Leadership Lessons With The Beatles Is A Pragmatic Tutorial In Leadership by Dr. Shantha Mohan
Review by Katherine Abraham
Rarely does one come across a book that has the ability to work as a game-changer each time they pick it up, and yet Dr. Shanta Mohan’s Leadership Lessons with The Beatles does exactly this. The author innovatively uses a song each from the popular 60’s rock band the Beatles to initiate the chapter and that starts a journey with a very different destination.
Should one begin with the initial chapter, they talk about very key ingredients to the leadership mix: optimism, humility, tenacity, and curiosity. The book is a systematic delineation of human limitations and opportunities. It holds the key to decision-making, behavioural changes and the very essence of leading from the front. In a world of cut-throat competition, Leadership Lessons with the Beatles is a breath of fresh air.
The book has been divided into four broad parts: Leadership Attributes, Leadership Skills, Leadership Mastery and Care. The beauty of this book lies in the fact that you can start of from any point and still not find yourself lost for ideas. Of the multiple ideas, one that stands out is Design Thinking which has caught up in the last decade. Dr Shanta Mohan talks of design thinking as an iterative process for building solutions that incorporate curiosity and the art of questioning at every stage and this becomes the foundational principle for emotional intelligence.
While the book is replete with quotes, and ideas, it is also an encyclopaedia of insights. One can appreciate the fact that at the end of each chapter there are individual practice exercises that the reader can incorporate and practise in their daily lives. The book also stimulates the reader’s intellectual curiosity by adding Questions to Ask Yourself. What is particularly fascinating is that as a reader I was able to apply some of these principles and interrogate inwardly to see the change within my own conduct at the workplace. I was calm and applying logic over emotion as I began to give each work-dynamic a re-think.
The book is filled with a variety of anecdotes of different leaders and their leadership styles and their insights, that has the potential to keep the reader hooked. A personal favourite was Gerd Gigerenzer, a psychologist, the director emeritus of the Centre for Adaptive Behaviour and Cognition (ABC) who spoke about gut feeling and intuition. As an intuitive person myself, I thought this “gut feelings are tools based on substantial experience” is a quintessential lesson for young professionals. The Notes and Resources at the end is inclusive and gives the reader a holistic view of the author’s extensive research and years of experience.
The part of the book that appealed the most was the part on optimal stress, resilience and flexibility. For working professionals on every rung of the hierarchy, stress plays a critical role and this chapter helps to augment self-care. As one starts to read and reflect on this culminating part of the chapter, we are introduced to the importance of what easily gets brushed under the carpet as basics: laughter, nutrition, exercise, mindfulness and more.
All in all this is a book that deserves a wide readership and has the ability to transform the lives of young and old and act as a catalyst.
