Business

New Business Book Summary: A Sheet of Paper

Most organizations produce mission statements and leadership styles that are laden with corporate jargon and do little to explain who they are and where they are going. In One Piece of Paper, Mike Figliuolo offers an alternative to empty jargon by showing leaders how to create short statements about who they are and what kind of leader they want to be. These statements, called maxims, should be short and memorable enough that one person can write them down on a single sheet of paper. Armed with short, direct, and authentic statements of a leadership style, managers can create relationships that are more authentic and lead to the success of their organizations.

Mike Figliuolo offers readers the following tips:

• By relying on corporate language and buzzwords, most organizations have a predetermined leadership style that is superficial and inauthentic. By trying to follow styles that don’t resonate with who they are, leaders and managers cannot inspire confidence in the teams they lead.

• An authentic leadership style comes from exploring your background and looking for situations that have a deep emotional trigger.

• Leaders are responsible for creating the vision of where an organization will go; managers are responsible for doing the day-to-day work that gets the organization there.

• The trick to helping employees grow is to assign them tasks they are not yet capable of. This challenge is a powerful way to keep them engaged.

• A truly authentic collection of leadership maxims will cover the entire life experience of a leader and reflect all aspects of who the leader is as an individual.

• Leaders must have direction in their own lives before they can begin to lead others.

• The best leaders establish a desired future state and then shape the world around them to make it happen.

One Piece of Paper by Mike Figliuolo is a good resource for anyone who has recently been assigned a leadership position. People responsible for managing a team will find the book helpful as they establish their own leadership styles. Figliuolo challenges his readers to start from the inside and accept responsibility for their own behaviors and actions towards those who manage and those above them in the corporate chain of command. Once readers establish who they are, they will be able to determine how they can successfully lead others in an authentic way. An extensive index and an appendix are included containing the list of maxims that Figliuolo used in each chapter. These maxims are intended to be a guide for readers to create their own maxims. The book is designed to be read cover to cover.

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