Book Review: ‘You Don’t Need a TITLE to Be a Leader’

SHEILA ALEXANDER
Development communications coordinator

We are encouraged in building careers to work toward and negotiate for those titles that tell the world we are leaders. I am sold on a short, easy-to-read book by Mark Sanford on how to make a difference in your job, your community and your life, even if you don’t have a title.

In “You Don’t Need a TITLE to Be a Leader: How Anyone, Anywhere, Can Make a Positive Difference,” Sanborn encourages leadership of the best kind — leading through influence rather than directing others. He makes his point so well that by the end of the book you understand how important this strategy is to being a leader who earns respect, rather than demanding it.

Good leaders let their passion show and work hard alongside everyone else. In other words, be a role model for how you want people to work, act, treat you and respond to you. Sanborn helps you overcome your identified weaknesses so that others take you seriously and you earn their respect.

Money versus meaning in life, contributing to others through volunteerism and dealing with all kinds of resistance — from your own self-induced barriers to dealing with difficult people — are covered in this book.

Whether or not you are a leader with a title, I think you will find true gems of wisdom in this book that will be invaluable in working as a student, in your job, your community and your church.

Available now at the Sweet Briar Book Shop for $14.95.