Killing Cockroaches: A Review -- Scattered musings on a book on leadership

Tony Morgan has written a new book or a compilation of thoughts really that fall into the category of "scattered musings on leadership." Many are thoughts that first appeared on his blog TonyMorganLive.com

Tony is not just an author that writes about leadership, Tony is a practitioner with a proven track record, first at Sears (read the book), then as a City Manager (see video below), as well as Granger CC and currently at NewSpring Church.

I am fortunate to have fast, cat like reflexes when it comes to Twitter and got an advanced copy to read and review.

And so now I give you my "scattered musings on Killing Cockroaches."

After reading Killing Cockroaches I realized Tony Morgan is the William Shakespeare of Leadership gurus. "Shakespeare?," you say. They are both guys you're gonna pull off the shelf from time to time. Shakespeare for when you want a timeless classic and Tony when you want timeless wisdom on leadership. Killing Cockroaches will be a book that you will go back to again and again as a sort of reference guide. Have a question about effective communication, pull the book. Have a question about church marketing, pull the book. Have a question about team building or staffing issues, pull the book. Now let me tell you some of the reasons I enjoyed and highly recommend "Killing Cockroaches: and other scattered musings on leadership"

Anecdotal – Tony uses real life stories that paint a picture of effective leadership and help illustrate the principles he talks about. Real world experience meets real leadership wisdom.

Helpful – Killing Cockroaches is immediately helpful as you begin to find that you gravitate back to certain chapters that you know you need to implement immediately.

Humorous – Ok, I love leadership and I love leadership guru’s in all shapes and sizes but when is the last time Peter Drucker or John C. Maxwell made milk come out of your nose from laughing at something they said in one of their books. "Doves scare me." Me too Tony, me too!

Inspirational – everything in the book is about how to lead a more effective ministry to bring about life change that only comes through a relationship with Jesus. It doesn’t matter if it's a rant about Country music, a deeper look in to the practices of Google, or a study of ‘Red Letter Words” it is all with the sole purpose of pointing people to Jesus.

Multiple Personalities – Uncle Dean is dating Elizabeth Shue (Don’t know what I am talking about? Read the book.)

Multiple Voices – Tony includes interviews with leaders ranging from Steven Furtick to Guy Kawasaki.

Practical – you can apply the principles in the book immediately.

Thought Provoking – Tony uses lots of questions like “is your church service compelling?”, “what are you doing to avoid complexity creep?” (don’t know what that is? I suggest you read the book) and "how can we help them hear the message?"

So go buy the book if you have any interest at all in becoming a better leader or in developing a singular and laser sharp focus "to point people to Jesus."

And if my stellar and informative prose have not convinced you to check out the book then watch this awesomely funny video intro and you will be sold: