The author focuses on the foundations of leadership — trust and care. All other aspects of successful leadership rely on the application of these fundamentals.
If you are to succeed as a leader your people need to trust you; this trust frees them to accept the care that you as their leader want and need to provide.
The author has woven through the book many stories of the sometimes-difficult lessons he had to learn about leading, plus examples of the joyous and deeply rewarding experiences he has had through being trusted by his people and caring for them.
The book covers in depth how to build trust, and rebuild it if lost. It details behaviours and attitudes that can destroy trust. It lists many ways to show care for your people, and the benefits a leader will derive from showing care.
There is discussion of the particular challenges that technically-trained people face in becoming leaders, and how to overcome these challenges.
Practical exercises at the end of each chapter reinforce the learnings from the chapter and allow the reader to reflect on their own achievements and developmental needs in that particular aspect
of leadership.
The first is that if you are to be an effective leader, your people need to trust you.