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Leading the Unleadable: How to Manage Mavericks, Cynics, Divas, and Other Difficult People – Alan Willet (AMACOM)

Show of hands, how many of you can relate to this, from the preface of Leading the Unleadable: “Too often leaders ignore their people problems for too long because they’re afraid of conflict or, if they do act, handle the situations poorly because of inexperience or not knowing what to do.” And “Not acting can damage everyone around the difficult people, leading others to leave before the difficult people themselves quit.”

Not only could I relate to those thoughts, I have lived them recently. Alan Willet, a leadership development and organizational cultural change guru has penned a terrific new leadership development book, Leading the Unleadable: How to Manage Mavericks, Cynics, Divas, and Other Difficult People, which deserves a place in leaders toolbox, no matter what your level of experience.

For those starting out it offers workable solutions for problems that I can almost say with a level of certainty that you will be confronted with as you move through your career. For those veterans of leadership, the book will serve as a healthy reminder of the options available to you when t comes to dealing with the difficult members of your team.

All too often organizations don’t do a great job of developing the next generations of great leaders; instead elevating those good or great worker bees to the next level and allowing them to sink or swim on their own, without providing the tools of leadership. Willet puts out the rallying cry that those moving into leadership need to accept the clarion call of being exceptional leaders.

The exceptional leader understand that like all walks of life you will at times be confronted by folks who are difficult to deal with and that the answer is not always to involve HR and move those folks to the exit. Often times it is the difficult people that challenge leaders to play at a higher level because they bring skillsets to the table that are necessary to the success of the business. Willet loads up your tool belt with tips and ideas on how to manage and maximize these folks and to minimize any negative impact they may cause.