This book was on my radar for a while and I finally got around to it. What surprised me while reading the book was Clay’s humor when it came to growing up in the 90’s. Lots of references to similar things I went through such as the souped up cars era, hip hop music from Tupac to Biggie to Nelly, and just a relatable upbringing. He also is a pastor which I didn’t realize until he shared in the book how he talks about the Church. He breaks down the book into three parts which is understanding the challenge out there, the four behaviors of leading without a title, and managing up. As far as the behaviors, he really discusses how to go about your day to day as a leader without the title but really preparing for the opportunity when it arises. I would recommend this book for people that want to get into leadership. It’s a great way to start thinking about what you need to do in order to be ready for the opportunity but also for any leader that needs a refresher on the actual day to day behaviors. It’s also a great book if you are in a situation where you are not happy with your current leader and helps how to manage that.

Here are some of my nuggets:

• Everyone is accountable to somebody
• Leaders don’t sit back and point fingers
• Influence is the currency of leadership
• Authority and leadership are not a package
• Create your own pocket of goodness and make it from good to great
• Influence outpaces authority
• Fearless leadership is being ruthlessly committed to doing what is best to help others
• Our thoughts and feelings are actual liars
• We spend half of our awake time at work
• When ambition inside of us is distorted, it affects every facet of leadership for us
• We all have ambition inside of us, it’s what you do with that ambition when you are leading without a title that matters
• You’ll never find a place where you can lead without constraints
• Working for a bad leader is a great way to learn on what not to do
• Model followership
• If it’s time to leave, make sure you are leaving for the right reasons
• Learn what you need to learn
• We learn more during struggles
• Character is developed in hard times
• Positivity everyday leads to energy, trust, hope
• Critical thinking is a skill you can grow
• Great leaders don’t get defensive
• Study your boss