Book Review:

The Leader Who Had No Title Robin Sharma

In a Nutshell...
The book is a modern fable focusing on 4 for leadership concepts that encourage people
and organisations to live out world class lives through the techniques taught in each
leadership conversation. The single best book for anyone from the CEO, the Street sweeper
and in between. This book will offer you something exceptional.
Snippets of First chapters
Quotable Quote: if everyone would sweep their own street the whole world would be clean.
In light of a great organisation, what would happen to the sound of s symphony if even one
of its players was out of tune and less the suburb at his art? How many of your employees
are out of tune?
No role is a small role everyone needs to drive innovation. Everyone needs to inspire their
teammates. Everyone needs to embrace change. Everyone needs to take responsibility for
their results. Everyone needs to be positive. Everyone needs to become devoted to
expressing their absolute best. And once they do, the organisation not only will adapt
beautiful to the changing conditions, it will actually lead within its field.
Each one of us has total control over of how you show up in your current role. The highest
of all human responsibilities is the ability each one of us has to choose how we respond to
the environment we find ourselves within.
You must pay the price for success before the rewards are due to you. However, the less
you focus on the goods you receive most of care about at work, the more you receive it.
The best way to help poor people is to ensure you dont become one of them.
Quotable quote: theres only one of you in the whole world now and forever more. And no
one else can ever be as good as you as you.
Average life is only 960 months or twenty thousand days. The days slip into weeks and the
weeks become months and it all goes by in a blink.
Your workplace can change from a dead end job and reshaped into something resembling a
work of art.
Snippets of Chapter 3
Sad cost mediocrity and the spectacular rewards of leadership mastery:

Few things generate as much happiness as knowing that you are fully realising your genius,
doing brilliant work, and spending your life beautifully.
And with the catalystic change in our society right now, leadership has become the single
most important master skill for success in business. We need to practice leadership in every
arena we play. If you cant leader yourself you will never lead anyone around you.
How to start: One of the best things you can do is get up early; its one of the most
intelligent daily practices the leaders without a title perform with acute consistency.
Plenty time for sleeping when you are dead. Getting up one hour earlier gives us an extra
hour per day, 7 extra hours per week. Thats thirty fresh hours in a month. Almost an extra
work week every thirty days. Thats time you can exploit to build your plans, refine vision
and develop your best projects. Time you can leverage to reflect on your values, remove
your inner barriers and rethink your thinking.
Graves are great things they serve to dramatically remind us of how short life is you
know, we all end up in a pile of dust. And on your last day, all that truly matters is whether
you got to know your inner leader, and if you did, whether you had the bravery to allow it to
offer its gifts to the world around you.
Each one of us alone creates the lives we get to live...
True human heartbreak is reaching your final moments and realizing that you wasted the
most important gift that was given to you the chance to present your magnificence to the
world around.
Success is created through the performance of a few small daily disciplines that stack up
over time to produce achievements far beyond anything you could have planned for.
Successful people all perform the same few leadership disciplines. They consistently
practice the same few fundamentals. But their seemingly small, insignificant daily acts of
excellence stack up over time to a best-in-class carer and world-class personal life.
Failure on the other hand is a succession of a few bad fundamentals performed daily such
as smoking. Which will amount to something greater than you expected cancer or worse.
Its small acts of daily neglect performed consistently until you reach point of no return (e.g.
business bankruptcy).
Sustained change only happens when we shift emotional rather than logical level.
There is no dead end job in this whole wide unpredictable world of ours only dead-end
thinking.
By infusing leadership into everything you do and each thing you touch, you can live
remarkably. You truly can realize your original genius. You really can be one of the great
ones.

Life stands as a model of possibility

Leadership Conversations:
The Book is based on four leadership conversations around creating leadership mastery.

The first Leadership Conversation: You need No Title to Be a Leader

One of the greatest freedoms each of us has as people is the freedom to choose how we
view our roles in the world and the power we all have to make positive decisions in
whatever conditions we happen to find ourselves.
You can choose to set yourself a high standard and deliver nothing less than my very best to
each job. When giving your absolute best you create your own luck. Always giving more
than your best at every job, steadily will improve your life.
Lucky breaks are nothing more than unexpected rewards for intelligent choices weve
chosen to make. Success doesnt just happen because someones stars line up. Success,
both in business and personally, is something thats consciously created. Its the guaranteed
result of deliberate series of acts that anyone can perform.
Anyone can truly be successful, but few choose to be.
Too many of us take jobs for granted and fail to see all the positive results they contain. We
wish for something better rather than realizing we currently have. We just need to look a
little deeper, try a little harder and lead a little better.
Its impossible to build a tribute to success on the foundation of excuses. Never play victim,
show leadership. True leadership is about having unshakable faith in your vision and
unrelenting confidence in your power to make positive change happen. Albert Einstein
great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds. If you stumble a
bit, that part of the game. You learn to walk by falling. You learn to lead by trying. Great
people construct monuments with the stones their critics throw at them.
Go to work each and see yourself as an artist of sorts, and each day youre fortunate enough
to be able to express your highest creativity on canvas that others call work. Titles bring
power. The power that comes with being a managing director, for example, only lasts for as
the person has the title managing director. If its taken away, all the power that was
associated with it was taken out the door with it. The influence that comes with having a
title is fleeting at best.
Firm yet friendly, tough yet tender and courageous yet compassionate.

Four Natural Powers:

1. Each of us alive in this moment has the power to go to work each day and express
the absolute best within us. And you need no title to do that.
2. Everyone one of us alive today has the power to inspire, influence and elevate each
person we meet by the gift of a great example. And you need no title to do that.
3. Every one of us alive with life can passionately drive positive change in the face of
negative conditions. An you need no title to do that
4. Every one of us alive to the truth about leadership can treat all stakeholders with
respect, appreciation and kindness and in so doing raise the organisations culture
to best of breed, and you need no title to do that.
Simply remember that no matter what your position within any organisation and no matter
how old you are or where you live throughout the world, you have the power to show
leadership. And no one and nothing can ever deny you that..
There is a difference to being alive and knowing how to live
Two choice really, Victimhood or Leadership. First time in history of man we have this
opportunity every can lead in their work and within their lives. Shining example of
leadership if you elevate the lives of ten people per day in three months that 300 people
you positively influenced. At the need of your year that over 3000 people.
Management Tip:
The single best move any organisation can make whether the organisation is a business or
a non-for-profit or government or school or even a nation is growing the leadership
potential of every one of its constituents. Leadership versus victimhood those who are
superb at making excuses are usually are not suburb at doing much else. Victims live by
excuses and ultimately die with them.
You always behave in a way that is consistent with yourself image. So see yourself as
nothing short of brilliant.
Focus: Focus married with time produces mastery. You really need to focus on the
particular job you want for ten years. Only then you will be an overnight success. Along with
the excuses we make, we also allow ourselves to get distracted by a million little things and
eventually amount to nothing. We all have the capability in us; very rarely do we have the
discipline to exercise it. The only economy that matters is the one between your two ears.
Ideas: Ideas are ultimately worthless unless you activate them with focused and consistent
action. The best leaders never leave the site of a good idea without doing something not
matter how small to breathe some life into it. Lots of people have good ideas. But the

masters become masters because they had the courage and conviction to act on idea. Just
start whatever it is that you know you need to do to take your work as well as your life to
where you know it can be. Small consistent steps drive momentum. Daily Ripples of
excellence-overtime- become tsunami of success.
Practise of success Daily 5
Imagine doing 5 little yet focused acts everyday to get you closer to your most important
goals. After one month thats about one hundred and fifty goals you have realised. Then
after 12 months, youve achieved over two thousand goals. Just imagine what the next
twelve months would like, not only for your work, but your health, your relationships you
have achieved over two thousand little but focused and meaningful outcomes.
I innovation. Daily and relentless progress. All great leaders flex their minds and elevate
their abilities by consistently asking themselves What can I Improve Today? Make your
present better than your past, develop an innovative mindset. Daily ripples of superior
performance add up over time to a title wave of outrageous success. Start off small and
just do little improvements every day. Few things are as foolish as hoping old behaviours
will somehow present new results.
M Mastery . What would the person who is the best in the world at what I do be doing
right thus very moment. Please note, youll find that you dont have a lot of company on
that extra mile. Work wasnt at all something that is merely a vehicle to pass the time and
pay my bills. It was gift. And a spectacular way to access my leadership best and in doing so,
not only become happier human being, but also to make the world a better place in the
process.

A Authenticity: Its never been so important to keep the promises you make to your
teammates and customers. Its about knowing who you are, what you stand for, and then
having the courage to be yourself. Rather than defining success by what you get, they
define their success by what you give.
G Guts in Business: Unrealistically persistent and wildly courageous. The more you leave
your valleys of comfort in the passionate pursuit of your mountains of opportunity, the
more obstacles youll face as you make your climb. On the other side of these obstacles lie
the greatest rewards... Criticism is the defence reaction that scared people use to protect
themselves against change.
E Ethics: You will never go wrong in doing whats right. There is nothing more important
than being honest, highly dependable, staying on time and treating people the way you
want to be treated. Be ferociously humble. Make sure your video is in sync with your audio.
Final thoughts on first conversation:

Leadership definitely is the single most important advantage of every world-class

organisation, the source of every great achievement, and the bedrock of every
extraordinary life.

Second Leadership Conversation: Turbulent times Build Great Leaders

Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.
Keep in mind, difficult days never last, strong people always do
I may not be rich, but I have a rich life...
As a leader without title, I had a natural power within me to determine what meaning I
attached to any circumstance Id been presented with. By finding a positive and useful
interpretation, Id be flipping the switch from victimhood to leadership.
I need to stop making excuses for what my life looked like, use previous experiences to build
and even brighter future.
One intelligent insight can inspire you to make a decision that shifts you into revolutionary
new way of performing.
Anyone in business is in show business.
Change:
If you stick your head under the desk and hope the avalanche of change will go away, youll
end up suffocating. If you fight against it, youll end up in trouble
It means, to ski down the tough runs you have to do the very thing that it seems you
should most avoid doing From a skier perspective: If I dont lean into the change thats
coming at me and instead try to protect myself by pulling back into my old way of operating,
Ill end up frozen on the mountain, so to speak.
The fear you have when going to your outer limits actually causes your limits to expand
When it comes to skiing, anyone can look like a pro and ski on the easy runs. The true test of
your ability is how you ski on the hard ones.
What you resist will persist, but what you befriend you begin to transcend
RISK: Take some intelligent risks and have the courage to concentrate your greatest abilities
on your largest opportunities, even if that thought frightens you.

Comfort Zone: You will get back in direct proportion to what you give. The more you do
things you do that scare you, the more you are showing leadership. If you retreat, you lose
the opportunity for the largest growth.
We all have our Everest lurking within our hearts. You need to be dedicated to climbing it a
small amount everyday
On the easy stuff, anyone can look like a superstar. Deficiencies get amplified under
pressure, in person or in an organisation learn from those.
The very things that make you feel afraid are those very doorways into your leadership.
There can be no growth or progress without that feeling of nervousness in the pit of your
belly and discomfort in the core of your body.
Do what frightens you daily, and youll elegantly transform fear into power every day.
Growth Choose growth over complacency even though complacency feels better in the
short term.
Growing yourself and your leadership best is your single best survival tactic.
What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls the butterfly Richard Bach.
Disruption is usually the beginning of real improvement showing up.
Business Management Tip: Like the turbulent times and periods of struggle in business are,
in truth, similar opportunities to grow wings and express our best.
Change: You can be a victim about the whole thing and feel the change is something being
done to you thats fits some external force that you have no control over. Or you can use
my natural power and step up to being a leader without title.
Victims Cry why me? Leaders, on the other hand shout its up to me!!!!
Be the light in a dark turbulent world.
SECOND LEAD WITHOUT TITLE PRINCIPLE: SPARK
S. Speak with Candor being a pristine, truth-filled, and inspirational communicator. Dont
preserve the status quote with vague generalities. People want truth not plastic
sloganeering. Be courageous enough to speak the truth when its difficult or your voice
tremors. Without such truth and candor people live in a place amid delusion and fantasy.
Leaders in every interaction remind people of their best. Superb leaders also employ
encouraging, supportive and positive words that provoke others into dazzling action. Just
look at John F Kennedy, Gahndi, Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. Were able to do
through the sheer power of their words.

Management tip: Instead of saying not doing a good job, why not say, I can appreciate your
effort. Lets look at way to take you to the next level or performance.
DO NOT GOSSIP. THEY DO NOT COMPLAIN, THEY DO NOT CONDEMN, THEY NEVER SWEAR.
The only words they try their best to use each day are those that inspire, engage and
elevate.
P. Prioritize in turbulent times it easy to get distracted from mission, vision, values, goals
and its easy to get nailed to the seduction of distraction. Focus on the best and forget the
rest. Consider the idea that leadership is about knowing very little about a lot of things and
a staggering amount about a few things. Note: Even if you were shifting from busyness to
getting things done, its also key to remember that getting things done is not the same as
doing great things (shift from chaotic to elegant simplicity).
ACTION STEP: Every morning, before you go off to the world, take some quite time for
yourself. During this period, make the time to think. Sometimes you need to slow down to
speed up. Thinking in silence while the rest of the world is asleep is an excellent discipline for
exceptional performance.
A. Adversity Breeds Opportunity: Every set back carries an even greater opportunity. Every
seeming failure brings with it some sort of corresponding blessing. Have the courage to walk
through the doorway offered. And for every dream that dies, an even better can come to
life. Problems are nothing more than platforms for even brighter possibilities. Crises
contain exceptional opportunity: Remember the strongest and most powerful of leaders
were built by struggle and setback. Action is the antidote to despair In challenging times
keep moving.
ACTION STEP: KMP Keep Moving Forward. Just keeping moving forward and taking action,
no matter how hard it seems. Keep progressing Every positive action yields a positive
consequence, even if not immediately.
It's better to go down in the fiery failure because you chased your loftiest ambitions than
to spend your best hours watching television in some subdivision.
R. Respond Vs react: Dont worry about the areas you cant control and take control of
those areas you can. Take Initiative. Remember the finest hour for every great leader was
when everything looked like it was falling apart.
K. Kudos: Being a Leader without Title is about being a leader and inspirational in a world
that all too often celebrates the worst things. Remember to shine a light on people. Life
begins at the end of your comfort zone!

Third Leadership Conversation: The deeper your relationships, the stronger

your leadership.
The deeper your relationships the stronger your leadership
Give away that which you most want to receive
Single best way to inspire your teammates to become the natural leaders they are meant to
be is to model leadership mastery yourself
The quality of any organisation comes down to the quality of the relationships between its
individual teammates
Being great at business is all about a glorious focus on people. Believing in them and
celebrating them.
Always do more than you are paid to do
H: Helpfulness be astonishingly helpful
U: Understanding - speak less and listen more. Leadership is about listening, and allowing
others to fell heard. That takes a big person.

M: Mingle when people are seeing your face, you stand out. They get to know you. They
begin to like you. And remember, people always like to do business with people they like.
Now is the time to be out building bridges, rolling up your sleeves, and connecting with
colleges and customers while you help them get to where they want to go. Drink coffee with
your stakeholders. Have lunches with your customers. Find out what their concerns and
worries are.
A: Amuse having fun while you do your work will help you boost your productivity. Fun
makes you more engaged in whatever you are doing.
N: Nurture: Leave every single person who intersects your path better, happier and more
engaged than you found them. Take care of people and the money will take care of itself.
Help other people get to their goals and people will help you get every single one of yours.
People are the most important element to a winning business

The Fourth Leadership Conversation: To Be a Great Leader, First become a

great Person.
Blood, sweat, and tears are necessary to reach dreams, hopes and joys.
Build up such extreme amounts of internal power that youre pretty much invincible in the
face of deep change and relentless pressure.
To be a great leader, first you must become a great person. We must lead ourselves first,
only then can you lead other people.
The time to think about your legacy and how you want to be remembered is not on your
last day, but now. That way you can live your life backward and make certain that you have
a good ending.
Elevate the lives of everyone around them.
The street sweeper gets buried next to the CEO. And titles, prestige and university
degrees dont matter much at the end. All that truly counts is whether you grew into all
you could have been and whether you showed leadership by using your potential to
positively contribute to lives of other human beings
In our world we define our success by what we have rather than by the people weve
become.
Personal Leadership Leading from the inside out is the DNA off all enduring excellence.
Greatness is an inner event with outer consequences. Once you awaken your inner leader,
worldly success is the guaranteed result!
Life waits for no one, dont put off until tomorrow what you know you must be done today.
Often we see through eyes of fear versus through lenses of opportunity.
Action:
Being positive people who laugh at positive thinking should make a study of sports heroes,
of legendary champions. Thoughts in the brain matter. Every business result is the direct
result of collective behaviour of each of its people. And every action you take is a child of a
thought.
The results you expect are the results youll see. Understand the thoughts in ones mind.
Better awareness leads to better choices, better choices leads to better results.
5AM Ritual: this is time to reset yourself. To lock in to your flight plan for the day. To
reconnect with your core values. To renew, regenerate and reground. Its a period to work

on your mind, strengthen your body, nourish your emotional life, and fuel your spiritual
dimension.