Walk the Walk: The #1 Rule for Real Leaders

By Alan Deutschman

Book Overview

"One of the best leadership books of the year."
-strategy+business

Leadership is the art of transforming how people think, feel, and act. Though some experts make it seem complicated, it really has only two elements: what you say and what you do. And according to Alan Deutschman, most leaders focus too much on words and not nearly enough on setting an example.

Deutschman profiles a wide range of leaders (in business, education, the military, and nonprofits) who always walked the walk, especially when times got tough. In a skeptical world, that gave them more credibility than even the best possible speeches.

Deutschman also shows the devastating consequences of not walking the walk, even on seemingly minor matters. Consider how the CEOs of GM and Chrysler hurt their chances of a government bailout by flying their private jets to Washington.

The eye-opening examples in Walk the Walk will inspire leaders at all levels.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591843669
• ISBN13: 9781591843665
• Release Date: August 2010
• Publisher: Portfolio
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Excellent- relevant across the board

I typically dont read stuff like this. Im not so interested in big business; I only own a business because it is a means to do my work in the world. So I was surprised at how fascinating and relevant the book was for me! A sophistocated level of experience went into this book, evidenced by clarity of thought and presentation. It is also a quick read.... and entertaining, even delightful! I think anyone could glean something meaningful from this concise, revealing look into leadership.

Alan Deutschman knocks the ball out of the park with Walk the Walk

Walk the Walk will become essential reading for all the leaders I serve as a consultant. Alan Deutschman writes a practical, comprehensively brief and readable book about the most critical element of leadership -- demonstrating through your actions that you mean what you say. By naming leaders throughout history and into the present, Alan courageously exposes the leaders who have provided us with the real life examples of how they did, or did not, walk the walk in accordance to their words. This book explains why mission statements in organizations become revered or reviled by the employess because leadership displays congruent or incongruent behaviors with the words that are set forth to inspire the employees who work for them. Alan's mission to provide an elegantly simple and pointed account of true leadership is accomplished. Dr. Megan Neyer, Total Performance Systems, Inc.

Excellent and easy read

There are a lot of "inspirational" business books out there that offer very little except for mindless drivel. This is not one of them. Alan examines many key leadership characteristics, and gives plenty of examples and counterexamples. There are many things that I liked about Alan's book: 1) It is fast to read. It gets to the point, so it is a pleasure for a busy exec. 2) Each chapter gave me ideas and made me think. As a CEO of a company, I often asked myself, "Am I exhibiting the example or the counterexample" 3) Alan is not afraid to pull punches. He calls some powerful rich people to the carpet for lousy things that they have done. It is a pleasure to read a book that is not afraid to criticize celebrities. But, at the end of the day, the key thing about the book is I learned from it and it gave me ideas to think about how I can improve my behavior to be a better leader. And I didn't have to wade through hundreds of pages to get there. Good job Alan!

Simple but brilliant

It does not take a rocket scientist to understand Deutschman's central message: that in order to lead and effect positive change, a leader must 1) share the struggle with his or her people and 2) choose only one or two core values to propagate. Yet Deutschman's wide-ranging use of real life examples of leadership (some failed, some vaunted) elucidate his seemingly "simple" points brilliantly. I always wondered why Al Gore's obviously well-intentioned pleas for a widespread change in energy and environmental policy seemed to scare the hell out of people but had little concrete effect in how we live our day to day lives. But looking at Gore's own personal decisions about how he lives his life (his 10,000 square foot home, for example) makes it clear that he is not willing to share the struggle that ordinary Americans are being asked to share. (It's great that Gore did a very expensive green renovation on said 10,000 square foot home--but such an action is not one most Americans can afford to follow. Most Americans *can* choose to build or buy smaller homes, however, something Gore did not do for himself.) I also appreciate how Deutschman profiles lesser known leaders: the owner of a small restaurant in San Francisco, a high school football coach in Atlanta. By not just focusing on the big names (though giving us plenty of those) Deutschman shows that authentic leadership is a value everyone can aspire to, whether it's parenting your own kids or leading the nation.