Elisabet and I enjoy our time together writing. It allows us to be really creative with our writing and get into the plot and get into the characters. We had so much fun with this book, it didn’t feel like work or hard work, we were just in a great flow with it. Our only frustration was that we could only get together to write for 1 or 2 days at a time with our busy travelling schedules. But when we did, it felt very freeing to turn up for our 2 day writing sessions and get stuck into the next phase of the book. On one occasion, after lunch we were gabbling away with laptops open, on the verge of writing a new chapter when we had a flash of inspiration! We put together an article which now appears in the book.
As we got into the story, Stephen, the leader in the book, was given this article to read by his wife, Alice.
Here is an excerpt from the article:-
What you’re about to read will be straight-talk. This is not your typical management speak, because frankly we’re tired of it; it hinders more than it helps. Worn-out clichés turn people off and takes them off track.
So this is our straight-talk about teams. We’re here to tempt you, to entice you to do something different to what most people do.
As a leader you have two choices. And your choice will make the difference between a poor or even mediocre team, and one that is amazing. What choice are you making as a leader?
……
You could just leave it to chance and dumb luck, and if you’re lucky that may work. It’s rare, but it has happened. So if you want to leave it to dumb luck, then good luck – you will need it.
If, on the other hand, you are different and are ready to make the first move, if you want to create a more engaged, successful team, a team that thrives even in challenging times, an amazing team that gets the best results – then we congratulate you, you will be successful.
The rest of the article can be found in the book, which is released 4th March (it’s available for pre-order on Amazon and the Book Depository now)
We have written the book using different approaches throughout to make it as entertaining as possible and to create a business book that is in an easily-digestible story format. The article is an example of this.
So what choices are you making as a leader? Are you taking time to think about your leadership? Wherever you are in your leadership, we think you will enjoy the journey of the book and the opportunities for reflection and success that it offers.
Many Flint, co-author of The Team Formula