I just finished reading The Five Temptations of a CEO by Patrick Lencioni.  If you’re a Facebook friend of mine, you might be confused, because my reading-list widget on Facebook tells you that I’m reading The Black Swan.

I actually didn’t know about Patrick’s book, until it was handed to me by my co-founder, David, who bought it as a present for a CEO we know pretty well. And I was totally prepared not to like it. After all, it’s only 132 pages and priced at $22.95. It seemed like a bit of pricing arrogance to me. But, hey, David bought the book. It was no skin off my back, if he wanted me to read it.  And sure, he could have bought it used for a couple of bucks, but whatever.

I had a four-hour flight today, which gave me time to read the book, and I’m now reminded of the man who complained about the 200-page brief and the enormous bill he got from his lawyer.

“Couldn’t you have written something shorter?”

“Sure,” the lawyer responded, “but I knew you wanted it quickly and wanted to keep the cost down.”


Go read the book. If you are open to self examination, it’s a painful read. To everyone who ever worked for me, you will no-doubt be able to tell me what my temptations are and which ones I need to confront and avoid. We can compare notes. I’ll tell you my temptations, if you tell me yours. Together, we can all become better leaders. And the book? It’s worth its weight in gold.