The Leader with Seven Faces
Finding your own ways to practice leadership in today's organisation 
Leandro Herrero

About this book The Leader with Seven Faces is a leadership practitioner's book for anybody in a leadership position or on a leadership development path, both in business organisations and the public sector. The key argument of the book is that the leader has seven faces, but sometimes only one or two are visible. People know leaders through what they see or hear from them. By practicing the seven faces, leaders will present themselves with a fuller authenticity to other leaders, followers and to the organisation. Also, all the faces represent a different angle of leadership with different dimensions. Practicing the seven faces is practicing leadership in a rounded way and allowing oneself to grow as a leader in multiple directions, not only in the direction that sits in our own zone of comfort.

The seven faces are described as something that others can 'see' from the leader: The 'What you say' face deals with the language of leadership, the meaning that the leader provides and its intention.  'Where you go' addresses the 'maps' that the leader provides for others, the question of the destinations for the organisation and the journeys to get there. 'What you build' is a face of the leader which deals with how time and space is protected, what the organisation hosts (talent, relationships) and what the legacy is. 'What you care about' is a face of the leader that shows values and beliefs, including what is negotiable and what's not. 'How you do it' is a face that addresses what drives the leader and the organisation, 'styles of doing' and degrees of 'freedom' in the structure. 'What you are' deals with self-awareness, responsibility and identity. 'What you do' is a very visible face of the leader that shows him or her as a role model, driver of change and, hopefully, 'practitioner of the seven faces'.

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The book does not provide yet another theory of leadership or another list of qualities for the effective leader. The Leader with Seven Faces provides a map of questions: the answers to those are personal (for the reader/leader), but the consequences of these answers go beyond him or her. Written in a conversational style, the chapters of the book invite the reader to reflect upon a series of themes often by following examples in day-to-day organisational life. Whilst the book is mainly focused on the individual leader, the epilogue provides 'five acid tests' for collective leadership which will help evaluate in short how a particular leadership team is doing in terms of its overall capabilities.