Be the Unicorn

12 Data-Driven Habits that Separate the Best Leaders from the Rest

By: William Vanderbloemen, John C. Maxwell - introduction

Narrated by: William Vanderbloemen

“This book is one of the most worthwhile and immediately usable reads I have come across in a long time.” –Kiplinger

Read by the author.

Want to stand out from the crowd? We have studied 30,000 top leaders and have discovered the 12 habits they share that make them as rare as a unicorn. Learn these habits, and you’ll be one of the best at whatever you do!

How do I stand out? How do I become irreplaceable? With a crowded workforce, an unstable job landscape, and the rise of AI, these questions are the ones that everyone either is or should be asking.

William Vanderbloemen has asked these questions over the past 15 years while running one of the world’s top executive search firms. Through extensive research of over 30,000 top leaders and proprietary data, Vanderbloemen has identified the 12 habits that the best of the best have in common. Traits such as authenticity, responsiveness, agility, and the ability to problem solve, among others.

Each habit includes information on What We Know (the hard data behind why the habit is so transformative), What We’ve Seen (first-hand accounts by high-achieving professionals on how they live the habit), and What We Do (simple ways to build this habit into your daily routine). Be the Unicorn will help you:

• Discover the top twelve soft skills the most successful leaders, the top 1%, have.
• Understand how to develop these soft skills in your own life for better job success.
• Learn how to apply soft skills to interpersonal relationships outside of work.
• Understand how these soft skills can be applied in different work environments and job fields, especially with the rise of AI technology.

The Team at Vanderbloemen created a new business classic!

I loved the twelve habits, and am going to have my team read it, and start looking for these traits in every new team member moving forward!

Interesting High Level View on Leadership Qualities

Interesting perspective on various qualities that definitely apply to leadership at any level, but also qualities that ideal employees embody. Some of the people used as examples were interesting and suggest a mildly political undertone with specific leaders that have questionable pasts, but overall interesting read with a variety of takeaways.

Disappointed

No new content. Rehashing old ideas. Was greatly looking forward to this book. Was irritated by the author’s attempts to use pop culture references as logical interjection of rational support for his positions. It weakened my view of his opinions. Felt out of place, as if he was just trying to be trendy.

Listened to it 5 times...

Very tactical, I learned something new every time I turned it on. Easily applied lessons after every chapter.

Informative and backed by research!

This was book that not only gave you the answers, but examples and ways to improve and not abuse your skills.