4 out of 4 stars
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Dr. Salar A. Khan in his book, Unlocking The Natural-Born Leader's Abilities: An Autobiographical Expose, shares what he has learned and experienced about leadership till the age of 62 years when he wrote this autobiography. Throughout his lifetime, Khan had played many roles, including the roles of being a tutor, doctor, chief of medicine, acting director of medical services, and acting administrative officer. It was by these roles that he became interested in leadership and ended up writing this book not based on research, but based on his autobiographical lens. He challenges several assumptions revolving around leadership, such as that "leaders are not born but are made." He asserts that everyone is born with enveloped qualities and abilities that make them natural-born leaders. In averting to start a disputation of nurture vs nature, he elaborates that inasmuch as everyone has the natural ability to lead, that ability needs to be harnessed and developed.
With this book, he focuses on fostering and unlocking the mindset of a natural leader to readers. Khan takes time to look back to his own life experiences for the readers to benefit from. He shares several occasions on how he helped other people and how that impacted on his life. He is very motivational in his books and tells the readers to be strong and not fear failure, but rather have self-confidence and strive for success. He does not say that natural-born leaders cannot fail, but that when they fail, they should fail fast so that that they can get back up again and carry on their journey. He even shares a handful of instances where he was challenged, and how he managed to be successful in the end. He sure is a great mentor and guide.
I liked that the author used his own life experiences in demonstrating how one is a natural leader. He reflected on his own life and upbringing and observed how his parent's parenting of him contributed to him being a successful leader in the aspects of life he found himself in; be it as a son, father, husband, or a doctor. This made the notion of one being naturally born with leadership qualities more believable and relatable. I liked the most that the author provided a self-assessment tool for readers to evaluate their potential leadership and become victorious leaders in the roles they found themselves.
There is nothing I disliked about reading the book. The structure of the book was perfectly set - each chapter focused on a category of leadership qualities and how the reader could harness them. The table of content made it easy for one to navigate through to the qualities they were interested in without having to read the entire book to locate them. I immensely enjoyed reading this book, and it covered a wide range of topics I found to be interesting, such as clinical intuition and observational skills. My vocabulary greatly benefited from reading this book, and my understanding of what it means to be a leader grew profoundly.
I, therefore, rate the book 4 out of 4 stars. There were no grammatical errors found in the book, pointing to the fact that it received professional editing. The book structure made the book easy to read, and the flow of the book was smooth. I believe that the book can be relied upon in identifying and developing one's leadership qualities since it received numerous awards, including The Pacific Book Award, meaning it can be highly recommended. I recommend the book to anyone who wants to become a successful leader and wants guidance on how to become one.
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Unlocking the Natural -Born Leader's Abilities: An Autobiographical Expose
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