---
product_id: 49742404
title: "Leading the Unleadable: How to Manage Mavericks, Cynics, Divas, and Other Difficult People"
price: "€ 43.00"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 12
url: https://www.desertcart.fi/products/49742404-leading-the-unleadable-how-to-manage-mavericks-cynics-divas-other
store_origin: FI
region: Finland
---

# Leading the Unleadable: How to Manage Mavericks, Cynics, Divas, and Other Difficult People

**Price:** € 43.00
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- **What is this?** Leading the Unleadable: How to Manage Mavericks, Cynics, Divas, and Other Difficult People
- **How much does it cost?** € 43.00 with free shipping
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- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.fi](https://www.desertcart.fi/products/49742404-leading-the-unleadable-how-to-manage-mavericks-cynics-divas-other)

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## Description

Leading the Unleadable: How to Manage Mavericks, Cynics, Divas, and Other Difficult People [Willett, Alan] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Leading the Unleadable: How to Manage Mavericks, Cynics, Divas, and Other Difficult People

Review: Provide great return on investment to my employer - Leading the Unleadable is one of the most insightful and creative books on leadership, I have ever read. Alan’s theme – his three-fold personal mental model, if you will – is a must for every leader, no matter their station in their given organization. He asserts and rightfully so, to treat yourself as a business of one person who is choosing to provide services to your employer in exchange for the company’s choice to pay you. In running this business of “me”, he offers three significant mindset shifts. 1. Provide great return on investment to my employer. For me to be successful, my employer must be successful. Instead of simply “get stuff done” I must instead “have great positive impact on the business.” 2. Improve me. Any business must be focused on the now and on the future. My new mindset changed to think of every investment in time I made as having to be beneficial to my employer but also to myself. 3. Seek opportunities to dramatically improve your business. With the mindset shift, you will be thinking about the overall business and where you can provide the most impact. You will be pitching new ideas and initiatives that further the business of you, and the business that you own or are employed by. Having coached over 500 CEOs and senior executives, I can tell you this mindset is pure gold. The entire book is a gem. Every page is loaded with unusual but pertinent insights. Read it, and then read it again. You will not be sorry.
Review: Slow start, not as many or messy examples as hoped, but very good book - This is my first book on leadership, so I didn't know what to expect from it. Furthermore, what I was looking for were actually practical examples of how to deal with difficult people, and not as much about leadership. The book had that, but the focus seemed to be more on "leading" then on "the unleadable". I however don't feel like punishing the book with a lower score because of the slight mismatch between the title and the content. It was a good book, I din't want to get pedantic about it. Just be careful about your expectations. Bonus! I received an extra chapter from "Talking to crazy" at the end. That book really seems like it's about handling difficult people, so I might check that out. I don't have too much to say about this book, even though I took maybe hundreds of notes (on kindle). It's all just reasonable good advice...stuff you'd probably find in a lot of places. I found the BS level to be quite low, so the author seems to really talk from experience, and not after imagining how straw-people work and drawing on flipcharts. It's a short read, I recommend it for people who chose to/ended up leading others, people who have bosses and want to understand what pressures their bosses face, and people who are easily annoyed by others :p Also further recommendation on how to deal with difficult people or people who don't know how to express themselves: "How to argue: powerfully, persuasively, politely" (...or something like thst). That helps in ending arguments very fast and very constructively.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #232,438 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #314 in Business Management (Books) #446 in Human Resources & Personnel Management (Books) #476 in Leadership & Motivation |
| Customer Reviews | 4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars (477) |
| Dimensions  | 6 x 0.7 x 9.01 inches |
| Edition  | First Edition |
| ISBN-10  | 0814437605 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0814437605 |
| Item Weight  | 12 ounces |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 240 pages |
| Publication date  | November 29, 2016 |
| Publisher  | AMACOM |

## Images

![Leading the Unleadable: How to Manage Mavericks, Cynics, Divas, and Other Difficult People - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/710HDzt8WeL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Provide great return on investment to my employer
*by B***E on May 17, 2018*

Leading the Unleadable is one of the most insightful and creative books on leadership, I have ever read. Alan’s theme – his three-fold personal mental model, if you will – is a must for every leader, no matter their station in their given organization. He asserts and rightfully so, to treat yourself as a business of one person who is choosing to provide services to your employer in exchange for the company’s choice to pay you. In running this business of “me”, he offers three significant mindset shifts. 1. Provide great return on investment to my employer. For me to be successful, my employer must be successful. Instead of simply “get stuff done” I must instead “have great positive impact on the business.” 2. Improve me. Any business must be focused on the now and on the future. My new mindset changed to think of every investment in time I made as having to be beneficial to my employer but also to myself. 3. Seek opportunities to dramatically improve your business. With the mindset shift, you will be thinking about the overall business and where you can provide the most impact. You will be pitching new ideas and initiatives that further the business of you, and the business that you own or are employed by. Having coached over 500 CEOs and senior executives, I can tell you this mindset is pure gold. The entire book is a gem. Every page is loaded with unusual but pertinent insights. Read it, and then read it again. You will not be sorry.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Slow start, not as many or messy examples as hoped, but very good book
*by V***N on February 3, 2019*

This is my first book on leadership, so I didn't know what to expect from it. Furthermore, what I was looking for were actually practical examples of how to deal with difficult people, and not as much about leadership. The book had that, but the focus seemed to be more on "leading" then on "the unleadable". I however don't feel like punishing the book with a lower score because of the slight mismatch between the title and the content. It was a good book, I din't want to get pedantic about it. Just be careful about your expectations. Bonus! I received an extra chapter from "Talking to crazy" at the end. That book really seems like it's about handling difficult people, so I might check that out. I don't have too much to say about this book, even though I took maybe hundreds of notes (on kindle). It's all just reasonable good advice...stuff you'd probably find in a lot of places. I found the BS level to be quite low, so the author seems to really talk from experience, and not after imagining how straw-people work and drawing on flipcharts. It's a short read, I recommend it for people who chose to/ended up leading others, people who have bosses and want to understand what pressures their bosses face, and people who are easily annoyed by others :p Also further recommendation on how to deal with difficult people or people who don't know how to express themselves: "How to argue: powerfully, persuasively, politely" (...or something like thst). That helps in ending arguments very fast and very constructively.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Effective Leadership Strategies with a Healthy Dose of Sly Wit
*by G***R on May 6, 2020*

I first became familiar with this book when working with one of my friends who manages a small team. She gets frustrated with her staff often and I initially bought "Leading the Unleadable" as a joke based on the title. The explanation is, I'm more of an optimist and too often setup myself for failure when working with others and their current competencies, and she is a classic pessimist. I ended up buying a copy for myself and we both read the book together. We both learned a lot, and while I can't say we're not still dealing with the same issues, I can say our perspectives have continued to evolve and we have found new strategies around leadership and even self-management. The most helpful aspects of the book for me were the interesting anecdotes and tie-ins to project management. The title might indicate a harsh perspective, but Alan really turns it around and reveals the importance of one's own perspective and effectiveness.

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*Product available on Desertcart Finland*
*Store origin: FI*
*Last updated: 2026-02-20*