Now, Lead Others - Cillín Hearns

CoLab Book Club - September 2024

Now, Lead Others by Cillín Hearns was our September #CoLabBookClub pick. Hot off the press, the book follows on from Cillín’s earlier book #FirstLeadYourself. Cillín is a popular coach and is well known to a number of us so we were really hopeful for a good read. We certainly weren’t disappointed. It was thumbs up all around!

Overview

The book uses a fictional narrative to explore key leadership skills in a gripping life-or-death setting. It follows Nathan Strife, a newly promoted leader who quickly finds himself overwhelmed by the realities of managing a team. His leadership journey unfolds through a mountain rescue operation, where life lessons are learned under pressure. With guidance from his mentor Fionn, Nathan discovers how to build trust, navigate challenges, and turn a struggling team into a high-performing unit.

Our Key Takeaways

✔️ The Importance of Trust – building a successful team starts with creating trust, which Cillín emphasises as the foundation of effective leadership.

✔️ Empathy in Leadership – leaders must show empathy, particularly in high-pressure environments, to bring out the best in their teams.

✔️ Adaptability – no two leadership challenges are the same. Leaders need to adapt their approach to meet their team's specific needs. Tricky!

✔️ From Theory to Action – the  fictional setting made for easy reading and brought leadership principles to life, making them more applicable to our real-world situations.

Who is it For?

This book is perfect for new leaders or those transitioning into leadership roles. It's also a great read for anyone interested in how leadership skills can be honed in real-life (or high-stakes) situations.

Thank you!

Thank you Cillín Hearns, for reminding us that leadership is about more than just managing people - it’s about inspiring them, building trust, and being adaptable. It will stay front and centre of our bookshelves as a lasting reference for the many great ideas you shared.

Cheers Alfred Enslin, Allan Atkinson (host), Daniel Gauld, Elisabeth Stiller, Kyla MacDonald, Peter Bink, and Toni Wilson for the interesting discussion. We certainly covered a lot of ground, but I think Cillín would be proud of the conversation his book sparked!

#NowLeadOthers #Leadership #BookReview