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What Readers Are Saying
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“Profound. Powerful. Personal. Inspiring. To the point of tears. The term ‘servant leadership’ can seem to imply a strategy or a deliberate effort to accommodate while leading. I think — for you — it’s an inescapable way of seeing people, and the world, and the future. I am not sure giants fell. A large agency was disassembled by ‘small men who wanted to feel large’ — and we have seen that USAID was just the first of many ignorant moves they would make. But real giants don’t need anything or anyone else to feel small. They develop ideas and people who expand, who grow, who take the torch and run further. It is my, (by which I mean our) honor to count you as friend and family. This is the beginning.”
Rex Hauck
Author & Leadership Expert
“Ms. Effiom presents a rare glimpse into the struggles a leader faces when trying to balance conviction and values against a set of declining odds during a traumatic phase in US Foreign Service. Finally we get a memoir that is both raw and honest about the true emotional cost of being a servant leader during formidable challenges… At a time when the world is seeing the effects of an ‘ends justifying the means’ approach to global strategy, Ms. Effiom presents us with her ‘means justifying the end’ alternative. This is guidance that sounds moral, but Ms. Effiom shows us that a moral approach is no less strong than a top-down hierarchical leadership approach, and one that is far more difficult to execute, but also far more rewarding in the end. I had the rare privilege of working with Ms. Effiom during this phase she presents here, and seeing this approach in action is inspiring.“
Benjamin Lawrence
First Official Review • LinkedIn