Book review

Sinebare, Masuwe. 2013. Principle & Practices of Papua New Guinea Leadership. India, Rajan Jain.

Review by Ismael K. Isikel

Interesting Chapter
I love the title of chapter 7! It reads "Missionaries, Merceneries, Merchants and Maniacs".  In a way it is hilarious, but that is not the intent of the chapter. It is chapter 7 of  Dr Musawe Sinebare's book Principle & Practices of Papua New Guinea Leadership. In chapter 7 the author shares his experience of having served under three different CEOs. The characteristis of the Missionary, the Mercenery, and the Merchant are described but not of the Maniac. Well, there is no need to describe a maniac and i do not wish to work under the leadership of one, No. I wonder how staff cope working under that type of CEO. The Mercenery is another that I do no wish to associate with.

Teacher's Passion
Dr Sinebare writes with the teacher's passion as shown clearly at the end of every chapter. At the end of each chapter he gives the reader the opportunity to ponder over the chapter with an exercise titled Follow-up Tasks. For this chapter the author gives five tasks for the reader.

Follow-up Task
1. Describe each CEO's management styles based on their particular characteristcis.
2. Which CEO would you emulate if you were in a management or leadership position?
3. Describe the merit of each CEO based on their management styles.
4. What management characteristics would you employ if you were a CEO in an organization?
5. If you were a CEO, which category would best describe your qualities?

These Follow-up tasks make good study in leadership.

What is there to learn?
It is a good book for both the CEO and the aspiring CEO. Those in CEO positions may want to read this book and evaluate themselves - their characteristics of leadership- for the purpose of improvement. The aspiring CEO will certainly chart a course of good leadership from reading this book.

Pagination
In total there are seventeen (17) short chapters of this 172-page book. In terms of reading, understanding, and simply following the author's thoughts, it should not take a day to complete the book. Lets say it depends on how fast you read.

Forward and Preface
Another prolific PNG writer, Sir Paulias Matane, wrote the Forward and the Preface is written by the author.

References
As you get to the end of  the book, like most non-fictions, there is a bibliography (References) that lists 42 items of information sources. The reader may wish to consult these, if accessible from any public sources, for additional information on leadership. There are sources on the Internet on leadership and some of them are free. Google "leadership" to get you started on searching for more  information to help you sharpen your leadership skills. That is exactly what i have done in order to improve my skills,

Table of Content & Index
A table of content in the begining and an index at the end are good  quick pointers to where the reader may quikly find topics discussed in a book. There is a table of content for this book, but there is no index.

The author
 Besides having held other senior positions at Eastern Highlands Provincial Government and the National Research Institute, the author had also servied as Pro Vice Chancellor (Administration) and Acting Vice Chancellor at the University of Goroka.  He is also the author  of Path to Success, and Papua New Guinea Development Strategies for Socio-Economic Empowerment