Ego Free Leadership: Ending the Unconscious Habits that Hijack Your Business

This was a great read. While I usually get some tidbit of good advice from self-help books, this one has helped me turn a corner. Through reading this book, I have chosen to stop judging myself. The effect of always wondering if I’m okay has been like a constant acid drip on my confidence and enjoyment of life. This book is like a stick of dynamite to that question - the question has become (is becoming) irrelevant. Focusing on what I want to create, realizing that it begins with me, and recognizing pinches has already improved my ability to stop being reactive and to feel less fearful and more powerful.What I’m seeing in the book and in my own thought life is that these thought patterns don’t just go away over night - that it takes time to retrain our thoughts and that in some unusual cases we still can’t escape a “prolonged state of pinch”. I wonder if people will create ways for those who aren’t in the C-suite to get weekly coaching for other aspects of human interaction. Could there be “Ego-Free Parenting” and “The Ego-Free Marriage” book and have informal groups coaching each other?I really appreciate the two voice format which is unusual in non-fiction. Certainly case studies are common, but this format of Brandon's first person experience followed by Shayne’s first person experience is both novel and effective at building credibility with me as a the reader. If it were just a book by Shayne that talked about the Ego with some case studies in the middle, I probably would not have read the book. For me, the word “Ego” is associated with Freud and rationalizations of deviant behaviors. However, since it was co-authored by Brandon describing how he used this information to transform a publicly traded company in the finance sector through the financial crisis, the work carried much more credibility.

The lessons in this book resonates with me and I can’t help to draw connections to the similar concepts in Marshall Rosenberg’s Non Violent Communication. I like how the book tells about the different situations and the struggles from both the perspective of the CEO and the coach. The story feels very authentic and honest.Key takeaways- Our ego drives behaviors that causes dysfunctional work environments. If we can rid ourselves of these behaviors we can create better performing teams and happier employees.- When we’re absorbed by our self-worth we miss opportunities to grow and learn, and we keep people down instead of lifting them up.- The key to avoid these behaviors is to learn to recognize when your ego driver gets triggered and try to identify what kind of threat to your self-worth it signifies.- Self-awareness is the highest act of leadership

I am a management consultant with a deep background in organizational change, so when I first had the opportunity to attend a workshop with Shayne and his colleagues at Learning As Leadership, I was skeptical about how much there was for me to learn there. Instead, I had a life-changing experience that has stayed fresh and relevant over many years, and which I have incorporated into my own approach to working with individuals and groups.This powerful approach to transformation can be hard to describe or explain to others. Its unique value lies in part in being different from the way most personal and group development work occurs. But now, thank goodness, we have Ego Free Leadership. Brandon and Shayne have come up with a way to demonstrate the difference that this approach can make through a real-world example, while giving as much insight into the methodology as I think you can get without directly experiencing the seminars and coaching.Ego Free Leadership offers insights about WHY we behave the way we do despite our best intentions, WHAT we specifically do to get in our own way, and what we can do to start to remove those barriers and obstacles to reaching our highest aspirations, and HOW to begin the journey to achieving that. It's a great book no matter where you are on your developmental path, and I highly recommend it to you.

I don't read a lot of business books in general and "leadership training" books in particular. In my experience, they tend to be both short on substance and a slog to get through. I'm happy to report that Ego Free Leadership is an exception to the rule. It's both easy to read and packs a punch. Is it's a magic pill that will instantaneously transform you into a better version of yourself? Of course not. It did, however, give me plenty to think about along with a set of simple tools that I use regularly to the point that some have now become habits.

This is a book to be treasured. Although I am retired and therefore not now in an organizational leadership position, I find the book invaluable in meeting the challenges and opportunities of daily life. The book is about ego-free life, not merely leadership, and in addition to its utility in the workplace, I can imagine it being wonderful for families to read together, and life partners to share, and individuals to savor. As a psychologist, I find the concepts in this book academically and scientifically sound, and the authors' interpretations and advice wise and life-giving. Read this book!

An incredible book. By the looks of my copy, you would think it was a text book from a class I just finished! Ink in all the margins and dog-eared throughout. I picked up a copy on my way out for a cross country flight with lots of time to read. WOW! Having read my fair share of business / motivational / success books, I probably started off with a tainted expectation of “probably another CEO” book. Boy was I wrong. And reading it once will not be enough. It holds true to the standard to teach me something and now turn my notes into actions.

Easy read, very light and conversational. There were a few great bits but generally it felt too long for the ideas covered. I like and agree with many concepts, such as watching and studying for ego driven behaviour and being authentic, yet this is not the book I would gift to friends or colleagues.

Uno de mis nuevos libros favoritos. Difícil de leer porque puede llegar a ser muy duro ver las heridas en el espejo y comenzar a sanarlas