Book Review - Tough Choices by Carly Fiorina

In watching Bill Hybels interview with Carly Fiorina at the 2007 Leadership Summit, I learned that Pastor Hybels was so impressed with this book that he purchased it for all his staff and made it required reading. While I appreciate Bill Hybel's perspective and the interview at the Leadership Summit, I can't say I found the book to be so amazing that I would make it required reading. I've read lots of good books on leadership... and a few that were not so good... and this memoir is somewhere in the middle... a good book with some challenging perspectives on leadership.. but not a great book, or even a very good book.

A couple of the highlights for me were:
*In chapter 18 there's a great section on how "the HP way had been corrupted in some important aspects. Respect for the Individual had come to mean being courteous and noncombative even when candid, serious disagreement and debate was what the business really required." The bottom line - people did not confront issues!
*Chapter 24 " Big Ideas and Small Details" - a good reminder that while a leader needs to be big picture person, there are some small details that simply cannot be missed or it can be catastrophic for a leader/organization.