First-Time Leader

The First-Time Leader book by George Bradt and Gillian Davis begins with a discussion of taking charge of your new team and then tracks through BRAVE leadership components from the outside in.

BRAVE is a leadership framework that helps first-time leaders successfully build their team by uniting them around a shared purpose.

The term reflects an acronym that stands for behaviors, relationships, attitudes, values and environment.

Carefully considering and analyzing each component will help first-time leaders discover this shared purpose and incorporate it into the company’s larger strategy and their team’s implementation of same.

Specifically, the book defines the five components as:

Behaviors – The actions that make real lasting impact on others.
Relationships – The heart of leadership. If you can’t connect, you can’t lead.
Attitudes – Encompassing strategic, posture, and culture choices around how to win.
Values – The bedrock of a high performing team. Get clear on what really matters.
Environment – Setting the context for everything else by understanding where you are playing.

The book teaches readers the "how-to's" related to the five components:

Environment: setting the context for everything else by understanding where you are playing.
Values: the bedrock of a high performing team. Get clear on what really matters and why.
Attitude: encompassing strategic, posture, and culture choices around how to win
Relationships: the heart of leadership. If you can’t connect, you can’t lead.
Behaviors: the actions that make real lasting impact on others.

First-Time Leader is, as the title aptly describes, for first time leaders, explains Bradt.

"It is relevant for anyone delegating responsibilities within a team and for those taking on direct reports for the first time. With that said, there are many non-traditional leadership situations where this book would also be helpful, such as when experienced professionals start a new division and must build a team to support it. The book is also relevant for start-up owners that are expanding."

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