The Promises of Giants: How YOU can fill the leadership void --THE SUNDAY TIMES HARDBACK NON-FICTION & BUSINESS BESTSELLER--

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Wise, challenging and inspiring, The Promises of Giants is a much-needed book that will resonate with you long after you have finished reading it. -- Fiona Cannon OBE, Managing Director Sustainable Business, Lloyds Banking Group John's ability to identify and communicate the qualities of effective leadership is remarkable. After reading The Promises of Giants, your view of the world will most definitely improve. -- JJ Abrams, Director, Producer & Scriptwriter, CEO of Bad Robot In one exercise he shared, the audience is asked to jot down the words they associate with a) LGBT+ and B) women. Then they are asked to jot down the words others think about the same topic. This is an eye-opening exercise. It shows how deep our biases run.

It may be easier to work with machines, but the words that will define organizational success in the future are transformation, innovation, disruption, and resilience. These are human words, intrinsically tied to properties that only humans can manifest, at least for now. And organizations that are serious about winning appreciate that every moment an employee feels less human, they are less and less able, not to mention willing, to demonstrate those qualities that are so important.

Summary

It will feel risky and at times even frightening, but the potential rewards are immense and there for the taking. If we can approach life with the courage and enthusiasm of that eager child who is unashamed of their dreams, we lift the ceiling on creativity, innovation, accountability, compassion, and resiliency. The Promises of Giants is a challenge to anyone who aspires to make a difference in their environment. Over fourteen promises, it seamlessly intertwines personal anecdotes and workplace and social observation with the latest research, to provide practical, proven tips and strategies to empower you to maximize your own potential and inspire others. It is not a self-help book. It is a how-to guide for winning, rooted in the belief that the most unlikely of people, in the most improbable of circumstances, can become extraordinary.

The Promises of Giants is, as its title suggests, a collection of promises. Some are made to the people you work with most intimately, and others are made to your workplace as a whole. But we start with the promises that you make to yourself alone. The Promises of Giants is a leadership book comprising 14 chapters (each one a promise) and a few supplementary sections. It's aimed at those already in leadership roles and those who aspire to be leaders in the future. So, really it's fairly universal. The book is a mixture of his own personal life story and lessons for how to live a better life. He credits much of his success to his mom. His mom was a family practice doctor. Early in life, she taught him, “It’s blind spots and self-sabotage that derail most people in pursuit of the extraordinary. Not the competition.”

Customer reviews

We cannot lose sight of humanity and individualism. We must promise to see more in our people than just what is outlined in their job descriptions. Organizational culture depends upon it. Realizing the full potential of our people depends upon it. And, ultimately, winning depends upon it. John Amaechi, author of The Promises of Giants, has written an insightful, comprehensive guide – a series of promises we should all make to ourselves and others – if we want to make the world a better place. Being a giant means committing to success – but not just your own. Giants understand that success isn’t an individual pursuit. It occurs in an environment where everyone is given the chance to thrive. That means taking a two-pronged approach to achievement. Join John Amaechi OBE as he shares insights from his new leadership book ‘The Promises of Giants’ on what it takes to develop as a leader in an increasingly complex and challenging world. John takes us through his own experiences as a ‘giant’ and brings this to play in a thought provoking and stimulating call for leaders to step up to the responsibility of their roles. But emotional labor is the domain in which leaders distinguish themselves, for better or worse. Emotional labor encompasses self-awareness, personal vigilance, emotional intelligence, and intellectual curiosity about other people and the way they work. Making the effort to see people as individuals and helping them recognize and realize their potential beyond job description is an investment of emotional labor.