Book Review: Are you the Leader you want to be?

Title: Are you the Leader you want to be?

Authors: Manbir Kaur and Kathy Mitchell

Publisher: StoryMirror Infotech

Pages: 232

Price: INR 320

‘Are you the Leader you want to be?’ is a latest addition to the shelf for Technology leaders authored by Manbir Kaur and Kathy Mitchell are Leadership Coaches and have vast experience in working with technology organisations. Both the authors are internationally certified coaches accredited by ICF (International Coach Federation).

The book combines various principles, studies, practices to present a practical framework called ‘HUMAN’. HUMAN makes ‘the invisible’- visible. Authors have beautifully presented a business story based narrative, which will help the readers to navigate the ‘HUMAN’ framework with ease. The book will provide readers with a step by step way to engage and lead teams in the most productive and effective way.

When tech leaders move up the chain and find themselves in senior leadership roles, where they start defining strategy, more often than not, they feel lost. They struggle to motivate teams, create synergies and cohesion required to achieve the organization’s vision. They start to understand that they are missing something and feel that there are some invisible problems that exist but are eluding them. The book will be helpful for tech leaders when they move up the ladder and will be able to play the role of a true visionary leader in a better way.

The authors have beautifully narrated the ‘HUMAN’ framework in a chapter titled ‘Introduction to HUMAN’. Based on their collective experiences, they designed the ‘HUMAN’ framework especially for leaders in technology organizations. In ‘HUMAN’ framework, H stands for Heeding. Authors refer ‘Heeding’ to your basic characteristics of being a leader. U- Understanding team members, their roles and their alignment to the big picture and vision. M stands for Messaging. A- Acknowledgement and rewards. N- stands for nurturing the team members to be better leaders and enable them to do their best. Authors have given many examples with pictorial depiction in each chapter.

A must read for technology leaders.

About the authors:

Authors Manbir Kaur and Kathy Mitchell are Leadership Coaches and have vast experience in working with technology organisations. Both the authors are internationally certified coaches accredited by ICF (International Coach Federation).

Manbir Kaur is India’s first coach with a specialization in working with technology organisations; she also holds the office of Director-Education at ICF (International Coaches Federation) – Delhi NCR Chapter. She has more than 20 years of professional experience & prior to being a coach; Manbir has worked in corporate world for various Indian and Multinational IT companies in roles such as Development, Operations, Presales, People Management and Consulting.

Kathy brings over 25 years’ experience in the field of human resources, training, and leadership and people development in both the corporate and public sectors in diversely different locations in the world including; Australia, Africa, Middle East, South East Asia and India.