Mark Edward Brown's Blog

  Book Review of “Leadership Texas Hold’em Style” by author’s Raymond E. Foster and Andrew J. HarveyLeadership Texas Hold’em Style is one of the most creative and captivating books about leadership and all of the pertinent aspects that relate to leading in business, law enforcement and the military.

There are four parts to Leadership Texas Hold’em Style , they are:

Part 1 – Spades, which covers: The Goal of Leadership, Vision, Clear Direction, The Use of Power, Pick Your Battles, Accomplishing more by doing less, Determination and adversity, Life long learning, Dependability, Decision making, When you dont know, Leadership approaches, and Humility.

Part 2 – Hearts, which covers: Actions vs. words, Communication, Change, Dissent vs. dissention, Integrity, Attitude, Fairness, Praise & criticism, Empathy, Fun on the job, Moral courage, Morale, and The little things.

Part 3 – Diamonds, which covers: Teamwork, People are watching, When the cat is away, Surround yourself with excellence, Consensus, Reconizing weakness, Promotions, Motivating others, Empowerment & Deleagation, Developing people, Supporting people, Building Loyalty, and Treating people differently.

Part 4 – Clubs, which covers: Accountability, Saying No, The importance of failure, Competing concerns, Innovation, Consistency, Proper equipment, Micromanagement, Active management, Anger, Stress, Firing, and Putting it all together.

I recieved a signed copy of this book last spring from Raymond Foster, he is a man that I have some things in common with, as a matter of fact as I read this 306 page book it was easy to understand where these two authors were coming from and apply the new things I learned almost immediately.

Do to my life and career experiences with leadership, law enforcement and the military I could easily relate with virtually every subject presented in this book.

My favorite aspect of this book is that it is laid out or structured like a deck of cards, where each suit has related information to every aspect of leadership and the game of Texas Hold’em Poker.

There are quotes that relate to leadership and poker throughout the book and one of my favorite quotes is as follows:

“If you know poker, you know people; and if you know people, you got the whole dang world lined up in your sights.” – Brett Maverick

There is a companion website that compiments the book and adds several multi-media aspects that you just can not experience from reading words printed on a page. One of my favorite parts of the website is found at: http://www.pokerleadership.com/leadership_video_presentations.html

I liked this book, it was easy to read, it was thought provoking and there is nothing about it that I would change, in fact this read was structured magnificently and I recomend it to all students of leadership.

This is a Five Star read. – Two Thumbs Up. – My Highest Recommendation

Mark Edward Brown