Years ago I asked myself the exact title of this book. I was newly out of college and promoted to a leadership role managing a department of 50 employees. I had little to no formal leadership training and relied on traits of leaders I had come across in my past. Over the last 4 years I have first hand experience that has drilled many of the values and skills written about in this book into my mind and into my daily management strategy. A great deal of this book rang true for me and with each passing chapter I found myself taking more and more notes and developing ideas of how to change my management style for the better. I recommend this title to any soon to be or new leaders as well as those looking to spark a renewed spring in their leadership step.

Chris has done an outstanding job of drawing upon his past experiences in the military, in collegiate service organization leadership roles, as well as his own early "manufacturing career" real-life examples, and summarizing them in a concise and easy-to-read format. He uses a systematic approach to explain each of his core concepts, chapter by chapter, and is clear, simple, and direct in his comments and advice. While there is nothing too revolutionary nor too unique in his concepts, documenting them and providing "real-life", directly correlated examples is uncommonly useful and appropriate. (as Mark Twain said, "Common sense is not so common.") Things like communication, integrity, and optimism in leadership are core values that often go ignored, and even neglected, to the detriment of employees and organizations.
As a "seasoned" manager (now retired) who spent almost 40 years in a variety leadership roles in industry, I honestly admit that if I had read this book when I landed in my first supervisory position, and practiced more of the principles identified and explained here, my organizational leadership effectiveness would have been greatly enhanced. More importantly, I think the employees I managed would have been more motivated, more effective, and my company would have benefited greatly. Nice job, soldier/leader/author!

Every day we have the opportunity to take a thousand different steps to improve ourselves and our career or even just accomplish a goal. Start with this book. This is was the book I wish I had read in college. Not mention, it’s written as something I would have actually wanted to read in college. Chris has time and time again proven himself as an effective leader. Now, we all have to opportunity to see how. It’s a quick, easy read with big impact that even our more seasoned leaders could benefit from.

This book explains some of the most important aspects of being a leader, the ones that are felt by an organization but not necessarily obvious at first glance. The author conveys so much information in a quick and easy to read way! The Expect What You Inspect section was particularly enlightening for those of us who might struggle with the delegation aspect of leadership, as it concisely explains how to walk that line between micromanaging and appearing to not care. This book was clearly written to help students gain more knowledge in the most efficient way possible. The ideas are presented in a straightforward way that respects the busy schedules and competing priorities of people on the path to success. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to efficiently learn how to be a great leader!

You can easily get through this book in one sitting, it is just the right length and the way that this book is formatted is almost like having a conversation or listening to a mentor tell you about what they learned.

Super practical advice that you can start applying right away, incredibly relatedable, and overall a great read! I highly reccommend for high school, college, and early in career individuals.