The Leadership Step by Step: Become the Person Others Follow - Paperback

by Joshua Spodek (Author)

Don't be content with simply learning what makes a great leader. Take the time to put in the work building those character traits inside you.

Why is it that most of the principles and ideas we are inspired with when we read leadership books rarely end up leaving the page? Because we've learned what successful leaders are doing, as well as why we should be implementing it ourselves, but we have no idea how we can specifically do all this in our unique circumstances.

Leadership Step by Step walks you through what to do and how to do it by taking you through an integrated and comprehensive progression of exercises designed to cultivate key abilities, behaviors, and beliefs through experience.

By the end of the 22 exercises in this hands-on book, you will learn to:

• Build self-awareness
• Manage emotions
• Speak in an authentic voice
• Create meaningful connections
• Inspire others

Each chapter opens with a story demonstrating a vital leadership skill. Then, it guides you through the process of developing that skill for yourself.

Leadership Step by Step teaches you how to be that leader you've read so much about!

Front Jacket

Richard Branson, Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey, and Muhammad Ali.

What do they, and others like them, share that enabled them to rise as leaders without formal leadership training, let alone MBAs? How you learn leadership is as important as what you learn. Joshua Spodek shows in Leadership Step by Step that traditional academic lectures, readings, and case studies teach compliance, not leadership. Leadership Step by Step treats leadership for the first time as the active, social, emotional, expressive, performance-based field it is--like acting, sports, improv, music, dance, and more. We know how to teach those fields, but no one has applied their style of teaching to leadership--until now. By acknowledging that leadership shares those traits, Spodek opens the door to an effective approach--revolutionary to leadership, yet tried-and-true--that he has taught to off-the-charts reviews from students with many levels of experience, backgrounds, and fields. Spodek eschews passive lectures, case studies, and MOOCs. Instead, like scales for piano or footwork for dance, he shows how to learn leadership actively, through a comprehensive, integrated progression of exercises starting with the basics and leading to mastery. With this book, you'll learn to lead by doing hands-on exercises taken from real-life leadership situations that you can then apply to people and projects you care about. With reflection and practice, you'll lead effortlessly, genuinely, and authentically, like a champion athlete or star actor. Are you ready to go beyond textbooks to do the work to master the art of leading? . . . to commit proven effective technique to muscle-memory? Leadership Step by Step guides you through 21 chapters of powerful leadership exercises. Each begins with a story illustrating the target skill and then guides you step by step on how to practice it. In Spodek's highly engaging book, you'll learn through experience to: Build self-awareness - Manage emotions - Speak in your authentic voice - Create meaningful connections - Inspire others - Lead with empathy - Support teammates. How many more books and classes will you buy that teach you about leadership, but not how to lead? Grab Leadership Step by Step with both hands and prepare for the transformation of your career and life. Joshua Spodek, Ph.D. MBA, believed for most of his life that you had to be born to lead. The course of his career as an astrophysicist, athlete, artist, and educator changed that. His experiences as co-founder and CEO of companies operating around the world and work as a coach led him to develop a unique methodology of leadership training that he has perfected over years with hundreds of students. Spodek is an Adjunct Professor at NYU; leadership coach for the likes of Sony, Walmart, and the U.S. Army; workshop leader for Columbia Business School; and columnist for Inc.

Back Jacket

Advance Praise for Leadership Step by Step:

"Joshua is changing the game for leadership development and creating positive change. His insight to give a progression of exercises to practice is a once-in-a-lifetime game-changing advance in our field everyone else will follow. It's better than business school courses because he has you create real positive change that lasts. Leadership is about doing, not just understanding, and Joshua's exercises give you both. Leadership Step by Step gets it. Do its exercises and you will too. If you like my style, get coaching from me or buy Joshua's book." -- Marshall Goldsmith, 2015 #1 Leadership Thinker and #1 Executive Coach in the World; New York Times #1 bestselling author of Triggers "In Leadership Step by Step, Joshua Spodek fills the gap between education and experience for potential leaders. By treating leadership like the art it is, he imbues it with empathy and understanding. This is a book that will improve your business savvy and possibly, your life."-- Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and A Whole New Mind "This book doesn't matter so much, but what you choose to do with it means everything. A hands-on, useful, urgent book about leveling up as a leader.-- Seth Godin, bestselling author and founder of altMBA "Leadership Step by Step offers that rare breed of learning--genuine, authentic, effective, engaging, and, most of all, fun. It is based on the best leadership philosophy and practice. The results of doing its exercises ensure that you will become an authentic, great leader, able to serve and to live to the best of your ability. Anyone who aspires to lead, to lead more effectively, or to live life to its fullest would benefit from Joshua's exercises. This is true for business, public service, the social sector, the arts, education, and any sphere where leaders serve."-- Frances Hesselbein, Presidential Medal of Freedom Honoree; CEO of Girl Scouts; named "Best leader in America" by Peter Drucker

Author Biography

JOSHUA SPODEK, PH.D. is an Adjunct Professor at NYU, a leadership coach and lecturer for Columbia Business School, and a columnist for Inc. He holds six patents and five Ivy-League degrees, including an MBA and a Ph.D. in Astrophysics. Named one of the "Best and Brightest" by Esquire in their Genius Issue, he has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Newsweek, Forbes, and other major media.