Citation
Nolan, S. (2010), "Are you a Badger or a Doormat?", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 9 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2010.37209cae.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Are you a Badger or a Doormat?
Rosie MillerPearson Education2009ISBN 978-0-273-72449-0
In this book, the author – an international executive coach – advises how to become a balanced, focused leader who gets results. With ten plus years’ experience, she draws on her own work to identify and address the five most common dilemmas facing leaders. They are:
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What is the best use of my time?
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How can I communicate more effectively?
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How do I interact with people to get the best from them?
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How do I choose, delegate to and motivate people well?
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What changes will make us more successful?
There are no definitive answers to these questions. She explains that leadership does not involve right answers, but is a dynamic art form of choosing the right balance between many – and often conflicting – priorities. The right choice depends on the individual context, however there are tools and techniques to help leaders make good decisions and avoid the common pitfalls. The author discusses these in the book, as well feedback from interviews with 20 successful leaders and the resulting common principles for successful leadership.
The book contains useful features that make the information highly accessible. The chapters on the five most common dilemmas include highlights, which give key ideas in brief, diagnostics for helping readers assess their own position, how tos that give practical models and solutions, and an “in action” case study section. Caricatures are used to describe extreme leadership styles and to help readers recognize behaviors to avoid and those that should be put into practice more often. It is from here that the book’s title emerged, with the badger being a busy boss doing their own thing and never seen by the team in daylight and the doormat a leader who never gets anything done as they are at the beck and call of their people.
Are you a Badger or a Doormat? is a useful and practical read for those in HR leadership roles looking to improve their own performance, as well as HR professionals looking to focus on leadership development in their organizations.
Sara NolanEditor, Strategic HR Review