Dozens upon dozens of quotable insights in the first 2/3 of this book.

A short, insightful and enjoyable read for anyone in a leadership capacity.

Overall, this book has a lot of good information. It does include some small bits of religion within its leadership concepts which may turn some people off. My biggest issue is that the writer mentioned his company by name about 70 times in the book. The further I read, the more I felt like he wrote the book to publicize his company.

Although his writing style is somewhat scattered and not as systematic as I’d prefer, the truths and wisdom he offers are so profound and insightful. Mostly, he puts words to leadership principles I’ve wrestled with for years. I am grateful for his writing. Lastly, I highly recommend this book because the author seems to develop people. He wants to care for people, and it’s evident in his suggestions and guidance.

A very effective Herman Miller ad.

This wasn't bad. It reinforced my understanding of what a good leader is, but I just didn't think it taught me anything new.

I read this book about 20 years ago. It became the foundation of the leader I hoped to become and hope I am now. I reread it today because I’m in the midst of a job change and wanted to see where I could approach this new opportunity as a better leader. I was both humbled and blessed to realized I have indeed applied most of these principals to my leadership style. Sure, I have a ways to go and new things to learn and develop. But this book was a good foundation 20 years ago and an excellent one today as well. The art of leadership does not change, it’s the individuals that must in order for success to happen. This book had as huge an impact on my career back then as it does now.

Rated: B
I love Max De Pree's perspective on leadership as a servant to those who follow. He embraces diversity, maximizing human potential, empowerment (a voice, not a vote) and the purpose of values. Books starts out well but faded into more of a philosophical essay toward the end.

Good book, just not for me. It's a little wordy, but has really good principles.

Had some good ideas and things to remember...still really glad I'm not a supervisor anymore (but I seem to still be a bit of a leader)

Some really good nuggets on leadership, quite anecdotal which is fun. My father (who used to work for Max) shared that this was a collection of different talks he had on leadership that was put together for this book, so it lacks the cohesion of most business leadership books, but that's OK.

Phenomenal advice. Quick read.

I think Max has some great concepts, but they get lost in the confusing writing style. I think taken together, his ideas illustrate the values of a successful leader, but my fear is because of his incoherent writing style, people read this like a horoscope - they find the things that validate their own leadership style but skim over the rest of the very important characteristics of great leadership (partially because the concepts aren't clearly laid out).