma

Chapter 5- The delegation dilemma

Chapter 6- The change dilemma

Chapter 7- The leadership jigsaw

Chapter 8- The Inner Compass

Chapter 9 – Putting it all together

Index