Many of these top ten seem fairly obvious, but it's amazing to me how many people in leadership positions fail to recognize the importance of "peoplework over paperwork" and honing basic communication skills. Cautionary note: if you have a difficult boss, you'll want to slip this in his or her inbox under the cover of night :)

Tough to read about leadership failures, Finzel presents each mistake with personal illustrations and rationale for why the mistake is so prevalent. While reading my personal leadership mistakes were easily recognizable. Thankfully, leadership mistakes are correctable with effort and wisdom.

Best Chapters:

2. Putting Paperwork Before Peoplework

3. The Absence of Affirmation

6. Dirty Delegation

9. Success Without Successors

This is a very valuable book and I highly recommend it, particularly for its model of servant leadership.

This book is a bit dated (1994), but still full of practical advice and good warnings.