How to Lead with Purpose: Lessons in life and work from the gloves-off mentor

I have committed to reading at least one book a month in 2023 and have started the year off strong with one of the most impactful leadership books I have ever read:"How to lead with purpose by Liam Black"This book is comprehensive yet, at the same time concise and I managed to finish it in 3 hours. Those 3 hours are likely the best investment I will make in my leadership journey for the year ahead. Let me share some more…..📚 This is a book of 2 halves. The first half “making a difference” is dedicated to exploring motivations and seeking alignment in your leadership role. The second half “staying alive’ encompasses the (often harsh) realities you will face along the way.📚 The chapters cover a range of topics including crucially important areas which are typically overlooked in leadership books and leadership development in general.Liam invites all of the elephants into the room to join the dialogue. The 2 standout chapters for me in this regard are those addressing:#Gender inequality - brilliantly titled “In the theatre of performative male ego”. This concludes with a bold and audacious call to action for men to become allies in the workplace.and#Mental health- “On loneliness and Mental health”. A conversation of great importance specifically in our current context.📚 Each chapter ends with a “Gloves off questions” section of in-depth questions which you can use as a basis to translate the pragmatic learning points into quantifiable actions in real life.I am working through these questions on my own but this would equally work well in reading this book with your team or as part of a book club.I am particularly thankful to all of the phenomenal leaders who graciously agreed for their stories to be shared in this book. Their real life accounts of trials and triumphs really serve to give an authentic account of leadership journeys across a diverse range of professions and industries.Their stories are shared with great transparency and vulnerability demonstrating incredible synergies with the learning points which transcend all professional groups. This is therefore a book for you irrespective of your background or industry.Thank you Liam Black for all of the wisdom shared in this book. I have no doubt of the incredible impact it will have on everyone who reads it.

In a world facing extreme change and uncertainty keeping your feet on the ground and focused on your objectives can seem at times very challenging. Liam’s matter of fact, can do, get stuff done approach to life is reassuring and the themes and messages in this book are valuable and timely. An easy and rewarding read. Thank you Liam.

This book cuts to the chase - its lonely, hard to balance life, and in the end it's hard to create change. Great no BS view with a clear eyed look at leadership, and making the struggle worthwhile

I loved the way this book told lessons through the stories of leaders Liam had worked with. It helped to understand themes around impostor syndrome and humanised the experience of being a leader. Lots of really practical advice as well as humour and examples that bring it to life. Great book!

This is a plain speaking and honest guide to the challenges involved in running purpose-led organisations. The book combines Liam’s own insight from decades of experiences running businesses with case studies setting out the real life problems that leaders face every day based on his work as a leadership mentor.There’s a lot of insight packed into this book on topics such as personal motivations for working in social impact business or practical advice on dealing with the inertia and opposition you face when trying to lead change. I especially enjoyed the chapter on how you can effectively deploy the authority and agency within leadership roles and how to mobilise and motivate coalitions of support in doing so.There’s no shortage of leadership books out there, but this is definitely one I would recommend. It is clearly written, honest, brave, entertaining and very, very funny. If you like seeing ego, pomposity and hypocrisy being skewered, you’ll love it.

This is a very helpful little book that packs a big punch. We all need to hear this stuff. Easy to read and immensely useful. Real. It’s difficult to be real and it seems the world we live in makes it hard to keep it real. By real I mean the stuff that counts in the long-term.Thanks Liam. I feel validated, a little less alone, and motivated to see the tough stuff for what it is; sometimes necessary, other times avoidable. Often we have more of a choice then we think about how to engage with this tough stuff.

It seems that every other person you meet these days is a coach or a mentor. Finding the right person with the right kinds of skills and experience can be a real challenge. Do yourself a favour and read Liam's book before you look any further. A heady mix of expert advice coupled with a splattering of humour, Liam has quite literally been there and done that (read: he's been in the social impact world for decades) and has the bruises to prove it. This book is a fantastic read, is not too long, and it might just be what you need if you're trying to make sense of your life, or your career. Bring it on!

LOVED this booked - so much so I read it in a day!It has inspiring stories from purpose led leaders trying to really make a difference in the 🌎, with every section ending with ‘gloves-off’ questions to help you reflect on your own passions & purpose 🌱🌎💫‘The more you build your resilience, the more you work on understanding what really drives you, the more you understand what gives you energy and life, the more effective you’ll be and the more people will listen & follow you’