So says Nick Elsworth (www.AssetInflation.com) in edited excerpts from an article* which Lorimer Wilson, editor of www.munKNEE.com (It’s all about Money!), has further edited ([  ]), abridged (…) and reformatted below  for the sake of clarity and brevity to ensure a fast and easy read. Please note that this paragraph must be included in any article re-posting to avoid copyright infringement. Elsworth goes on to say:

Avon (AVP) Chairman and CEO Andrea Jung has a plaque she keeps behind her desk that depicts four footprints: that of an ape, a barefoot man, a wingtip shoe, and finally a high heel. It once belonged to her predecessor and mentor, Jim Preston, who told her early on that “one day a woman will run this company—a woman should run this company.” The day Jung became CEO, Preston gave it to her. “The idea is the evolution of leadership,” Jung says. Words: 784

In further edited excerpts from the original review* Jenna McGregor (www.businessweek.com) goes on to say:

Encapsulating the way notable women rise to success is the stated goal of “How Remarkable Women Lead” by McKinsey consultants Joanna Barsh and Susie Cranston. Besides Jung, the authors interviewed Time Inc. (TWX) Chairman and CEO Ann Moore, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde (page 78), and Xerox (XRX) Chairman Anne Mulcahy, among many others. The book is packed with revealing anecdotes from women in high places.

The stories are often inspiring, but Barsh and Cranston fall short of persuasiveness when they argue that their “Centered Leadership” model is “groundbreaking,” as the book-jacket flap claims. And they could have made more of the five years of proprietary research data they promote on the cover. While it’s refreshing to see a leadership book directed at women when just 3% of large U.S. corporations are run by them, this one has, at times, a self-help tone that may turn some readers off.

Barsh and Cranston began their research by interviewing more than 100 high-achieving women, mostly in business, academia, and government. They noticed common factors that led to the women’s success. After conducting additional surveys and studying academic research, the authors boiled down their findings to five common traits. Top women leaders manage their energy well, find meaning in their work, excel at framing problems and solutions, connect with many colleagues and “sponsors”—mentors in senior positions—and engage deeply in their jobs. Taken together, the authors call this system Centered Leadership and use it for development programs at McKinsey. The book is structured around examples, anecdotes, and tips for achieving Centered Leadership.

Traits such as being energetic and having an ability to find meaning in one’s work “lie beyond traditional approaches to management and professional development,” write Barsh and Cranston. And while it’s true that books on leadership typically stick to topics such as building the right teams, focusing on core strengths, and communicating a clear strategy, the elements in this “model” will feel like common sense to some readers. Those who have read popular management thinkers such as positive-psychology expert Martin Seligman, Claremont Graduate University psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and best-selling “energy management” gurus Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz will also find some of this material familiar. To distinguish their book, the authors could have delved deeper into the similarities and differences between male and female leaders found in their proprietary research. Instead, their extensive data mostly appear in an appendix.

“How Remarkable Women Lead” is best suited to female managers looking for lessons from others’ routes to the top. There’s a breath of fresh air in the candor of Axis Bank CEO Shikha Sharma’s embarrassing tale of a deputy’s jihad-themed sales program when she was at India’s ICICI Bank (IBN), which landed her in hot water, and in former Qantas Chairman Margaret Jackson’s recounting of a botched interview she gave while in the hospital and on medication. Some revelations are both reassuring and amusing: Ann Moore says “forget perfection and balance!” in recalling her failed attempt to be both a media exec and a producer of homemade baby food.

Still, the book occasionally reads like Chicken Soup for the Female Leader’s Soul. In explaining their Centered Leadership concept, Barsh and Cranston tell readers: “Feel the gravity beneath your two feet holding you steady as you stretch to the sky” and are given to such phrases as “Laugh for the fun of it!” and “We’re here to help you on your way.”

Those who can look past such tropes should end up inspired by the truly remarkable women in Remarkable Women. But those looking for surprising secrets of their success are likely to be left wanting more.

*http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_40/b4149082763728.htm

Editor’s Note:
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This book encourages everyone to cherry-pick the ideas of others on their way to success – after all, it worked for Johannes Gutenberg, George Lucas, and the Google guys. Words: 670

In further edited excerpts from the original review* Reena Jana (www.BusinessWeek.com) goes on to say:

Murray uses personal anecdotes and scores of examples to build the case that cherry-picking the ideas of others is a vital part of the research and development process.

For instance, Google is heralded for borrowing concepts from library science to improve Web searches. Gutenberg’s printing press borrowed from the gear used by winemakers and olive-oil producers. George Lucas? It’s a longish list. Such nuggets spice up Murray’s six steps, which start with defining the problem you want to solve, then searching for solutions used by others with similar problems, followed by a process of refining the material you gather.

As he lays out his method, he raises the stakes on innovative thinking. It’s more than just a competitive advantage. These days it’s a lifeline. “The need for innovation and creativity becomes more and more important as … product and career life cycles become shorter,” Murray writes.

In a sense, this book is an idea Murray borrowed from himself (and Intuit, again). In the early 2000s he was asked to create an innovation training program for the company. The goal: a clear, easy-to-replicate process for creative thinking. After studying hundreds of inventive thinkers, from Charles Darwin to Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs, he concluded that the quickest and most reliable path to invention is paved with appropriated ideas. That may not strike you as terribly original, but Murray’s method involves mixing and matching the concepts of others, ideally from disparate fields, to arrive at something new.

Murray himself is a study in reinvention and, despite his résumé, failure. Back in 1999 he passed up a $25 million offer from GE Capital (GE) for the office-equipment financing firm he’d built and opted for a higher offer from a bank. But the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. shut down the overleveraged bank, which Murray doesn’t name, and he was left on the hook for $30 million in new loans signed while he was negotiating the deal. Beyond broke, he spiraled into alcoholism.

After well over a year he rang up the GE executive who tried to buy his company—and who had since moved to Intuit—to ask for help. Murray was initially given a shot at revitalizing the direct-marketing campaign for TurboTax. The idea for doing so came through his mail slot. At that time, AOL (TWX) was sending software upgrades to customers on CDs. Murray advised Intuit to send past customers disks with updated TurboTax software on them. If they paid online or on the phone, they could unlock it. Suddenly the response rate to Intuit’s direct marketing jumped from 15% to 60%.

But Murray keeps his personal history from playing too big a part. Instead, Jobs pops up a lot, even though Murray, who’s clearly an admirer, didn’t interview him. He relies on often familiar stories to portray Jobs’ notorious ability to co-opt the ideas of others. “Sadly, I’ll never be Steve Jobs, and neither will you, but I can simulate the way he thinks even if it isn’t inherent in me. And you can, too,” he writes.

The strongest advice in the book is Murray’s notion that the best ideas to pilfer are the least obvious. “The farther away from your subject you borrow materials from, the more creative your solution.”

*http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_36/b4145072739717.htm

Editor’s Note:
- The above article consists of reformatted edited excerpts from the original for the sake of brevity, clarity and to ensure a fast and easy read. The author’s views and conclusions are unaltered.
- Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.
- Sign up to receive every article posted via Twitter, Facebook, RSS feed or our Weekly Newsletter.
- Submit a comment. Share your views on the subject with all our readers.
- Buy the book below from Amazon. It’s pertinent to this article and inexpensive too.