Good Humans Make Great Leaders Inspiring Others Begins with You

Jody Fletcher’s Good Humans Make Great Leaders: Inspiring Others Begins with You is a leadership book with a simple message: character matters more than title or role. Just because you have a leadership position, doesn’t make you a leader. Drawing on his experiences as a Command Master Chief in the US Navy, Fletcher makes the case that good leaders are less defined by the authority awarded them by rank or personality, and more by how they treat the people around them.

The book works because it is clear and direct. No rambling stories, no chest pounding, no “I love me” chapters. Just plain language about humility, service, and accountability. Leadership not a set of prompts to remember in different situations, but a daily promise to oneself and the team you lead. Your team sees your choices and habits. Are they the examples that tell your team (and those around you) that you walk the walk?

Fletcher avoids many of the business leadership traps. Do what you tell others to do. Lead by example, lead by teaching, lead by being honest to everyone. Too often leadership books try and find the one catch phrase that you’ll remember when you’re done (or that you’ll use on your Amazon/Goodreads review). This isn’t one of those.

Fletcher is on target when he demonstrates that respect and consistency aren’t soft skills. Respect goes both ways, up and down. That creates strong teams and stronger leaders. And his advice isn’t just for military or business leaders (also the usual target for these sorts of leadership books). Anyone in a leadership role can be served by these lessons – churches, schools, non-profits and maybe particularly now, political leadership.

Not everything is original to Good Humans Make Great Leaders. Respect and honesty comes up in other leadership books. But Fletcher’s experiences and sincerity give this book more authority than one might expect. It works because it approaches leadership through the len of integrity and humility, and that leaders still need to earn the respect their position might give them when appointed.