E-book on Leadership

I would like to announce that my e-book ‘Leadership in times of Crisis’ is published on the LeanPub bookstore. I would like to thank all who have helped me in this project. This book is the result of Conversations I had with thought leaders, in different parts of the world. I hope that reading this book, will inspire you to have a vision, to lead with a purpose, with empathy and remaining steadfast to the values, that you believe in. This book has a foreword by Sunil Prashara, CEO, Project Management Institute

https://leanpub.com/leadershipintimesofcrisis

Here is a review from a reader in the US, Daniel Oren

“Sajeev Kumar Menon’s eBook, Leadership in Times of Crisis, Conversations with Thought Leaders, begins with a foreword and high praise from Sunil Prashara, President and CEO of Project Management Institute. Using a ten-question structured interview, Menon compiles his transcripts from 24 conversations with expert project managers worldwide. This book will quickly become required reading for project managers at any level and regardless of which stage of career they are in.

Globally, we have all faced the disruptive repercussions, as individuals and as organizations, from the current Covid-19 crisis. These conversations help to digest where we are right now and how to best move teams, projects, and organizations forward as leaders and managers. To do that, Menon taps into the experiences of brilliant individuals who offer anecdotal evidence for the following challenging questions:

1. What are the 3 traits that you think a Leader should have in times of Crisis?

2. How would you respond in times of an emergency or a Crisis?

3. What are some specific steps you would take when faced with a Crisis?

4. How do you motivate your team and keep them engaged?

5. How would you support them in times of a Crisis?

6. How do you lead effectively in a virtual workplace?

7. What is one of the biggest challenge that you have faced in your projects?

8. What is your approach to Risk Management? How do you plan for Risks on your project?

9. What steps are you taking to remain relevant in a disruptive environment?

10. What do you think are 3 areas/domains that you believe will shape the
world of tomorrow?

This last year’s chaos has taught us that we are in a constant state of flux and that continuous learning must take place at both the macro-organizational and micro-individual level. The overarching themes of the psychologically informed approach to leadership, emotional intelligence, and agile transformation appear horizontally across the interviews. The emerging lessons learned from the ensuing global crisis include (a) how to better position organizations for either black swan or known-unknown events, and (b) the importance of effective change management strategies. Critical takeaways for project managers are that we must create nurturing and safe environments for teams, utilize empathetic listening, and be servant leaders. Similarly, we must foster organizational cultures that reward curiosity, innovation, and Kaizen (or continuous improvement). These concepts go hand-in-hand. Soft people skills are equally as essential to master, if not more so, than hard skills. The dominant themes within this book reveal an agile organization’s essence: the ability to pivot and be nimble.

You will find that the book’s format by being broken into chapters allows for easy digestion of these relevant leadership lessons. At the end of the handbook, video links are supplied for each of the interviews. You may return to reread these interviews over the years to track personal growth or to help strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis for your team or organization. As a result of reading these conversations, you will have performed an internal audit on how to position yourself better to lead teams through increasingly challenging times and emerge as a more resilient leader and organization.”

Daniel N. Oren, PMP®, PSM I®, MSM, DBA (ABD)

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