Considering our strict budget, this book would not be a valuable addition to our collection. The author is not renowned enough, nor is the method of success new in the field. To pause, to take a breather or to "zen" are all topics of which we already have books in the self-help category.
It read easy enough however and it was quite enjoyable, but not outstanding.

The Leadership Pause is an interesting audiobook that puts the mindfulness practice into application for the workplace. Taking a step back and viewing things without judgement would help us see things as they are. Also, a brief pause instead of an impulse reaction, will help one go a long way in their leadership.

I started listening to this book in a very busy season of business, which meant that its central message arrived at a particularly fitting time. I appreciated the quote “live a life by design, not by default.” Author Chris L. Johnson, a leadership coach and trauma psychologist provides a solid primer on intentional leadership.



For those who are new to leadership, I think this book is great for touching on a broad range of important topics, including management of your calendar to respect personal space needs, connecting to your team and their emotions, pushing past your comfort zone, and reflective goal setting. If you’re already knee-deep in reading personal development and business books, you’ll likely find it reinforcing and blending familiar themes. Most useful to me were the reminders to actively schedule buffer time into my calendar, so that I always have space for reflective time protected in my schedule, and the reminder that stress itself is not bad, but that your signature stress reaction may be. In many ways, as you’d expect from a professional coach and therapist, this book reads like a therapy session — and if you’re in the right mind frame to receive that and put it to constructive use in your life and business, it can be helpful. In a business world that easily and chronically asks more of us, it can be difficult to get off the hamster wheel, and Johnson provides a few helpful strategies for breaking the cycle.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this audio book. Chris Johnson’s new leadership title has lots of helpful information about what it takes to be a leader in today’s world. He encourages you to get out of your comfort zone and try new techniques to make you a more effective leader. The chapter on multitasking was especially helpful to me as I try to multitask often and didn’t realize the effects it has on my daily routine. Going forward I will try to focus on one task at a time to improve my overall performance and productivity.

Blurb:

The Leadership Pause shows how to quiet the noise of the daily hustle so you can hear the still small voice of purposeful curiosity that lives within you, which breeds wisdom in both work and life. 

The Leadership Pause teaches 

the gift of mindful awareness that leads to clarity of mind and heart reduced stress, and increased resilience;
a deeper connection to self; 
a clearer vision of the natural leader resting just beneath the surface. 

Johnson shares stories from established and powerful leaders about how they’ve used pause practices to transform their previous strategies and ways of thinking and behaving to find greater meaning and purpose in their work. This book is for anyone looking to deepen their impact on the lives around them, leave a profound mark on their organizations, and build a legacy of intentional focus, pragmatic ambition, grounded compassion, and empathy-in-action.

Book review: I really loved the concept explored in the book, as it emphasizes the importance of balancing the body and stopping before taking impulsive decisions. I can see the book definitely being helpful for managers and people that have a very unhealthy relationship with their work. However, for me it wasn't super significant as a concept, as for once, I am very far from becoming a manager. Secondly, I already implement the self-care habits that are promoted in the book.

The ideas in the book are very helpful but the fact that it is directed at managers it was very difficult for me to understand the responsibilities and difficulties faced by them. Overall, I believe this book would be very positive and helpful for managers, as being a good leader is always important and has to be learned, it doesn't come naturally. Furthermore, establishing a positive relationship with the workplace is always a good action to take, as it might reduce stress levels and help personal relationships.

The Leadership Pause is such a good reminder to truly be present for not only yourself, but for the sanity of your business and home life fusion. In the mayhem of today, it is so evident that we all need the capacity to pause, to truly listen to all of the feedback around us, and be better models for the leadership we possess and the leaders that we want to be.

The author, Chris L. Johnson, helps to put leadership pauses into perspective, pulling from guided interactions, personal experience, and client stories from their experiences as a leadership coach. I appreciate the frank language and honest approach to attempts, pitfalls and all of the baggage that we hold in our own ways to success. The guided questions in each chapter allow personal reflection and small steps to help us progress along our leadership paths, without preaching or without acknowledging the difficulty in achieving success.

I believe this is an excellent option for leaders who have been stuck in a rut of constant "go culture" and "never enough" mentalities that prevent us from being our best selves. Despite the fact that this book is full of self-acknowledged woo-woo phrases, I wanted to share this with my entire team after just reading the introduction!

The Chris's narration was great - solid even tone and engaging for my listening and appropriate excitement for the topic.

Thank you to Greenleaf Audiobooks for the digital ARC via NetGalley!

There are books which have strong messages which resonate with me and there are books which are the exact opposite This book falls in the second category for me and, while I tried to find a silver lining, it just wasn’t there for me. Hopefully other reviewers resonated more with its message.

I listened to this as an audiobook and there is so much inspiration and motivation within- of course the entire time I was breaking the primary premise of "pay attention" because I listened while working. I will be adding this to my list of personal development books to buy a copy and journal with. And for anyone who reads a lot of leadership and self development books, this is one of least condescending ones I've read with "Leadership" in the title- loved it just for that fact!
Some favorite quotes:
"Your future success will depend on y9our ability to pause"
"smart hygiene" - I love this term
"splitting attention affects how long you can sustain attention" - hit hard for me!

I would recommend this to anyone feeling overwhelmed, not just leaders. The guidance included in this is good for all interactions with coworkers and family- I don't believe you NEED to be in a leadership path or position to get something good from this (although the way some sections are worded will make it seem that way)

I recieved an ARC in exchange for my fair and honest review.

When I saw this book my initial thought was that this book is exactly what I need or have needed this past year. As a manager living through the last few years, a lot of points really resonated with me. The one critique I do have is that some of the themes were repeated over and over and I think if this was dialed in a bit, the length of the book could have been cut in half and digested better.

There are a few takeaways that I will use going forward in my leadership role.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Greenleaf Audio for the opportunity to listen and review this book.

A great book for those interested in fine tuning their leadership practices by quieting the noise and taking meaningful pauses.

To become a better leader take time to pause to be mindful about what is important, to be true to your purpose and make decisions that align with this all while reducing stress. An important book for leaders at all stages of their journey.

Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

This to me felt like a more modern and up-to-date version of Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, with beneficial, practical advice to support you in your busy working life, walking you through techniques of pause, breathing, and bringing your best self to the situation.

Chris Johnson talks about the importance of the pause, which can help us make better decisions and communicate in a more compassionate and appropriate way with each other.

Personally I believe this book is useful to us all in our personal and professional lives, linking in with stress and how this affects us, referencing some well known psychosociologists and researchers.