Award-winning author Paul Taffinder provides step-by-step guide
for assessing one’s leadership capabilities and measuring progress

NEW YORK, April 28, 2006 – The world is full of managers and desperately short of leaders – real leaders – according to a newly revised book by award-winning author Paul Taffinder. In The Leadership Crash Course (Kogan Page, May 31, 2006), Taffinder seeks to address the shortage by helping executives develop the skills necessary to drive large-scale change within their organizations.

The highly successful first edition of The Leadership Crash Course (Kogan Page, 2000) was published in seven languages. This new edition is significantly revised and expanded, with more case studies, updated examples and a brand new chapter on the seven most common types of leaders. For each type, Taffinder describes the corresponding strengths and weaknesses and offers tips on how to improve effectiveness. The seven types with examples are: The Transformational Leader (e.g., John Browne), The Enforcer (Steve Ballmer), The Deal-Maker (Carly Fiorina), The Administrator (Fred Goodwin), The Visionary (Bill Gates), The Serial Entrepreneur (Richard Branson) and The Spin Doctor (Bernie Ebbers).

The need for leadership in recent years has become increasingly urgent and important – whether in business, politics, economics or sport. Leaders in all of these areas are under intense scrutiny as never before. The Leadership Crash Course offers pragmatic advice – grounded in research and real-world examples – on how to exert greater influence. In particular, it deals with the key question for business leaders at every level – "how to create greater value for the enterprise."

Dr. Taffinder, a psychologist and partner at management consulting firm Marakon Associates, has advised dozens of Global 500 companies on leadership and organizational change. He has also written extensively on the topics, beginning with his first book The New Leaders and then Big Change, which won the prestigious Business Management Book of the Year Award in 1999 for what the judges called "his inspirational approach to corporate transformation."

Book details:
Price: $27.50
Paperback
Length: 192 pages
Published by Kogan Page
ISBN: 0-7494-4638-2
Website: www.leadershipcrashcourse.com

For further information, to request a review copy or to interview the author, please contact Aviva Tropp at Marakon Associates, +1 212 377 5084.

, or Nick Denton in London at +44 (0) 20 7645 3954, ndenton@hogarthpr.co.uk.

About Marakon Associates:
Marakon Associates is an international management consulting firm that works with senior executives of large companies on the issues that most drive corporate performance and long-term value. The Economist has called it "a consultancy that has advised some of the world’s most consistently successful companies." Marakon has offices in New York, London, Singapore, Chicago and San Francisco.