Summary: a thoughtful rumination on leadership from the experience of, on occasion, being badly led

Caroline Walsh’s book, Fairly Smooth Operator, is something of a memoir, recounting her experiences, first as a member of the US Coast Guard, and later as an analyst with the CIA.

Her theme is not, however, derring do, military morality or historical scandals. Rather Walsh’s focus tends towards the more mundane aspects of life in these organisations and particularly the “chickenshit” of military life. With humour and considerable generosity of spirit she explores the petty abuses of power meted out on weaker or more junior colleagues, because the abuser is a bully or an idiot. She reflects on the damage this does to both individuals and the organisations of which they are parts, because bad leadership invariably results in the injury and loss of good people.

So, Fairly Smooth Operator is a useful book for anyone concerned with the world of work in general and, in particular, with the challenges of management and leadership in teams and in big, bureaucratic organisations.

Walsh is now studying for a PhD in the area of ethical leadership. Judging on this book, she will doubtless have many more useful and important things to say on this subject in years to come.