I was inspired by this book to focus on the future more in general, and in particular to deliberately imagine the future as a spectrum of possible scenarios, which I could watch emerge and either became more likely or fall away as possibilities.

The book was very dense reading, really an MBA text, and had some good case studies and methodology description.

Lot's of comment about the author's reputation and consulting gigs.

I was surprised to learn that the French had made so many very, highly, significant, and important contributions to strategic thinking.

I found this audio tape to be life changing, and I'm about to buy 7 more copies of it to distribute to people that I believe can benefit from it.

There appears to be a divide in the reviews of this material (referring to both book and audio tape).

Many of the reviews with higher ratings note that the material is really about principles and characteristics of leadership, which can be considered "laws" in the sense that the degree of leadership in a person depends on the degree to which these principles and characteristics are followed or manifest.

Many of the reviews with lower ratings in essence comment that the audio book does not describe how to develop these principles and characteristics.

To me, Maxwell's contribution is that he has created signposts that point to leadership, and at the same time, he reinvigorates the idea that leadership is important. In other words, Maxwell has said "This way is up, forward, progress, development, effectiveness, virtue, goodness."

It's easy to be suspicious and cynical about leadership...most of us have had some exposure to poor leadership, from parents, teachers, employers, or politicians, and history is full of corrupt rulers and murderous tyrants. But really, where would humanity be without leadership? It's kind of like capitalism and democracy...hardly perfect, but a heck of a lot better than anything else in the real world. And obviously, we need more and better of it.

So it's a gift to get a clear message about "Which way is up?" As to the question of "How to get there", it's the universal answer...take a look at yourself, and ask yourself, "Does my behavior manifest these principles and characteristics?" If you're able to ask that question, and honestly answer it, then it's not that hard to figure out what to do about it. The tough part, as usual, is the self-examination to begin with.

In addition, Maxwell offers a learning guide (in the "also bought" list) that looks like it guides the self-examination (my impression just from the excerpts.)

Good luck, and good leading!