Originally published in the February 2004 Issue of Link & Learn. 

Bada-Bing… You're a leader.

Better yet, make that "The Boss!"

Yeah, right. If it were that easy, I wouldn't continually be looking for creative approaches to defining leadership development and studying today's greatest leaders including Larry Bossidy, Rudy Guiliani, Jack Welch, and many others that I have encountered.

With Leadership Soprano's Style: How to Become a More Effective Boss, Deborrah Himsel, Avon's Vice President or Organizational Effectiveness, provides a look into leadership -- Tony Soprano style -- by painting a realistic picture of the man, his business, his management style, his techniques, and how his "team" responds to him.

Don't get me wrong, I am not ranking Tony Soprano's leadership abilities with some of the greatest leaders of my time. However, despite my initial reservations when I read the title of this so-called business book (accompanied by the rolling of my eyes), Himsel does offer up some insightful, and highly entertaining perspectives on leadership in this book.

Why the Sopranos?

What a perfect specimen of a dysfunctional, functioning organization -- surviving in spite of itself and its leaders, employing tactics and processes (hopefully the ones that will keep us out of jail) that would prove successful in any corporation. Himsel draws a portrait of "the business," which is almost envious to those of us that do real work. She delivers a clear explanation throughout the book of why the business is successful - in a manner very similar to how other leading authors, case studies, and analyses have done with real organizations.

Why Tony Soprano?

Simply put, because he is "the boss." In all actuality, he being the boss is a realistic understatement. Himsel provides an entertaining approach to analyzing the dynamic makeup of a charismatic leader. She makes you want to adopt some of Soprano's techniques (the legal ones, at least) and makes you want to work for him. Just as Dr. Melfi provides a humanizing element to Tony's business, as well as his shortcomings, Himsel plays the perfect "analyst" to Tony's leadership style.

The author comments that Tony Soprano is a tragically flawed human being, albeit fictional, and is very easy to relate to. He has the same issues that every leader or manager faces on a day to day basis: competition, coaching and mentoring, feedback, motivation, conflict management, succession planning,… the list goes on. Himsel takes these topics, interlocks them with the character, and presents solid, practical, and -- most importantly -- useable and understandable leadership lessons and techniques.

Beyond edutainment.

Leadership Soprano's Style provides terrific analysis and suggestions. The author draws on her own expertise to provide real-world ideas that can be easily implemented. Each chapter includes several Tony-isms, which the author uses to create a learning path for the reader to identify with both Tony and the suggestions that Himsel is making. The author's true knowledge and expertise become increasingly evident as you read through the book and search for practical steps that you can take to better yourself as a leader (without getting investigated by the FBI).

My recommendation on this book: Read it, enjoy it and please… don't "foregettaboutit!"

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The opinions expressed in this review are those of the reviewer and not necessarily those of Linkage, Inc.