“Leadership is not about the position you hold; it’s about the actions you take. It’s about having an ownership mind set. Leadership is about what you do, rather than who you are.”

What is leadership? Many of us have some idea of what we mean by it, but we often have little idea at all of what others think. Should leaders be in front, clearing the way? Should they be behind, organizing? Should they drive themselves hard and act as a role model, or focus on bringing out the best in others? All of these can be useful in some situations, but as Kaplan points out, when we are discussing leadership, having different conceptions in mind can lead to confusion. The key factor for him, though, is that all leaders must act with an ownership mind-set, no matter their status or position in an organization.

Kaplan has just been appointed to head the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, and has spent time as Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs, a professor of management practice at Harvard, and a philanthropist. There’s no question in my mind that he’s a capable, driven guy, and based on his stories of interaction with students in his book, I suspect he’s a compelling leader. His students return years afterwards to seek his advice, and clearly trust and value it.

Unfortunately, I found the book somewhat disappointing. He makes a number of interesting points that I would have liked to heard more about, such as the different conceptions of leadership or the isolation of millennials who, because they rely on technological communication, find it difficult to initiate deep or meaningful conversations, leading to a lot of weak ties but not many deep ones. His main thesis, though, I found a bit lacking. I wholeheartedly agree on the importance of an ownership mind-set, but for me that insight wasn’t enough to fill a book: I wanted to hear more, or have him develop the idea more deeply. I haven’t read his earlier books, but I wonder if they might feel a bit more fresh and rich with new ideas.

You can see more reviews, and order it on amazon, here: What You Really Need to Lead. Disclosure: I read this book as an advance reader copy.