THE WISE ADVOCATE by Art Kleiner, Jeffrey Schwartz, and Josie Thomson focuses on Strategic Leadership, particularly in relation to what we know about neuro-science and how are brains work. The authors describe a wise advocate as "the person who believes, and can inspire others to believe, that the problem is worth solving; that it cannot be solved in conventional ways; ... that a new way of looking at things is available to them; and that they can all make a difference together if they act on this belief." Two types of leadership – transactional ("exchanging gratifications") and transformative (more adaptive and strategic) – are discussed. Given increasingly complex issues and problems, they recommend calling on the "inner wise advocate" and use a variety of scenarios (from running a large international plant to personal setbacks at work) in order to illustrate their points about the need to reframe and think differently about a situation. Throughout the text, they emphasize "habits of mind" which will lead to better decisions and outcomes.

If there is one thing that I want to focus on in 2019, that is to be aware of my breath and alos take deep breaths like Matt, the creator of wordpress has advised. While reading of mentalizing, I could recall some instances where I have done exactly that and came out feeling powerful. Great strategy enhancing tools like meta awareness, meta attention that are sure to provide immense benefits have been disucssed at large with many interesting psychology and brain studies.

I received an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is actually a pretty broad collection of leadership advice that I would not have thought to put together, but every chapter and topic is very useful. I would recommend this book for anyone engaging in new leadership , as it takes time to break all of these ideas down as to why they work, and explains some of the psychology behind them, as well as quelling any natural instinct towards doubt. Definitely a keeper .