Making Horses Drink: How to lead and succeed in business.

• Author: Christensen, Peter
• Position: Book Reviews

Alex Hiam

Entrepreneur Press (244 pp)

Reviewed by Peter Christensen, managing editor/policy analyst, GFOA Research and Consulting Center, Chicago, Illinois.

To be successful, today's finance officer must be much more than an accounting technician. Finance officers are expected to be technologically savvy and to possess the ability to analyze complex financial information and explain it to internal and external stakeholders. And perhaps more than ever before, senior finance officials must be able to motivate and lead other people--not only those for whom they have direct supervisory responsibility, but also other key organizational power brokers. Although many finance officers are still much more comfortable counting beans than exercising leadership, they cannot abdicate this responsibility and hope to progress professionally.

There is certainly no dearth of information when it comes to the topic of motivation and leadership. Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People, Roger Fisher and William Ury's Getting to Yes, and Stephen R. Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People come instantly to mind. New to the leadership landscape is Alex Hiam's Making Horses Drink. Using a fable about one boy's struggle to get the family workhorse to drink so that it could effectively perform the all-important work of plowing, Hiam sets out to empower managers to make the transition from the traditional top-down style to a more inspirational and developmental style. Though probably not destined for the bestseller lists like the titles named above, this lighthearted book deserves consideration by finance officers seeking to improve their motivational qualities.

Making Horses Drink is divided into two books: "A Leadership Fable" and "Tips and Techniques for Managers." The latter consists of 10 chapters, each of which focuses on one of the following elements of success: commitment, communications, leader's personal perspective, supervision, innovation, workplace, transitions, encouragement, decision making, and development. Each of these chapters begins with a brief treatment of the topic, followed by a collection of stories, tips, and examples from the so-called "real world." Underlying all of these vignettes is the author's fundamental notion that you can inspire and support...