Spirited Leadership: 52 Ways to Build Trust

This little book provides a year’s worth of weekly pep talks and writing exercises that can build you into a better leader. Castro suggests using each chapter as a weekly team-building exercise, since the idea is to develop trusting relationships—the kind of environment where innovation occurs because everyone involved feels safe enough to try something new. Every chapter focuses on one positive value or idea, such as “Serve,” “Instill Self-Worth,” or “Embrace and Lead Change.” There is a motivating quote and a short (one page) description of the idea. Then “Coaching Moments” contains three questions to consider, followed by a summary statement written in big, bold letters.

Like so much of what is available these days, there’s not really very much in here that’s new. It is, however, consistently upbeat and values-driven, so I would venture to say that following this program as laid out will have a positive impact. Though the book is presumably designed to be used as a workbook, the space provided is rarely sufficient to respond to the questions, so be ready with other paper. Also, this is a book to be read slowly—weekly chapters will be more effective than a straight read-through.