A Journey: My Political Life
The Founder of Inspire Leadership & focuses on unlocking people’s potential by providing them with programs; mentorship and coaching into high performance
By Tony Blair
This biography talks about former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, his long run at Number 10 Downing Street (1997-2007), and the kind of life he lived while there. It is interesting how he gives opinions about his Cabinet Secretaries, Members of Parliament, other world leaders, and himself.
Some of the takeaways will be as a result of those opinions. I must say that it took me more than five months to finish reading this book, not because it is boring, but because keenness and time are required in reading and digesting of some of the insights.
The beauty is that the biography is structured in a thematic way which made it easier for me to just dip in and out of chapters such as Managing crises, Apprentice leader, Peace in Northern Ireland, toughing it out, etc.
This makes it easy to read, and most importantly, be able to go back in the future and look as some of the interesting chapters. Political memoirs are not my cup of coffee, but I must say that I enjoyed reading this one and would highly recommend it to all individuals regardless of their political ambitions.
The book shows how leaders can shape the history of the world and what the benchmark is for such leaders. This does not only apply to the political leaders, but also to the community and private sector leaders.
I like the narration about Blair’s relationship and friendship with the Clinton family, his honest disclosure of the admiration for George W. Bush as well as his relationship with Barack Obama.
The first two chapters are my favorites, High Expectations, and The Apprentice Leader. They outline what he wanted from his time in office back in 1997, what vision he had for the country, and what you need to have in place as a leader.
His vision, whether he achieved it or not, is very inspiring and something that we should all emulate by having a clear vision and working towards it. The postscript chapter where Blair talks about the world of 2010 is also a good reflection point for leaders and those who want to be leaders.
Although so many things have happened and changed in the world since then, there is a possibility of drawing parallels from the chapter and seeing how forecasting can be deceiving. This is a good eyeopener for many in leadership as it shows how our assumptions and beliefs can sometimes mislead us.
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