Review of the Audiobook of THE NEXT GENERATION by Andy Stanley

Andy Stanley is one the most well-known and respected church leaders in America, and he's known specifically for his leadership capabilities. In his book THE NEXT GENERATION LEADER, Stanley outlines the characteristics he believes that emerging leaders need in order to be most effective. He outlines five key characteristics:

Competence
Clarity
Courage
Character
Coaching

Personally, I think that his section on Competence is the most helpful part of the book. Stanley believes that for leaders to be their most effective selves, they need to be focused on the things for which they are most competent. People are wired differently. Some people are better at some things and terrible at others. Next Generation Leaders delegate the things for which they are not competent. This not only frees them to do the things they are good at; it gives other people the opportunity to do things they are competent at.

The other characteristics are important as well. It's important to communicate clarity in the midst of uncertainty. We have to have courage to do the things we are called to do as leaders. We need people wiser than us helping us to develop further. And we need to live lives of character.

I listened to the Christian Audio audiobook version of this book, and I had hoped that Andy Stanley was the one reading it, but he's not. Having listened to Andy Stanley many times, I didn't feel like the reader of the book quite matched the voice of the book, but it was still good. Stanley is a great thinker and a great leader, so I would recommend this to anyone who serves in a leadership capacity.

Review copy provided by Christian Audio

Photo Credit: Christian Audio