You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader, Mark Sanborn

Published by Random House Business Books

Buy it now from Blackwell Books

The six principles of leadership

Well, at least it isn’t the magic seven so beloved of self-help authors the world over.

Mark Sanborn is a world renowned motivational speaker. In this slim volume he explains how each of us can learn to become a leader. He sprinkles stories and anecdotes to illustrate his points throughout the book. Some of them are perhaps a little earnest for British readers but they do a good job of reinforcing the book’s messages; messages about self-mastery, focus, people, communication, execution and giving.

An accomplished speaker, Mr Sanborn is also an accomplished author. His book is easy to read and, while none of what he says is particularly new, he says it well and doubtless someone will benefit from each of his stories. My own favourite is about the man who gave up giving in favour of ‘returning’. He reasoned that everything he had from life had been given to him and it was his time to give back. That’s principle six, by the way – giving.