A Great Read!

Writing has a shadow: reading.

If you are into writing, reading follows you wherever you go. The other way around may not be true, but definitely, writers—shoot me if there are exceptions—are stuck on reading.

There’s something about reading someone else’s thoughts, opinions, experiences; getting lost in a time other than your own; unraveling webs of mystery and matrices of human confusion; deciphering codes and enjoying metaphors; discovering new schools of thought; I could go on.

Before the year ended I read a book on management (and you thought I logged off from that one —well, so did I) which was so interesting I knew I had to internalize it and, whenever possible, soak in its essence.

The book is: The Way of the Shepherd by Dr. Kevin Leman and William Pentak. It is timeless as well as timely. It speaks of management principles as old as sheep and as new as buyouts.

Of the many management books I have either taken seriously or simply nosed through, this one stands alone.

A rapid—too rapid—read, The Way of the Shepherd’s imagery is vivid and its imprint, lasting. It’s a book on people management principles as old as the hills, yet works as the latest software.

Lamb chops ordered for a quick business lunch are about the only images of the sheep in today’s corporate world. These days, to have an imagined business savvy, one has to have an MBA diploma, quote the latest management books, and fly to business meetings in the big cities of the world.

The Way of the Shepherd takes us back in an old, rickety beat-up pickup, to the sheep yard, where the stench and bleat of this ancient animal, which has existed since over 4000 B.C., is analyzed, experienced—and, yes, rediscovered.

It is a rediscovery one can feel, smell, and enshrine in one’s heart, long after the pages of this small book has been closed and lent to others.

Theodore McBride, the CEO of General Technologies reveals—and unselfishly hands down to the author, and us, on the eve of his retirement—the seven greatest management principles which, he avows, are the reasons his company is “the number one place to work for in America.” The spirit of teamwork in General Technologies appears to be patented. The company has the highest retention rate among businesses of the same magnitude.

The seven greatest management principles are not originally McBride’s. They were likewise handed down to him by his mentor, one of his professors in MBA, Dr. Jack Neumann—a shepherd at heart. McBride did not receive these principles through lecture in an air-conditioned classroom, but in situ and in the company of live, stinking sheep.

At the end of his lessons, McBride says these principles—more than any other management program he ever learned—unlocked for him the secrets of becoming a great leader, outstanding by any standard.

These principles, at first blush, seem like old proverbs or a wise-old-man’s homespun tales: Know the condition of your flock; Discover the shape of your sheep; Help your sheep identify with you; Make your pasture a safe place; The staff of direction; The rod of correction; and, The heart of the shepherd.

They’re not. Unearthed from that long-ago workplace, dependent on unpredictable nature and fickle weather, these principles are amazingly modern, and, in today’s lingo, doable. Like a bug-free scalable software, there are (albeit in simple analogy) in the menu familiar management tools—grids, timetables, leadership strategies, reward and punishment, feedback system, and research protocols.

And the best news is, these sheepherding principles can work for anyone — a CEO of a mega company, a small-venture entrepreneur, a manufacturing manager, or even a Sunday school teacher.

The fast-paced prose and interesting storytelling allows one to self-evaluate and reflect on his own management style. The shepherd’s way leads people in a way that they want to follow. It instills in them loyalty and commitment.

How could something as ancient as the way of the shepherd still work in this modern era of blogs and self-indulgence? McBride explains that the basic needs of human nature remain essentially the same.

As to why a number of managers don’t shepherd their people, the book explains that great leadership comes at a great price—and few people are willing to pay for it. That great price is modeling. To demand excellence, one must be excellent himself.

Great leadership and people skills cannot be taught. They have to be modeled as did McBride’s mentor in a sheep yard.

It worked then and it can work now.