Developing the Leader Within You

An Excellent Analysis on the Importance of Leadership

To be perfectly honest, reading this book was a very uncertain (perhaps wild) choice for me. When assigned to read a book for a class based on fundamentals of leadership and/or small group communication, I chose this book on the Amazon.com website because it was the one that might be the most relatable and interesting to me as a college student. Theoretically, I could have opened it to discover a piece of literature wrapped in boredom and unsubstantiated generalizations regarding leadership. Thankfully, the book is a delight to read. It is a surprisingly captivating piece of non-fiction literature. Many books of this type that I have read in the past have offered broad generalizations, along with no stories, facts, or examples to back them up. However, this book is a completely different story. The author, John C. Maxwell, uses loads of wonderful quotes, stories, and lists to generate evidence for his very specific beliefs and claims concerning the hierarchy of leadership. The book also does an excellent job chronicling the various characteristics of leadership. The reader will easily be able to interpret the message that Maxwell tries repeatedly to project within the book: Leadership is a key attribute of any group. Without it, change, which is fundamental to the continued success and/or existence of any small group or society, will be hampered. Therefore, every individual should strive to meet the demands and needs of a group by gaining the many traits of leadership discussed within this book. Overall, the book is easy to follow and has a review section at the end of each chapter, which proved to be a valuable tool when used for further comprehension of the subject matter. According to the book, there is even an on-line leadership skills assessment survey. Unfortunately, an error message continually popped up on my computer's screen when trying to access the link, and when I tried to load the home page, it repeatedly made my computer freeze. After three or four...