New book puts aspiring leaders to the ultimate test

(Kelli Nilson)

For less than $10 and in about an hour's time, you'll encounter valuable soul searching and will be put through the test of what it takes to be a true leader, as defined by author Timothy R. Clark of the new book called "The Leadership Test."

Don't be fooled by the book's conversational writing style and story-telling approach, or by its compact 100-page size.  Because, the message is powerful and the test is revealing.

That test, which comes at the end of the book, consists of five questions, each important -- and successfully passing each becomes a collective must to ensure leadership success. Once taken, the test is your personalized assessment that you can use to chart your course for becoming a better leader.

"I can tell you that an overwhelming failure pattern relates to the fourth test question to 'Take The Oath'," said Clark, who earned a doctorate from Oxford University, was a Fulbright and British Research Scholar, and a former first-team Academic All-American football player at Brigham Young University.

"The fourth test question refers to an individual leader binding himself or herself to a personal oath to act with honesty and integrity at all times.  At the end of the day, civil society is based on private virtue.  People have to hold themselves accountable to an oath that is enforceable only by them.  You have to be able to take a principled loss, if that's what's necessary, over an unprincipled gain," said Clark.

Clark said he wrote the book "to respond to the Mount Everest problem."  "If you stack them on top of each other, the books on leadership reach Mount Everest."  "How does a person interested in leadership make sense of all this?" continued Clark.  "So, I decided to write a short, engaging book that teaches people the true essence of leadership."

Clark agrees that leadership requires intelligence, skill and experience.   However, "above all that, leadership requires steely character and an unflinching desire to do the right thing," said Clark CEO of TRCLARK, LLC.

Timothy R. Clark, Ph.D.