Reviews for History of the Principal States of Europe; From the Peace of Utrecht

The average rating for History of the Principal States of Europe; From the Peace of Utrecht based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-07-08 00:00:00 Richard Watson To generate positive leadership outcomes, leaders need to think strategically, effectively lead others, and lead by design. These are the key attributes of Level 3 leadership. This book's premise is that Level 3 leadership involves motivating people through understanding their values, assumptions, beliefs and expectations (VABEs). By contrast Level 1 leadership relies on a Skinnerian approach of influencing behaviours by telling people what to do, and then providing incentives and punishments to drive compliance. Clawson sets out to ‘get below the surface’ to outline (level 3) behaviours that will make leaders and managers more effective. Clawson outlines four cornerstones of the moral foundation for level 3 leadership: (1) Truth Telling; (2) promise keeping; (3) fairness; and (4) respect for the individual. (p57) Clawson highlights that when people achieve the trust and respect established by practicing these four cornerstones it provides a foundation for effective leadership. (p63) At times Clawson stretches his points too far, for example when he notes that “Only when people have full information and freedom to choose can they be enabled as followers.” (p56) While this sounds good, and there may be an element of truth to this, it is not practicable in a business organisation. People don’t ever have full information, and freedom to choose is always within guiderails of the expectations of the role they have been employed to perform. So this statement lacks any practical action that a manager can take. Clawson also sees that the moral foundation for leadership means ‘we must like all of our employees”. (p62) But he presents no empirical evidence that this influences behaviour or organisational outcomes, let alone a clear description of what this actually means. Almost all will be familiar with ‘The Golden Rule’. In exploring why people behave the way they do Clawson challenges the arrogance of this rule: ‘Why should we expect that others want to be treated the way we want to be treated?’ Some argue that it should be replaced by a ‘Platinum Rule’ – “Treat others as they want to be treated.” (p77) However Clawson’s focus on the virtues of level 3 ignores the impact of behaviour led attitude change. Encouraging seat-belt usage is the classic example. We have not moved to almost universal acceptance of this through level 3 leadership and appealing to VABEs. Instead a Level 1 approach with fines for non-compliance, gradually shaped and changed people’s attitude to safety. Clawson does not discuss this, and as a result fails to explore the role of behaviour led attitude change in organisations. What would have been interesting is a greater focus on the insights from behavioural economics and the impact this can have in ‘nudging’ human behaviour. In his recommendation to cast ‘away bureaucratic assumptions’ and search for and create ‘new organizing principles that promote rapid use of good information and the multiple talents of the people employed’, Clawson anticipates the adoption in the last few years of ‘agile’ management principles. At times it’s not clear whether there is still a role for Level 1 leadership. Clawson acknowledges that rewards – a Skinnerian approach - are important: “We can’t realistically expect to get certain results while we model and reward behaviour that leads people to an entirely different outcome.” (p106) Clawson’s insertion of anecdotes from his own family, a seeming increasing flaw among authors, is distracting and narcissistic, not to mention irrelevant and patronising – as if his experience with an eight-year old child provides any meaningful insight to a manager dealing with his or her employees. (p117) Equally irrelevant to managers is the experience of a musician who went without bathing, changing his clothes, or personal grooming for 15 months, particularly acknowledging the adverse impact this had on the people around him. Clawson seems to be putting this forward as an example of the lengths leaders and managers should go to in learning new skills. To the extent that it’s even relevant, it seems more an example of what not to do. Clawson extends this with sweeping generalisations on the behaviours of world class players (WCPs), with false implications of the relevance of these for leaders and managers – universalism at its worst. When discussing strategic thinking Clawson advocates that ‘One must have not only a vision but also the courage to choose a path and then the fortitude to stick to it over years of effort, perhaps with modest results at first’ but then contradicts this with exhortations that strategic thinkers ‘need to develop alternative flexible courses of action.’ (p154) Which is it? Fortitude? Or flexibility? What should a leader, manager (or a business student) actually do? These contradictory passages leave a reader with the impression that Clawson has read too many management theories and has made a poor effort at integrating or choosing between them. At times Clawson appears out of his depth. There is much literature on the service-profit chain and the role customer satisfaction plays in this. By contrast Clawson’s discussion of this is facile, simplistic and, with his reference to the apocryphal buggy-whip manufacturer who should have had a mission focussed on ‘independent travel’ rather than ‘carriage acceleration’, somewhat trite. (p162) Again a leader, manager or business student is left unclear what they should actually do. In outlining how to effectively lead others, Clawson sets out five steps: (1) have a clear purpose; (2) communicate that purpose clearly and inspirationally; (3) show others how the purpose benefits them; (4) manage reciprocal exchanges with others; and (5)mange process toward the purpose. (p184) Clawson encourages leaders to ‘observe’ and ‘confirm’ the VABEs of others. (p186) Unleashing untrained amateur psychologists seems a poor prescription for effective leadership. Then if this approach (unsurprisingly I might add) has no impact, you should conclude that your (self-taught) skills as a coach are insufficient! Perhaps if leaders and managers who do not have specific training avoided trying to psycho-analyse the ‘VABEs of others’ they might be more authentic in the first place. Throughout this book Clawson covers a range or management theories and, with some notable exceptions, manages to integrate these reasonably well. Most of these theories adopt a universalist approach – follow these actions in all circumstances to achieve more effective outcomes. In the real world however this approach is ineffective. Contingency theorists argue that the right action for leaders and managers to take depends on the circumstances in which they are applied. Clawson fails to discuss contingency theory – it doesn’t even make it into his index. Notwithstanding this, and as Clawson notes, in an information age, organisations and people that adopt elements of level three leadership are more likely to thrive and grow. The structure of the book assists the student or managerial reader. Each chapter effectively uses headings to guide the reader, and concludes with principles of effective leadership and questions for reflection. However at times Clawson forces this with excessive use of un-informative or meaningless tables and diagrams. Level Three Leadership is a useful book for MBA students, but should be read with a critical eye by leaders and managers.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-04-08 00:00:00 David Anderson Read about half for a graduate college course. Very readable, some questionable psychology interpretations (not wrong, just more interpretation than fact).