Fired Up or Burned OutI've read leadership books for over forty years and I rarely get excited about one any more. I like a lot of them, I pick up something good from most of them, but very few books have the three things I look for in a popular leadership book. I want to see research that supports important points. I want to see stories because that's how we humans remember things best. And I want to see a lucid and logical presentation that packages the book's insights in ways that front-line leaders can use them. Fired Up or Burned Out: How to Reignite Your Team's Passion, Creativity, and Productivity by Michael L. Stallard with Carolyn Dewing-Hommes and Jason Pankau does all three. The research is there, with excellent end notes to point you to more resources. The stories are there. They're well chosen, too, with examples from business, sports and history. There are stories about leaders we should hear about more often, such as General George C. Marshall. And there are often paired stories, one with a positive example and another with a negative example to illustrate a point. The book is superbly done. The writing is clear and flows well. It's also designed to make it easier for you to absorb the points and review them. Notes about "what you will learn" head up each major section. At the end of each chapter there are notes for "Review, Reflection, and Application." The other bit of good news is that what the authors have to say is important and helpful. They say that people who are connected (to others and to their own life story) tend to thrive and that workplaces where people are connected (to each other and the organization mission) thrive as well. "Connection" is not a scientific term. The book's definition is: "Connection defines something intangible in relationships. When it is present, we feel energy, empathy, and affirmation. When it is absent, we experience neutral or even negative feelings." That may not dazzle the dictionary writer or the reader looking for science, but it works for me. For over three decades I've done an exercise in my leadership programs where people develop a description of a great working environment. They say the same things these authors say. Don't worry too much about the definition of "connection." Think of it as a description that you'd use to describe a workplace. Check it against your own experience. Part I of the book makes the case for why connection is important at work. After beginning with why connection is good for individuals, the authors move to descriptions of workplaces where connection enhances both productivity and morale. Then they get to the practical challenge you face if you're responsible for a group and its performance. In Part II they tell us that you must inspire with identity, create meaning in your organization, delete what devalues, dial up the value, and increase knowledge flow. Part of the value of the book comes from how this is presented. Each main point is defined and illustrated. There are several sub-points under each main point. It's all summarized at the end of the chapter. If you're a working manager, this is great stuff because you can get right to the part you want and try out the idea you choose in your own situation. "The Fire Starts with You" is the title for Part III. If you've read Geeks and Geezers or True North, or John Maxwell, none of this will be new to you. That doesn't mean it doesn't benefit you to hear it again. Part III is about developing your character and personal leadership style. As they say on TV, "that concludes the main presentation." But wait, there's more. Part IV could be worth the price of the book itself. The title is "Learn from Twenty Great Leaders over Twenty Days." It's twenty short stories of leaders with notes on how to apply the lessons from their lives. This section is a little like those movies DVDs where the director lets us see some scenes that he or she liked but that didn't make the cut for the main movie. Short of a feedback loop, this is the best thing the authors could have added to the experience of reading the book. It's the perfect conclusion to an excellent and helpful leadership book, filled with well-presented insights, information and suggestions that can improve your leadership performance and the performance of your team. To see what other folks thought of this book, or to purchase it from Amazon, click here.
 This article first appeared in the Three Star Leadership Blog.
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