COMMENTS FROM READERS


"THIS BOOK IS THE BEST"

Having had the opportunity to read many leadership development and executive coaching books and articles, I think this book is the best. The wisdom, insights and practical applications will be of great value to my clients, now more than ever. In addition, I am certain to apply this reading in both my work and personal life. Thank you for this contribution.

—JIM GAUSS, CEO

Witt/Kieffer

"I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN"

Let's face it. Very few business and leadership books are ones that are hard to put down. They simply do not have the reputation for being page-turners. And moreover, many are never read past the first couple of chapters. Michael O'Brien's new book is quite different. I could not put it down — I simply had to finish it. The opening story of the economic downturn captivated me, and then I found myself turned on further by seeing many of the leadership coaching suggestions that Michael uses in his practice come to life. This is a book you will want not for your shelf but for the top of your desk. I guarantee some return on investment after reading this.

—CARSON F. DYE, FACHE

Partner Witt/Kieffer

BECOMING ACCOUNTABLE AND HAPPY AT WORK AND HOME

The recent economic crisis has exposed a huge need for leaders to have accountability for themselves and for their performance. In this book, Michael O'Brien offers not useful excuses, but insights and help in becoming more accountable and happier in both personal and work life. His passion for dealing with the truth of the situation and then planning consciously for improving it will be a great help to executives and leaders today.

—SR. CAROL KEEHAN, DC, R.N., M.S., President and CEO

The Catholic Health Association

 
BEYOND MERE EXPERIENCE

Against the backdrop of the most significant global economic meltdown since the Great Depression, Dr. O'Brien presents a compelling argument for America's leaders to stop relying on their experience to solve problems and begin mastery of conscious leadership. The key to becoming a great leader today is to realize that truth has boundaries, and then to have an insatiable curiosity to define and test those boundaries so new approaches can be discovered. Dr. O'Brien shares some simple but powerful exercises to help establish new habits in leadership thinking, and presents convincing scientific rationale for why they will work. To paraphrase Stephen Covey, Dr. O'Brien makes the case that you can't direct your way out of the problems you behaved your way into. You need to consciously think your way out of them. Quicksilver is a must read for anybody who wants to be a leader worth following.

—EDWARD BURGHARD

Executive Director, Ohio Business Development Coalition

CEO, The Burghard Group LLC

 
TIMELY HELP FOR PRESENT AND FUTURE LEADERS

Quicksilver marries behavior theory with business practice in a unique and readable way featuring conscious creativity and personal responsibility. It couldn't be more timely and relevant. Both emerging and experienced leaders will find it to be helpful in today's world of work.

—GEORGE MANNING

Professor, Dept of Psychological Science

Northern Kentucky University

A DIFFERENT KIND OF MAP

Quicksilver presents an atypical roadmap for creating desirable change. It's called "consciousness." In an excellent, easy-to-read narrative, Dr. O'Brien teaches it here in a way that helps leaders free themselves from the inevitable unconscious illusions that trap us all. The book offers useful exercises that replace those illusions with the skills needed to create a world of one's choice. While this book is a must read for every leader today, I propose that leadership is not limited to executives in business and industry. Leadership needs to be exercised by all of us—parents, professionals, workers paid and unpaid in all segments of life. Teachers in particular, I think, would benefit from using Quicksilver's practices in the classroom and role modeling them to students.

IDA CRITELLI SCHICK, Ph.D., M.S., FACHE

Professor and Chair, Dept. of Health Services Admin.

Xavier University

BRILLIANT ANALYSIS

Quicksilver offers the most brilliant analysis I've seen of the economic meltdown of 2008. The book shows how unconsciousness made leaders blind to warnings of danger all around them. Quicksilver helps leaders wake up—teaching them to embrace contrarian perspectives as an opportunity to learn.

—MICHAEL D. CONNELLY, M.A., J.D., FACHE,

President and CEO, Catholic Healthcare Partners

WAKE-UP CALL

In Quicksilver, Dr. O'Brien uses his extensive knowledge of psychology to articulate a practical way for all leaders to take a more conscious approach to their work. He has a knack for cutting through psychobabble to provide clear and concise examples of the emotional barriers that often cause leaders to miss important signals that can help them perform at their best. This book should be required reading for all people in management and leadership positions at this time in our history. As we try to shed the leadership philosophies that got us into the mess Michael so clearly describes early in the book, Quicksilver should be our guide.

 
BRAIN OWNER'S MANUAL

Quicksilver is an owner's manual for the grey matter between your ears. Michael O'Brien and Larry Shook show how leaders who fail to reflect on their thinking during times of adversity are dangerous to themselves and their organizations. Those who are more experienced and in positions of greater responsibility may be the most vulnerable. The antidotes to self-destruction are here. Leaders need to pay attention.

—BILL PASSMORE, Ph.D., Sr. VP, Organizational Practice Leader

Center for Creative Leadership

BLIND SPOT CORRECTION

Habitual thinking creates blind spots and limits a leader's ability to solve today's complex problems. Quicksilver provides several practices that enable a leader to not only recognize those blind spots but also develop new habits, which lead to improved performance.

—ELAINE HOLLAND, Chief Talent Officer

Millward Brown

TWO POWERFUL SENTENCES

Two sentences make this book worth its price to me. 1) "So if you habitually declare breakdowns to be caused by others who aren't doing, according to your personal narrative, what they should do, then there is no question for your mind to answer, no problem for it to solve." 2) "To declare that something should not be a certain way is life's ultimate whine."

The first explains so much to me. I have always noticed that I love work and yet I hate work. Now I understand I love the sense of engaging in an interesting problem—couldn't live without it. Yet I detest all the yammering, cranking bureaucratic junk that comes with working in an organization. I see now the difference is largely my definitions. The yammering is actually an interesting problem. So how do I separate from the latter and get more of the former? This helped tremendously: "...recognition that another COULD do something differently, and perhaps you could do something to help him...makes all the difference." I can see that. I'm going to work on it.

The second sentence relates to something I've concluded from 20 years of teaching. Namely, psychological orientation is more important in the success of a student than "talent." Many students have lots of talent and do not deign to apply it because somehow it just speaks for itself. Many have the talent and spend their time discussing those who they think don't. The energetic are dragged down when they are diverted into discussions of those who are not energetic. Many students with less journalistic talent, I notice years after their graduation, thrived because they understood the world better. I have long been advising students that employers are less likely to hire them because they are a wonderful talent than because they will fix a problem for them. The book clarifies my empirical observation about the kind of student that succeeds. I am going to look for ways to include these principles in my teaching. I think you should get this book to business teachers.

—WILLIAM STIMSON, Ph.D., Director, Journalism Program

Eastern Washington University

WING MATE

Larry Shook and I were crew chiefs in the same helicopter gunship platoon in Vietnam. His epilogue captures what that was like, and both of us experienced superb leadership in circumstances when our lives were at risk. Larry had his Captain Ski; my role model was Major Richard Daum. The impact these men had on our lives continues today. Quicksilver offers a proven technique that anyone can use to be the best leader possible. When the book arrived I was busy but decided to take a brief peek. Seven hours later, I stopped but only because my tired eyes wouldn't focus anymore. I finished the next day. As it happened, I was mired in a personal crisis that had been brewing for years. There seemed to be no resolution. So I tried one of Michael O'Brien's exercises (Shoulds versus Coulds) and the situation changed immediately. And desperation yielded to hope. I urge everyone to read this book; it works at home as well as the office. Michael is clearly a gifted coach and we could all benefit from his experience. Through Quicksilver, we can. 

—FRANS VANDENBROEK, VP Regulatory Affairs

Applied Medical Resources, Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.

PERFECT COMPLIMENT

Quicksilver is a perfect complement for the wide range of books "about" leadership. This book offers clear guidance for becoming a leader that can effectively and consistently execute the strategies other books theorize about—and stay healthy in the process. Michael O'Brien challenges us to look at ourselves and engage in a set of practices that will help us be authentic, courageous, accountable leaders, leaders worthy of our followers. It's our choice—answer O'Brien's challenge or read another book "about" leadership.

—GORDON BARNHART

Center for Heroic Leadership

UNIQUE RESULTS

Having worked for over 25 years with executives in healthcare, I believe that there has never been a time when the quicksilver of conscious and authentic leadership is needed more in our industry than it is now. I know from personal experience that Michael O'Brien's approach creates real breakthroughs and results for individuals and teams unlike anything else I have ever seen. I have seen the O'Brien Group's results up close, both with my healthcare clients and in my own firm. I have worked personally with Dr. O'Brien and I can assure you that learning and then adhering to the practices he teaches in this book has helped me transform my own approach to leadership in the office and at home. For that reason I give Quicksilver the most enthusiastic recommendation possible.

—ANNA PHILLIPS, Senior Partner and Board Chair

Witt/Kieffer

OF LEADERS & MONSTERS

What Quicksilver refers to as "Wall Street's Monster" provides a fresh, and unfortunately deep reminder of what can go wrong when leaders don't lead. This book offers a no-nonsense, very readable guide to help executives and their boards of directors become honest with themselves and quickly get their management teams and institutions on the mend. Quicksilver has the potential to become a blockbuster, because it should be required reading for every MBA student, executive, and organizational board today. All of us need this book's strong dose of ethics and lessons on how to be honest and accountable. Quicksilver is new wine in a new bottle. Thanks, Michael, for giving us some tools to rebuild leadership in today's corporate world.

—MICHAEL FORDNEY, Director

BMO Capital Markets

FRESH PERSPECTIVE

Quicksilver vividly lays out the opportunity, pitfalls and "lessons learned" from the recent meltdown and failures in the global financial markets and corporate leadership. This is a guidebook book for senior executives searching for new insight into leadership. A fresh perspective on the principles of leadership. On your journey through this book, you will learn from real stories and come away with real wisdom.

—HY POMERANCE, Ph.D., Head of Talent Development

New York Life Insurance Company

A PENCIL-IN-HAND BOOK

Quicksilver is one of those pencil-in-hand books; it inspires one to write notes, mark passages, recall situations and capture moments of personal inspiration and reflection. Before working with Mark Shunk and reading this book, I thought the habits I had developed over the years were the cause of my success and sufficient to carry me happily through a long and successful career. While that may be the case for some of what I have hardwired into my style, it is clear to me now that there are many reflexive behaviors that will interfere with my ability to realize my full leadership potential. The work of personal emotional surveillance laid out in this book isn't for the feint of heart, or for those who don't wish to be intentional about their leadership calling. Which brings me to the heart of my endorsement. As leaders, we have a choice to make, to lead out of habit or to lead intentionally. Quicksilver combines scientific evidence and experiential wisdom to provide a set of practices that can transform one from a habitual leader to an intentional one. Every leader has a responsibility to approach the privilege of leadership with the kind of brilliant intentionality that Dr. O'Brien speaks of, and her followers deserve that from her.

—TAMMIE MCMANN BRAILSFORD, COO

MemorialCare Health System

QUICKSILVER JOURNEY

Quicksilver is a must read for people who want to break out of the ordinary and become transformational leaders—authentic, accountable, courageous and intentional. I've worked with the O'Brien Group for nearly four years and have personally experienced the profound change that occurs when I practice their leadership principles. My leadership team's execution capability improved in an environment of intense change as a result of applying these principles while working through our challenges. We now move quickly from breakdowns to breakthroughs.

O'Brien gets to the core of the problem of habitual thinking and then, through a series of practices, identifies new pathways that cause us to take a new direction. These practices open our eyes to "responsible thinking," which leads to conscious leadership that can free us and transform the way we live and lead. If you want to enable an organization to transform its execution ability in an ever-changing environment, Quicksilver can take you there.

—KAREN PUCKETT, COO

CenturyLink

TOOLS FOR THE IMAGINATION

Quicksilver is crisp, concise and practical. In this highly readable, provocative book, Michael O'Brien has designed and developed an exciting framework for personal transformation that will enhance both organizational effectiveness and sustainable competitive advantage. This book not only engages the imagination, it offers leadership tools that work. A must read for every leader!

—JON C. ABELES, Ed. D., Sr. VP

Catholic Healthcare Partners

FOR US IN THE TRENCHES

Michael has given those of us in the trenches of the efforts to improve healthcare the most valuable tool I've yet seen. Every leader will take grand lessons from a read of Quicksilver.

—RANDY RANDOLPH, M.D., Chief Medical Officer

Catholic Healthcare Partners, Major General/Deputy Surgeon General, USAF (ret.)

QUICKSILVER'S "ELEGANT LENS"

The demands of leadership and the story of human history are invariably linked. Recorded history explores events of significant consequence, and the economic debacle of the 21st century's first decade is significant. It is a story of failed leadership and is an elegant lens in which to reflect on the nature of true leadership, and how our leaders let us down. Real leadership requires intellectual honesty and rigor, paying attention to the right things, connection to a higher values, courage, and decisive action. All these themes of leadership and recent history are brilliantly explored in Quicksilver.

—NEIL STROUL, Ph.D., Founding Faculty Member

Georgetown University Leadership Coaching Program

SUPERB INSIGHTS

Quicksilver raises many powerful and thought-provoking ideas for any student of leadership. Michael O'Brien offers superb insights on the human condition, while also providing practical solutions for how leaders can truly lead by managing fear and embracing authenticity.

—PAUL BOHNE, Sr. VP/Co-Director, Eastern Region

Witt/Kieffer

FASCINATING EXPOSÉ

Quicksilver is a fascinating exposé of why we behave the way we do and what we can do to adapt our behavior, our leadership, our approach to relationships in order to achieve our best. Examining the successes and failures of modern society through the lens of neurobiology gave me new insights into my work and my life.

—JANE CROWLEY, EVP, CAO,

Catholic Healthcare Partners

UNLEASHING POTENTIAL

Quicksilver is an inspiring read for both established and novice leaders. Dr. Michael O'Brien offers a critical and sound analysis of the all-too-human emotional and cognitive blind spots that impair the effectiveness of leaders. Using contemporary examples of both failed and courageous authentic leadership, Dr. O'Brien sets the stage for becoming truly "aware" of oneself and those around you. With this personal awareness comes great opportunity to lead more effectively despite the complexity of the organization and difficulty of the circumstances. Quicksilver provides several important practices that enable a leader to identify and master fear as well as navigate leadership paradoxes while remaining authentic. Well developed, these personal habits unleash the full potential of a leader's emotional and intellectual creativity and consequently his or her effectiveness to lead others.

—RICHARD G. AZIZKHAN, MD, PhD (Hon)

Surgeon-in-Chief, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

WEAVING STORIES WITH CONCEPTS

Loved it. Resonated, and I like Larry's writing style. Liked how you weave in stories with the concepts. Dr Schick is right. The concepts are deceptively simple. Practicing them is hard. I enjoyed the book also because I know you [Michael] and Mark and can hear your voices as I read through.

—DEBBIE BLOOMFIELD, CFO

Mercy Health Partners, Southwest Ohio

RICH REWARDS

The hours spent with Quicksilver will be richly rewarded in your work and personal life, especially if you implement the many wise practices the authors suggest. Both practical and passionate, O'Brien believes in the possibility of change and helps you believe it too.

—DORIS GOTTEMOELLER, RSM

SVP for Mission and Values Integration

Catholic Healthcare Partners

"MORE THAN A BOOK FOR BUSINESS"

A very clear, concise guide to improving one's leadership skills. Theoretically grounded and yet powerful in its application. This is more than a book for business. I recommend it to anybody who wants to lead others in doing what they want to do their lives.

The practical exercises are simple but insightful, thought-provoking ideas that apply to all walks of leadership. A must read for today's and tomorrow's leaders.

—MARK JAEGER

Engineering manager at one of the world's

largest consumer products company

THE BEST AND BRIGHTEST

Relevant examples of how even the best and brightest become unconscious! Solid, effective practical advise of how to always stay relevant, conscious and effective.

—RICHARD PONTIN

Tangoe, Inc.

EMBEDDED WITH CENTURIES OF WISDOM

Quicksilver addresses what Martin Luther King referred to as "The fierce urgency of now." It is not simply about formal leadership; it is about being fully aware in an unprecedented time of change and opportunity. The book describes many examples of the subtle and not-so-subtle breakdowns and missed opportunities that resulted in the financial crisis and occur on a daily basis in our institutions and businesses. Quicksilver is a well-written easy read with centuries of wisdom embedded in its stories and best practices for living a well lived life and becoming an extraordinary leader.

—DENNIS TIRMAN

Tirman Consulting, LLC

HOLDING UP A MIRROR

This book offers an accessible set of practices that will help leaders "hold up the mirror" to clearly identify and courageously confront their preferences, emotions and fears. Hardwiring these practices into their daily actions will help them design a better future for themselves and those they lead.

—QUINT STUDER, Founder & CEO

Studer Group

EMPOWERING WORDS

My bookshelves are fully stocked with 28 years' worth of accumulated leadership books—all claiming to be the know-all guide to what makes a great leader.

However, Michael O'Brien's Quicksilver is now the only book that I keep at my reading table and recommend to every business owner. It is based on a revolutionary, scientifically based approach that describes how leaders affect outcomes—both positively and negatively.

If you want to read a book that not only ascertains how the brain and body work symbiotically when we are faced with challenging, unpredictable futures (using real-life examples), but also how to apply what you've learnt with powerful exercises, this is definitely the book! You will find yourself reading his empowering words time and time again.

Quicksilver offers an extensive hands-on guide that serves to explain how to discover the "unfelt and unknown" fear that is present for every leader when something that is crucial to future outcomes is dangerously at stake. Dr. O'Brien then shows how to manage that aforementioned fear in a way that allows a leader to easily utilize their unique creativity, innovation and genius, thereby making decisions based on this new scientific roadmap that ideally results in the desired outcomes.

 —JAN SMITH, Founder

Center for Authentic Leadership

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