Photo by Lexi Coon.
Highland Lakes resident Jody Bicking, left, and Hoover resident Kevin McKenzie, right, published their first book, “The Leadership Drought.”
Jody Bicking and coworker Kevin McKenzie have noticed a gap in leadership books.
“Most leadership books out there, they’re written for the CEO, the person who has total control over the organization,” said Bicking, a Highland Lakes resident. “And the fact of it is, most leaders don’t have near that level of control.”
So Bicking and McKenzie, a coworker of more than 12 years, decided to use their experiences as leadership executives and cofounders of Achev, a leadership development firm, to publish “The Leadership Drought: When the Thirsty are Led by the Delirious.”
Bicking said their inspiration came from a quote from former Sen. Harry Reid, stating “We won, didn’t we?” as a way to say the ends justify the means.
“There are many cases where that is valid, but then that becomes the sole, the common method of thinking. … That becomes very dangerous in my mind,” Bicking said. “Because the ends shouldn’t always justify the means.”
After working at consulting companies for years, both Bicking and McKenzie realized — regardless of the organization — any problems they may have could be narrowed down to a selection of a few methods for improvement. So to weed through the “hundreds and hundreds of books on leadership” that have already been authored and to help improve leadership capabilities, Bicking and McKenzie put together a list of six principles or mindsets that can improve leadership.
“It didn’t really matter what environment that you’re in, these six principles … apply no matter what,” McKenzie said.
Some of the topics include holding a shared vision amongst team members, being self aware as a leader and avoiding placing blame on someone or something. Both spoke highly of “It’s never about blame. It’s about, ‘Fix the problem,’” as an ideology for dealing with mistakes. Communication is also an important detail.
“The leader has to communicate effectively, listen effectively and ask the right questions,” McKenzie said. “Those are all the things that incumbent leadership … have woven into all of the principals.”
Bicking and McKenzie said they know that most people will not be able to follow all of the mindsets they discuss in the same manner, but instead recognize that everyone will have their own way to follow the principles. They also understand that not everyone will be able to master each principle, but it’s still important “to be capable in all of those categories,” McKenzie said.
“You can never violate a principle. If you violate a principle, it’s going to cause a problem,” Bicking said. “But techniques can be done in multiple ways.”
To encourage readers to reflect on and analyze any decisions or methods they have tried to implement, each chapter ends with a selection of questions and exercises.
It’s all put together to be easily readable for anyone who wants to improve their abilities as a leader, with a “how to” guide in the preface, and it isn’t meant to be something that takes days or even weeks to get through. At 134 pages long, Bicking and McKenzie consider it an “airport book.”
“Our purpose wasn’t to write a great big thick book,” Bicking said. They wanted it to be something that readers could easily absorb and reference in the future and something that a leader of every level could use.
“We wanted it to be really as practical as possible,” McKenzie said.
Bicking and McKenzie are currently working on a second book looking at “becoming rather than being.” Those interested in purchasing “The Leadership Drought” can find it online attheleadershipdrought.com, on Amazon or at Barnes and Noble.
