Start with the Answer: and Other Wisdom for Aspiring Leaders [Hardcover]

This book is the best ever management book I have read. Concise in a maximum of 3 pages, Bob explains relevant management issues and gives his conclusion and a quick summary for one to remember! Highly recommended.

We are all emerging, punch drunk and hung-over, from a wild era in which maverick, self dramatising CEO's seemed to win all the plaudits, egged on by leadership gurus who told us all to break the rules, set loose revolution and generally turn the world upside down. See where that has got us.

What a relief to hear the calm, wise voice of Bob Seelert in your ear, speaking in an easy conversational style throughout this book. Bob's colleagues at Saatchi & Saatchi describe his personal brand equity in one word - wisdom. This is a wise book in that his experience is told to us in a way that sparks reflection on our own. And it is wisely written in that Bob - like the fable writers of old - gives us a single insight at a time, which adds up to a corpus of systematic thinking that has propelled an extraordinarily successful sequence of career steps. Bob moved from a top management role in the world of the successful, highly structured multinational to lead troubled turnarounds and emerge at the helm of the world's most renowned creative business. All the while, he was home for dinner with his family almost every night.

Bob's book is a timely reminder of classic virtues. These are the virtues of simplicity and clarity in setting goals as a leader; consistency, self discipline, courtesy and sustained effort in his approach to work; care for the organisation as a community, commitment to his team and humility in his relations with others. As a self-confessed left brain thinker, Bob was able to embrace difference as a "suit" taking the lead of right brained creatives.

Bob's insights are especially valuable in today's overheated, crisis ridden world. In his style as much as in his words, he shows us how leaders need to be unflappable in a difficult time, how turning round an organisation is about rebuilding the confidence of individuals, and how time needs to be broken into manageable bite sized pieces of 100 days to avoid paralysis in the face of uncertainty. Above all, he tells us to make and stand by our judgement: hence the book's title - start with the answer.

Running as a powerful current through the book is a delight in adventure. Faced with a challenge of turning round a once great business that was on its knees in the mid-1990's, with advice to firmly decline the head-hunter's call, Bob saw the task as "a bit of a hoot". This is an inspiration for those feeling dwarfed by the size of contemporary challenges.