Cape, Spandex, Briefcase

Leadership Lessons from Superheroes

By: David Kahn

Narrated by: Harry Roger Williams III

Why are some people more effective leaders? What makes them more engaging, more influential, and more successful than their peers?

In Cape, Spandex, Briefcase leadership expert David Kahn tells the story of a motivated young man who yearns to be successful in his new leadership role. He holds the manager title, but is struggling to become an actual leader. After an especially horrific experience, he is sent to a leadership coach...but why is this "expert" working in a comic book shop?

With Superman, Spider-Man and their costumed companions serving as paradigms of what it means to be a leader, this book introduces the five superpowers of leaders and presents practical tools and skills to address your leadership responsibilities while increasing your ability to influence, motivate, and earn respect.

By practicing Cape, Spandex, Briefcase principles, you will enhance your ability to:

• Be a more effective leader by developing greater confidence in your capabilities
• Adapt your leadership style to different scenarios, while remaining true to your values and principles
• Align your team's objectives with your professional values and vision.
• Manage organizational politics and build relationships to achieve both professional and personal goals
• Become an empowering leader who fosters effective teamwork
• Spot and develop the next class of high-potential leaders within the organization
• Utilize influence techniques to enhance your ability to persuade others

©2015 Starewell Publishing (P)2016 Starewell Publishing

Very interesting

Very interesting book with leadership lessons approached in an easy way. Easy, fast paced book, very helpful for those who want to learn more on how to deal with day-tô-day issues in the business world, highly recommend it

Genius!

What did you love best about Cape, Spandex, Briefcase?

This book is a light,fun, and entertaining way to learn Leadership skills. It contains practical examples of leadership mistakes and how to correct them using superheroes analogies Genious!
The narration can appeal to young emerging leaders as well as adults .
Harry Roger Williams III has a full, rich voice, and makes the listening experience very enjoyable.

Interesting Take

This was a nice quick and easy listen with valuable insight weaved in. The narrator did a great job, though at times his cadence seemed a bit off. I laughed out loud a few times, scaring the person next to me.
The book covers five key skills necessary to be a leader. The authors usage of comic book heroes to relate to these skills was easy to follow.

This audio book was graciously provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review

good book bad performance

The book was really good. One of the few leadership books that had tangible solutions. The performance was not so great. There was no pauses or emphasis. It was read like a text book which might work for other leadership books but this one has an actual story through it. Also as a book which talks about story telling you kinda except that when listening to it.

One of the top 5 leadership books I've read

Would you listen to Cape, Spandex, Briefcase again? Why?

Yes, in fact I intend to listen to it at least 3 more times to make sure I've taken in the concepts that it covers.

This book covers 5 key skills that are necessary to be a good leader and relates them to the actions of superheros. The comparisons makes the concepts more memorable as well as provides examples of how they can be applied (what they look like in action).

I'm not a comic book fan, but this method of conveying the 5 leadership skills was still powerful for me and really resonated. It also made the book fun and interesting to listen to.

Which character – as performed by Harry Roger Williams, III – was your favorite?

I didn't really have a favorite character, they all had important roles to play in the book and how the concepts are communicated.

The narration was really well done, I loved all the character voices and the narration showed a lot of skill. It was lovely to listen to and really added to a book that would be a good read in any format.

Any additional comments?

If you want to become a leader or you're in a leadership position without having received training in how to be a leader then this book is a must read.

Note: This book was provided free by the author/narrator/publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.

The title explains it all

Leadership as explained through comic books and superheros.


"This book was provided by at no cost for and honest review."

Great for Professionals

This was a good book for professionals and just about anyone who might find themselves leading people. There were some great tips and development goals for professionals like myself to take and expand their leadership skills.

I thought the narrator did a good job. I gave him 5 but it was more like 4.3 rounded up.

I requested and received a free copy of this audiobook from the author, publisher, or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review. I was NOT required to write a positive review and this reflects my honest opinion of the work.

Capes Take on the "Business" Novel

This review is for the audiobook version of Cape, Spandex, Briefcase: Leadership Lessons from Superheroes. Cape is a business “novel” in the vein of Goldratt’s The Goal and Leoncini’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and like those books it’s a better business book than a novel.

The concept of Cape is actually quite fun. A struggling businessman is mentored by a comic book guru on how to be a leader (not just manager), help his struggling team, and maybe save his own career.

All the examples come from classics like Superman, Batman, the X-Men, Spider-Man, Shazam (Captain Marvel), Aquaman, the Watchmen, etc. The examples were relevant and made sense. This book isn’t for everyone. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who didn’t at least lean a little on the geeky side. Not that you wouldn't learn anything, but a lot of the humor (in gags) might be lost.

The narrator, Harry Roger Williams, III, was not a good fit, IMHO. I wish Stan Lee could have given voice to this tale (Excelsior!) or someone who does a reasonably good facsimile of a Stan Lee impression. That combination of exuberance, charm, and a little bit of maturity (for a business book using comics for inspiration) would have enhanced the experience.

***Full Disclosure: I received this book for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review

Fun story with decent lessons

What did you like best about this story?

I thought it was fun how they used superheros to show different personality traits that are desirable in leaders. It kept an interesting twist and kept me engaged.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The narrator's cadence was distracting at times, but after I got used to it I didn't notice much.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me chuckle quite a few times.

Any additional comments?

"I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator."

Not engaging

This was very difficult to listen to. I forced myself through Chapter 13 and could take no more.
The narrator should be on the stage, not recording audio books. The cadence was entirely too repetitive and made it difficult to remain focused on what was being said.
And the author’s redundant references to superheroes was boring and unrelatable to me.
Not for me.