A leader Who had No Title - A Review

  "A captivating story that teaches as it delights" read the quote of Paulo Coelho on the cover page of a book titled "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari", authored by Mr. Robin Sharma. The quote made me to add the book to my cart.  When I finished the book, a feeling perhaps it has to be the best book I have ever read. Googled more on Robin Sharma, and realized Mr. Robin Sharma is one of the top leadership guru's in the world. Felt a little ashamed that day that I never have heard about Mr. Sharma before reading the monk who sold his ferrari. Googled more on Mr. Sharma's books and realized every book of his is a best seller.  The day I finished the ferrari, I rushed to crossword to pick up the next one :"The Leader Who had No Title".

  When you read any book of Mr.Sharma, you get a feeling this has to be his best book. Its worth every penny you paid for it. Usually, self development books are kind of authors talking about their own experience with some real life examples. Mr. Sharma is a little different. He creates a story line around the whole scenario which gives more life while reading it. Makes you to relate your life with the situations put in front of you. Initially, I thought the book is for people who are in leadership positions and above. But, a look at the title again, you will realize the whole point itself is you need not be a leader at all. The message coming of the book is simple: You do not need any title to be a leader. Without a title, you can give your best to your organization and your personal life.  Its not a novel kind where you read by just flipping  pages. A 201 page book, it takes quite some time to finish it if you are to read it properly.

   Mr. Sharma starts the whole leadership point with a very different approach: Blake is a person working  at a book store who thinks there is nothing great in the job he does, and is not happy with the life he is living. At the graveyard, Tommy(Blake's mentor) asks Blake: How would it be when at your deathbed you feel that you have not done justice to your potential? You dreamt of lot, but never had the courage to take big decisions?  You thought you will do a lot to the society but never had the time to do it? You thought you achieved a lot of material wealth,  but never had the real happiness in you? Asking these questions, Mr. Sharma tells you first decide how you want to die. What legacy you want to leave behind? And now plan and live your life accordingly. The kind of words, situations, examples, phrases used by Mr. Sharma makes you close the book  for a while as you read and do some thinking.  Mr. Sharma now starts giving the 4 most important leadership aspects by taking Blake to his 4 teachers.

Anna, the first teacher: Anna is a housekeeper in a hotel whose primary job is to keep the rooms clean. One can easily think what kind of a job it is, and what is so big to talk about the job. A quote of Martin Luther king: “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” The point is: It does not matter what others think about your job. Do your job well, so well with so much of dedication which makes you enjoy and feel proud of what you are doing. And you do not need a title to give your best and make a difference in your work.

Ty, the second teacher: The mantra here is: Turbulent times make you better leaders. There is a saying, "When the going gets tougher, the tough gets going". Mr.Sharma tells when the going gets really tough,  you have the opportunity to bring the best in you. And if you resist, it does bring the best out. This chapter will take you the longest to complete since the whole chapter is dedicated to  "change", a taboo word in one's life. How a human being starts suffering when he is out of his comfort zone. How to embrace the change being thrown to you. The more changes you come across, the more you come out of your comfort zone. The more you come out of your comfort zone, your comfort zone expands. The beautiful message delivered in this chapter is: "Life begins at the end of your comfort zone".

Jac, the third teacher: This chapter talks about: "The Deeper your relationship, the stronger your Leadership.". Here, the talk is all about making good relationships with the people. The more you invest in people, the more you reap. Make wonderful relationships with the people, be it your colleagues at your work place or the people in your life. The bottom line of this chapter is:"Give whatever you can to the people, you will always receive the best from them."

Jet, the fourth teacher: "To be a great leader, first be a great person" is the point about the chapter. This is the most beautiful of all the chapters. The message the author intends is in order to achieve whatever you want in your life, the first thing to happen is: You need to love yourself. Only when you love yourself, you can love others. The best part is the 7 fundamental things the author tells the readers to follow in order to make yourself a person whom you will love a lot.

 All in all, this book is a beautiful journey. This is the first time I am writing a book review. I felt enriched reading this book. Friends, I want you too to attain the same feeling, get all the wisdom which I had got from this book and hence this article.Go pick your copy now.  Lets make our lives beautiful.