Quiet Leadership cover art

Quiet Leadership

Six Steps to Transforming Performance at Work

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Quiet Leadership

By: David Rock
Narrated by: Pete Larkin
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Improving the performance of your employees involves one of the hardest challenges in the known universe: changing the way they think. In constant demand as a coach, speaker, and consultant to companies around the world, David Rock has proven that the secret to leading people (and living and working with them) is found in the space between their ears. "If people are being paid to think," he writes, "isn't it time the business world found out what the thing doing the work, the brain, is all about?" Supported by the latest groundbreaking research, Quiet Leadership provides a brain-based approach that will help busy leaders, executives, and managers improve their own and their colleagues' performance. Rock offers a practical, six-step guide to making permanent workplace performance change by unleashing higher productivity, new levels of morale, and greater job satisfaction.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2006 David Rock (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers Leadership Management Management & Leadership Business Employment Human Brain

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Your Brain at Work, Revised and Updated cover art
Time to Think cover art
The Leader Lab cover art
Quiet Leadership cover art
The Coaching Habit cover art
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team cover art
Emotional Intelligence cover art
Your Brain at Work cover art
The Promises of Giants cover art
Co-Active Coaching cover art
What Got You Here Won't Get You There cover art
Multipliers, Revised and Updated cover art
No Bullsh*t Leadership cover art
Collaborative Intelligence cover art
QBQ! The Question Behind the Question cover art
Practical Empathy cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
great voice
great content
understanding the brain to help people grow, makes a lot of sense to me!

very insightful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The most interesting aspect of this book is in it’s explanation of the brain and how it relates to our thinking and overall experience. I am glad I chose the book for this reason.
I’m sure the principles to apply in the book can work in some situations, as long as the “quiet leader” is faced with positive individuals with self awareness to see their current reality for what it is. Sadly, there are too many situations where some people we are charged with leading, are either unaware of their behaviour, or have an altered perception of it. The only insight into such situations is when David Rock writes about applying the principles to teenagers. Even here , the example given is with one who is unbelievably compliant when approached by a sanctimonious and patronising parent.
I also struggle with the closed question format of “asking for permission.” There could be a sting likelihood when asking “I’d like to talk to you about x, is it okay to do this now?,” to get the response “no.” Better to ask “how about we talk about x?” That will get a better response.
Getting people to do their own thinking is a good idea, but so is getting people to talk about their feeling, or their beliefs about a current situation, and that element is conspicuously absent from Rock’s approach.
I’m afraid I found the narration of Pete Larkin as described above: patronising. If my manager spoke to me with the tone he uses, I would think: “so you have swallowed a textbook.” It doesn’t sound sincere, and tone in coaching conversations is so vital for success.
Overall, a book with some useful insight. Not a panacea of course.

Some useful tools

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I like it though I don't have the extra parties for the audio book. Neither did I do the practice part yet. Some questions seem to be unlikely to work in casual conversations, but the genetic message is clearly valuable. How much? I will find out very soon. Today I tested it and it worked hundred percent.

might be a game changer

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
recommended this book during business coaching. Some great ideas and concepts for those trying to develop their leadership skills. However I did find it to be more an academics book and rather more suited for those who do the coaching than receive it.
Certainly he seems to be very well renowned in the field as the creator of the SCARF model, so you can be reassured of his pedigree in the field. I just felt in the end it to be more theoretical than operationally sound
Also one bit of warning I don't think anyone on the planet loves David Rock as much as David Rock, so if this type of individual sends you the wrong way I would give this miss

more for the professional than the layperson

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I bought this audiobook after listening to 'Your brain at work' which was fascinating. Quiet leadership was also very inspiring, but it required more concentration to listen to. I usually listen to audiobooks in the car when I am driving and this book needed a bit more focus. There are quite a lot of exercises to put into practice what you are learning about, but I think I will need to listen to it again at home and make notes to get the best out of it. Definitely worthwhile though, and very thought provoking.

Inspiring, but needs attention

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Easy to follow, great content and super practical things to try in ‘real life’. Tues in really well with coaching methodology and makes the link to leadership and high performing teams

Loads of great content

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fresh off of finishing Your Brain at Work, I was keen to dive deeper into David Rock's work. As a first-time people manager, I'd hoped that a practical approach and steps to improving thinking would be useful for me. Ultimately, I found that Quiet Leadership was far less memorable than Your Brain at Work, while covering many of the same themes.

The continuous reference to the PDF attachment was also distracting. I prefer audiobook productions to go the extra mile to ensure a good audio experience vs. just a direct reading of the text.

In terms of narration, I found Pete Larkin's performance to be adequate, if a little bit dry.

If you're looking for some new direction on 'thinking about thinking', this is 7 hours well spent, but I think you'd be better served by putting in the extra three hours and going for the much more satisfying Your Brain at Work.

Rock's Vision is Best Heard Elsewhere

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I used the techniques in this book with a colleague with does not like to be coached. She found the six steps more comfortable and her performance is improving. Definetly worth a listen!

This book is certainly insightful!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I think you can really tell when the narrator isn’t the writer. The performance just didn’t do the book justice and I couldn’t finish the book

Couldn’t stick with it...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.