Originally published in the May 2004 Issue of Link & Learn. 

For all the books on leadership and management relatively few appear to be written by people in the field, the everyday worker or manager.

With some notable exceptions (Ricardo Semmler's first hand account of the dramatic change achieved at the South American business inherited from his father, the story of remarkable growth achieved at giant multi-national General Electric as told by former CEO Jack Welch and former Mayor Rudi Guilliano's account of transformational change at the City of New York) most, it seems, are written by consultants or academics - many with useful things to say for those of us hungry for the latest management or leadership 'insight' yet almost all written from a 'third party' perspective.

This short and straightforward book is different.

Based on a first-hand experience of the UK's National Health Service (remarkably, the world's third largest employer!) and twenty years in the making, this is a book based on the day to day parry and thrust, the highs and lows, successes and failures, of life in the organizational mainstream, the day to day impacts and effects of strategies, budgets and politics, of service delivery programs, relationships and communication directly affecting the lives and well-being of sixty million 'customers' - the entire UK population.

More than anything else, this is a highly practical book.

Combining helpful information on issues of importance to leaders and managers everywhere (from the power of anecdote, analogy and story-telling in influencing people and events to the qualities and characteristics of effective leaders and managers and the way to get, and keep, legitimate 'power') with hard-hitting observations on the myths and limitations endemic to public health service delivery everywhere, the book should be compulsory reading for everybody in the NHS (all one million of them!) and indeed for all of those working in major health systems around the world.

And it should be recommended reading for anyone interested in understanding and improving their own approach to leadership, management and communication - which, as Gay points out, together with honesty, trust and transparency, underpin all meaningful change.

Parents, teachers and sports coaches will find this book as useful a tool as managers, supervisors and executives.

That Gay has managed to live up to the first part of his book's title is a remarkable achievement given the potential for complexity in such a vast subject. Simplicity is indeed the key to the success of this very welcome and timely publication.

But Gay fails in his second claim.

While he says this is a book you can put down, the truth is that, on a first reading, you can't.

Gay's remarkably warm; clear and conversational style coupled with his frank presentation of facts and ideas is encouraging and engaging without attempting to be simplistic or 'motivational'. While it will inspire many readers to more effective performance it will also serve as a powerful reinforcement for the millions of people in workplaces around the world who 'do the right (leadership and management) things' intuitively - as Gay himself has done over a journey of learning and discovery spanning more than thirty years, a journey he has now shared with us to very positive effect.

But Gay is right when he says this is a book you can go back to time and time again. Having read it through several times for this review I find myself dipping into it regularly whenever I find myself slipping into old habits (using three or more words when one will do, for example). So, in that sense, it is very much a book you can put down - but not for long!

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Brian Galbraith, Executive Chairman of Optimise International, a Perth, Australia and Washington DC-based international consultancy specializing in simultaneous, whole-system performance improvement for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Trevor Gay, Head of Communications, Torbay Primary Care Trust. (T) 01803 210913 / trevor.gay@torbay-pct.nhs.uk.

The opinions expressed in this review are those of the reviewer and not necessarily those of Linkage, Inc.