Book Review: The Pursuit of Excellence - The Uncommon Behaviors of the World's Most Productive Achievers by Ryan Hawk

My job requires a bit of travel, so the windshield time provides ample opportunity to learn. A couple of years ago, I ran across Ryan Hawk's The Learning Leader Show. It quickly became one of my favorite podcasts. Ryan's book Welcome to Management (link below) was a great read and I buy it often for new leaders in our organization. This second book holds equal value for those who are striving for excellence in their leadership pursuits.

Premise

Ryan has been interviewing some of the top minds in the leadership space for over eight years now.  This book is a distillation of some of the ways the best leaders perform at the top of their game year after year. Topics include: the mindset it takes to sustain excellence, how to build focus and discipline, and how to power through the difficulties when life tries to knock you down.

Key Takeaways   

There is so much good stuff in this book. Among my take aways on what makes an excellent leader are the following:

• My favorite take away from the book. You will never achieve excellence if you don't show up every day and do the work. Make the mistakes, get better today, and come back tomorrow with the same tenacity and get better tomorrow. You have to keep showing up. "The only way to improve is to do the work, knowing you will be terrible at it and doing it again anyway. And then continue to do it again. And again. And again." (pg. 48) - In my own words, stop whining about what you can and can't do and just get after it. Learn as you go and dream big!
• Leave your mind open to the possibility that you could be wrong. Be willing to learn from anyone who might cross your path. Ryan says, "The ability to think and rethink what you know to be true is a superpower. The ability to change your mind will make you a better decision maker." (pg. 22) - The older I get, the more I see the wisdom in this. My mind is much more open today to new thoughts and ideas than it was 20 years ago. The most humbling part of becoming a leader is realizing you don't know what you thought you knew in many situations.
• Be the type of person that is "known for complimenting other people behind their backs." (pg. 25) - I am trying to be very purposeful about doing this in my day to day conversations.
• Ok, maybe this is my other favorite take away from the book! Sitting down and putting in the hard work of writing can be painful but logically ordering our thoughts is what ultimately leads to clarity. (pg. 58) I feel this deeply. No telling how many times I have sat down to write something I thought I understood only to find out I wasn't as clear in my understanding as I once thought.

So much good stuff in this one! I hope you pick up a copy of this book.

Author

Ryan Hawk is an author, speaker, coach, and host of The Learning Leader Show. You can find Ryan's work at www.learningleader.com. He is fascinated by leaders that sustain excellence of an extended period of time. Ryan interviews some of the top leaders in the country, runs leadership circles, does keynotes, and teaches at the Learning Leader Academy that he created.  His other books include Welcome to Management and The Score That Matters.

The Pursuit of Excellence

Rating

★★★★★

I give this book five stars. I love Ryan's work and his leadership podcast is one of my go-to podcasts every week. If you want to know how to sustain excellence over an extended period of time, this book is for you.

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