Book Review: The Four Dimensions of Extraordinary Leadership by Jenni Catron

This book ties great leadership in with Christian belief. This is not surprising because the author is a church leader and so she feels that leadership theory can be found be interpreting in the commandment to love the lord with all heart and soul and mind and strength. It is these four legs listed in the commandment that she feels are needed for someone to become a great leader. And by extension, everyone that is a Christian and believes in the commandment can become a great leader.
She argues that leadership in relationship can be found through following your heart, while the soul should be followed for spiritual leadership and the mind for managerial leadership (or what I call rational leadership). Lastly, strength she argues is needed for visionary leadership.

While I believe that strength to be a leader and fight at times against the odds can be found through religion, I am not totally convinced by her arguments put forward in this book. To me, the theory shown in the book is too hard trying to make a case for these four different components of leadership and while I believe that a leader has to have strength, vision, a sound mind and can exceed at building relationships, the connection between leadership and this one commandment seems far-fetched.

I like the message of the book that everyone can be a leader, which I believe for the most part to be true. But this author is trying too hard in my opinion to make a case that the philosophy of leadership is found in the bible. Overall, the book is an interesting read for this wanting to learn more about leadership philosophies. but you have to keep an open mind when approaching this book. To me, it was too much interested in making a case for how important believing in the bible is rather than making a case for what makes a great leader. 

available for pre-order at amazon.com

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. The opinion expressed in this blog is solely my own and has not been influenced by any third party.