When they look at you, do they see a leader?

Many career-advice books are packed with principles but lack practical applications, but leadership consultant and debut author Price delivers both in this book. Her guidelines are reminiscent of a road map, offering alternate routes to raising one’s leadership level. Although Price’s conversational writing style makes for easy reading, one shouldn’t plan to devour the book over a weekend. To fully digest and benefit from her advice may take longer—but it will be time well spent by anyone who’s striving for a corner office.

A practical, in-depth guide and the closest thing to having a personal career coach.

… a powerful book written for readers who want to take the lead. It is filled with personal stories, insightful passages, and professional tips that are both informative and eye-opening. Damaris Patterson Price engages readers in a conversation that really matters, inviting them to consider serious questions about leadership and helping them clarify what they really want and offering a road map to get there.

Readers desiring career progression will find no snake oil here among these pages, only practical advice on self-improvement, confidence building and understanding the behaviors and intentions of others on the road to gaining better promotions and leadership roles in the future. The work is very well organized to move through different concepts and covers a variety of different situations to give some flexibility to the instructions and advice, therefore making it adaptable to more areas of the workplace and different sectors.

I liked how the book is interspersed with many Tips, Case Studies, and of course the many Strategic Reflections, exercises, and worksheets that are presented for the reader to complete. Overall, this is a good, handy book for a career professional to have and for improving leadership skills.

I wish I had had access to this book when I worked in the public sector. The information is invaluable, eye-opening, but makes perfect sense. If you do not have a career coach or mentor, then Unlock Your Leadership by Damaris Patterson Price is definitely for you. To gain maximum benefit from this book, you will need to work through each section carefully, making notes as you go. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who feels their career is stagnant because this guide will certainly get you noticed in a positive way.