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| The First Interview |
First Interview:
A Conversation with David Taylor, Author of The Naked Leader -
as it became the fastest selling business book of all time:
1. Why did you write The Naked Leader?
Three reasons:
• To strip away the hype surrounding success, and to release the full potential of people, teams and organisations, fast
• To expose the failures of the consultancy and process driven initiatives of the last twenty years, such as Business Process Re-engineering and Total Quality Management, which have cost billions, achieved nothing, demotivated people, and enabled most companies to at best stand completely still
• To give people back to themselves - to reclaim their lives at a time when global business is full of mistrust (Enron, World Com, Xerox and there will be more), and our so called public leaders are more full of spin than they are of integrity
2. Why do you think the book has been so successful?
I have been stunned, and humbled by its success, and by the hundreds of e-mails and phone calls I have received. Taking all of these, there seems to be four main reasons for its success:
• It strips away the hype and jargon around success.
• People can identify with the situations and stories. Having worked inside organisations for over 20 years, and made many mistakes myself, seems to have helped make it relevant for people. Also, I wrote the book to be very personal, different for every person reading it. This is a reader's book, not an author's one.
• It is easy to read. It is a book you can dip in and out of. I encourage people to keep their copy by the loo! Also, being written as a "choose your own adventure" was a masterstroke by my daughter Olivia.
• People are now asking bigger questions. This book crosses the divide between business, self-help and mind/body/spirit books. It seems to reflect the need for a completely new business age - an age of enlightenment.
3. Why "Naked"?
Success is full of too much jargon and mystery. The human potential movement actively encourages this - and it's time to strip it away, to reveal how to be successful, in clear, concise and compelling language, available to all, so that people can take immediate action.
Take traditional books on human potential and business leadership. Written by “Gurus" who develop something new, which is really not new at all. They then make it so complex that no-one can understand it, other than themselves, but it appears very clever. They then charge you a fortune for it. Finally, and most despicably, they make you totally dependent on it, and on them. Others then rush to copy them, and in the mad rush to claim that some are right and others are wrong, everyone falls out with everyone else. The greatest irony about leadership success is the numbers who preach it, but simply do not live it.
4. Bit controversial then?
In the sense that it challenges many of the things we have been told, yes. Take motivation, and the classic truth that companies miss. People will only every do something to the best of their abilities for one reason, and one alone, and that is if they want to. This is why "change" initiatives do not work, people are very uncomfortable with change (if you don't believe me - women, sleep on the other side of the bed tonight, men - hand the TV remote control to your partner for a week). People want to make choices, and have to be more fulfilled in their lives.
Take "empowerment", probably the saddest business joke of the last twenty years - organisations have spent millions trying to empower people, which is a complete waste of money. It is simply not possible to empower anyone - people are naturally empowered from the moment they are born, it is only possible to disempower people, which most companies have perfected to the art of genius. The only way to control people is to set them free.
I would say this book is not controversial at all; rather it is about the obvious. If we do what we have always done, we will get what we have always got. So, if we want a different future, one that puts people before process, choice before change, and meaning before money, we have to do different things.
The majority of organisations, teams and people are so much more than what they have become.
In fact success is in the public domain and available to everyone. All we have to do is believe seven principles, that are already within us, and we can be whoever we want to be, and achieve whatever we want to achieve, at any time in our wonderful lives.
5. Seven Principles?
1. Success is a formula, and it is simple
2. This formula does not "belong" to anyone - it belongs to everyone
3. To be successful, you need rely on no-one, other than yourself
4. Success is whatever you want it to be, by your own definition
5. Success can happen very fast, often in a heartbeat
6. Everyone has value, can be anything they want, and is a leader
7. The biggest mystery of life, is to discover who we truly are
6. And what is the formula for success - presumably you will say "buy the book and find out?"
Not at all - this formula does not "belong" to anyone - it belongs to everyone, and has done from the moment they were born. Indeed, nothing in the book is "secret" and the main aim of the book is to blow away all of the secrecy.
Every book ever published on success, says exactly the same, which, with all of the jargon taken out, is:
The formula for guaranteed success
1. Know where you want to go
2. Know where you are now
3. Know what you have to do, to get to where you want to go
4. Do it!
7. But I thought this book was about leadership, and that comes from a few, doesn't it?
Yes it is about leadership, true leadership. True leadership challenges the notion that all wisdom lies in the hands of a chosen few at the top of organisations, or in politicians. Enron, Anderson's and more have put an end to that, and politics is a joke.
Everyone is a leader, and naked leadership is from within. Out in the street and in organisations I hear people asking different, bigger questions, about values, integrity and meaning.
Given that leadership comes from everywhere in an organisation, it is vital that companies re-engage with their people. Only by doing this will they improve staff retention and achieve 100% commitment. And this is easily done.
8. Who is this book written for?
Everyone who wants to be more than what they have become, while still valuing all that they have achieved in life. Every team and family who wants to be as one, and do it fast. Every organisation who needs to reinvent themselves by retaining their people, and releasing their potential.
Everyone who agrees that the future must be very different from the past.
Everyone who wants to discover who they are, why they are here, and to live the life they were born to lead.
9. The Naked Leader is written as a choose your own adventure - why?
There are many children's books written in this racy, personalised format, but never a business book. Olivia, my daughter, asked me why? And she is right. Business books can be fun as well as transformational.
And, we are all different people, on our own unique journey's through life, all seeking success that is personal to us, our teams and families, and our organisations and communities. Too many off-the-shelf "success" books are all things to all people, and lack personalisation. They are also ridiculously heavy and boring reads.
Also, time is precious, so I wanted to help people find real, practical actions fast.
With only 10% of business and self-help books being read beyond the first chapter I wanted to write a book that can be joined anywhere, at any time. This is hopefully a book people can read anywhere - on the train, in bed or on the loo.
And finally because life is an adventure. We are not in a dress rehearsal here - it is our absolute birthright to be human beings, not human doings.
10. And, I have to ask this - the journey's end on Chapter 42 - why 42?
The world has lost a very special man - Douglas Adams. His books have been a huge personal inspiration for me to write this book. Anyone who has read "Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy" will know the significance of 42, and it would be wrong to spoil it here.
11. You and Capstone, the publisher, are donating a share of your revenues to The Children's Society - why?
I fundamentally believe, that all children are born with equal potential. That is their birthright, and everyone is born with unique gifts, skills and talent. However, being born with equal potential does not mean being born into equal circumstances. One third of children in the UK, that's ONE THIRD, are born into poverty through no fault of their own.
The Children's Society is one of the most innovative children’s charities in the country and they are not afraid to tackle some of the more difficult problems their society faces. Every year, they help more then 40,000 children and young people when they are at their most vulnerable. Their work covers a wide range of issues as they help children and young people. They believe that every child deserves a decent chance in life and sadly, not all children get the start that they so desperately need.
12. OK - Strip away the whole book and summarise the book in one line!
Your Future - Your Choice.
Interviewed by Sadie Mason, journalist October 2002
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