I had the opportunity to take a few hours and read through Andy Stanley's Next Generation Leader a couple of weeks ago, and I wanted to do a quick review and share some reflections.

The premise of the book is that there are five characteristics of a quality leader. Andy will almost certainly explain them better than I, so a summary in his words:

1. Competence - Leaders must channel their energies toward those areas of leadership in which they are most likely to excel.
2. Courage - The leader of an enterprise isn't always the smartest or most creative person on the team. He isn't necessarily the first to identify an opportunity. The leader is the one who has the courage to initiate, to set things in motion, to move ahead.
3. Clarity - Uncertain times require clear directives from those in leadership. Yet the temptation for young leaders is to allow uncertainty to leave them paralyzed. A next generation leader must learn to be clear even when he is not certain.
4. Coaching - You may be good. You may even be better than everyone else. But without a coach you will never be as good as you could be.
5. Character - You can lead without character, but you won't be a leader worth following. Character provides next generation leaders with the moral authority necessary to bring together the people and resources needed to further an enterprise.

This is a very good book, and I definitely recommend it. If you'll oblige me, I'd love to share some reflections with you

"Only do what only you can do." - In other words, you should delegate everything that you possibly can. Do the things that only you can do, and do them very, very well.

Know what you're good at. Stanley says, "Successful leaders tend to assume that their core competencies are broader than they actually are."

It's okay to delegate things you don't like doing. This doesn't mean giving someone else all of the crap jobs, but often others will relish the opportunity to do the stuff you despise. Stanley calls this organizational alignment.

Step out. Often the thing that distinguishes a leader from others is a willingness to step out. Leaders lead. They go where no one else has gone before and they get people to go with them. Yes, it's scary, but leaders do it anyway.

Coaching is essential. It doesn't matter how good you are, you need outside evaluation and analysis.

Perhaps the last section of the book is the most important. This is the part where Stanley talks about character, "Character is not essential to leadership... But character is what makes you a leader worth following."

"Character is the will to do what's right even when it's hard."

"As you will discover, if you haven't already, the shortest distance between where you are and where you want to be is not the most honorable one."

"Predeciding to do what's right will cost you. It will cost you time, money, and opportunity. It may negatively impact your reputation...at least for the short term. It may actually be an obstacle on your career path."

"There is never a reason to violate the principles of God in order to maintain the blessing of God."

"What small thing in my life right now has the potential to grow into a big thing?... And who knows about it other than me?"

On the review front, once again, this is an excellent book. My only major complaint is that the section on courage seemed to drag on. While Stanley made some good points, I felt that he could have made them in a fraction of the space.

If you haven't read Next Generation Leader, you probably should.

I'm giving this one an 8 out of 10. Yes, I grade harshly.