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Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager: A Review

As a professional coach, one of my goals is to work with clients to develop habits of self leadership.  In other words, I am trying to work myself out of a job.  Ultimately, the client should develop skills that will guide them to set beneficial personal goals, develop a strategy to get there, and then achieve those goals.

The thesis of Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager is similar.  The subtitle is “gain the mindset and skillset for getting what you need to succeed.”  As usual in the approach used by Blanchard et al., the content is presented in the form of a story.  The protagonist this time is Steve, a young advertising account executive who needs to learn self leadership.  After a stumble in the workplace, he encounters a mentor who walks with him through the learning process of self leadership.

According to the book, these are the key movements in self leadership.

  • Challenge assumed constraints.  These are the things that hold you back or limit your perspective.
  • Activate your points of power.  You need to identify your strengths and identify the resources available to you.
  • Be proactive to get what you need to succeed.  Develop your plan and implement it.


The book also integrates the Situational Leadership II© model into the story and how it applies to levels of development in self leadership.  This is a bit distracting and artificial at times.

The concepts are valid and applicable to many situations.  The book will be informative for new leaders and managers.  Even experienced leaders need a refresher course from time to time, and this will fill that need.

Although the narrative approach of Ken Blanchard and his team is commonly used in business books of this genre, one how has read several may be put off by the pedantic style.  Even so, the topic is important and this is an accessible way to introduce it.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author and/or publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR,Part 255.





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