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Book Review: The Happy Leader by Shawn Sukhraj Johal

September 1, 2020 by azsamadlessons Leave a Comment

Ethan is unhappy at work.

He meets Ravi a new client, a potential new customer.

What happens next is a journey of discovery as Ravi shares with him practical life lessons. Ethan changes his life by applying what he learns from Ravi.

This 170-page book by happiness and business coach Shawn Sukhraj Johal is in the form of a fable. Think of The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason or Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, M.D. — that kind of thing. For non-business books, think of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

My first impression of this book was how wordy everything was. There’s a lot of detail but some of it seemed unnecessary to me.

As the story develops, the lessons came in:

“Meditate morning and night. Engage in the art of listening intently without judgement. Practice circular reciprocation by being genuinely nice to every person I meet, which the universe will return my way.” (page 51)

There are a lot of touching scenes in the book. Ethan’s romantic dinner with wife, a meditation session with his young daughter & two particular encounters that lead him to reexamine his relationship with two people in life.

The story peaks at a point where Ethan realises how much he has changed over time & how his life is different now.

My biggest takeaway from the book is instead of blaming external circumstances, we can choose to work on ourselves via small actions that create a ripple effect. As Ethan changed in the book, so did the people around him.

After the story, Shawn finishes with a guide at the end summarizing the takeaways of the book.

I like this part the most since it puts it in perspective. Recently, I’ve been reading non-fiction book so this part helps me digest what I was looking for in the book.

In conclusion, the book is an interesting read for corporate or business people who want to examine their life, purpose & direction.

Pros: Positive book with life & business advice.
Cons: Some parts of the fable feel like it could be shorter with tighter edits.
TLDR: If you like your life advice coated in storytelling, this might be for you.

I received an advance review copy of this book from Leaders Press. Thank you April & Alinka.

You can get more info on this book on Shawn’s website here: https://www.shawnjohal.com/books-page

[Review Archive]
I wrote a lot of other book, course and video reviews too.
Check out the rest here:
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[Submissions for Review Consideration]

  • Are you an author who wrote a jazz, guitar or music book?
  • Have you created a DVD or an online video course or subscription based website?
  • Would you like me to review your book/course?

Please send me a message at azsamad3 at gmail.com with:

For courses: a link to the course/video/product + access info etc.
For books: a link to the book (Dropbox) or PDF attachment (if it’s small) for review consideration.

Depending on whether I dig the book/course, I’ll let you know if I do plan to review it!

I cannot guarantee a review for every submission & if I’m not too into it, I may opt not to review it. I mean, it’s better to get a good review that for me to write a bad review just because it’s not a match for the kind of stuff I dig right? :p

NOTE: All reviews reflect my honest personal opinion so be aware that I will point out both cool Pros and Cons that I see in the work. You dig? 

Filed Under: Book Reviews, business book, Philosophy Tagged With: leaders press, leadership fable, shawn sukhraj johal, the happy leader

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