Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others by Cheryl A. BachelderMy rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 of 5 stars)
You should read this if: You're looking for an other-centric, service-oriented perspective on career and leadership with thought-provoking reflection questions.
You should not read this if: You're looking for novel bright thoughts on leadership, not old tried and true ideas.
Review:
My personal work philosophy has been "put others first", which has helped me grow personally and in career in the last few years. Dare to Serve articulates and fleshes out my personal principles, goals, and convictions on work and leadership. Too often, the portrait we see of leadership and management is a me-centric, personally ambitious, win-at-all-costs leadership, which is unappealing but also ineffective. Combining personal experience, research, and wisdom, Bachelder shows us another way - the humble servant yet daring leadership.
Much of the content of this book will be familiar to readers, such as setting personal mission statements and principles, having goals knowing your stakeholders. However, Bachelder distinctly frames these well-known personal techniques into her larger mission and framework of serving others, imparting greater overall meaning and motivation. Bachelder helpfully illustrates her own practices embodied at Popeyes. While there is undoubtedly sugar-coating, I appreciated show Bachelder addresses the elephant in the room of translating corporate-speak BS to truly be internalized and solidified as culture (rather than being a plaque, as she describes).
Bachelder also helpfully challenges the reader with many thoughtful reflection questions. Most of us would profess to wanting to be humble and selfless, but our inner thoughts and attitudes and our external actions would betray our real, hidden motivations. Do I love the people I work with? Am I seeking their benefit? What are the qualities in my favorite bosses that I look to emulate?
As a Christian, I found it uncanny how similar my worldview was to that presented in the book and suspected the author to be religious (Chapter 1 is titled "Whom shall I serve"!), which was proven to be correct towards the end of the book. I'm so glad I found this book - it gives a voice to the leader I hope to be growing into.
View all my reviews
My personal work philosophy has been "put others first", which has helped me grow personally and in career in the last few years. Dare to Serve articulates and fleshes out my personal principles, goals, and convictions on work and leadership. Too often, the portrait we see of leadership and management is a me-centric, personally ambitious, win-at-all-costs leadership, which is unappealing but also ineffective. Combining personal experience, research, and wisdom, Bachelder shows us another way - the humble servant yet daring leadership.
Much of the content of this book will be familiar to readers, such as setting personal mission statements and principles, having goals knowing your stakeholders. However, Bachelder distinctly frames these well-known personal techniques into her larger mission and framework of serving others, imparting greater overall meaning and motivation. Bachelder helpfully illustrates her own practices embodied at Popeyes. While there is undoubtedly sugar-coating, I appreciated show Bachelder addresses the elephant in the room of translating corporate-speak BS to truly be internalized and solidified as culture (rather than being a plaque, as she describes).
Bachelder also helpfully challenges the reader with many thoughtful reflection questions. Most of us would profess to wanting to be humble and selfless, but our inner thoughts and attitudes and our external actions would betray our real, hidden motivations. Do I love the people I work with? Am I seeking their benefit? What are the qualities in my favorite bosses that I look to emulate?
As a Christian, I found it uncanny how similar my worldview was to that presented in the book and suspected the author to be religious (Chapter 1 is titled "Whom shall I serve"!), which was proven to be correct towards the end of the book. I'm so glad I found this book - it gives a voice to the leader I hope to be growing into.
View all my reviews
Quotes:
“Efficiency with people ruins relationships.”
"Influencing and persuading others is ultimately more effective than exercising authority over them.”
"Don’t let your principles sit idle on a plaque. Bring them to life."
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