I heard Anthony F. Smith speak this week about his new book, The Taboos of Leadership.  Really deep, on point and interesting stuff that everybody suspects but no one really talks about.  Mr. Smith himself was inspiring, straightforward and very humble given he’s been one of the major business coaches for ESPN for over 20 years.  The Taboos cover everything from executive compensation to the power of charisma (over technical skills) to the necessity of politics.  The audience asked Anthony about Taboo #4:  Women Make Better Leaders (When They Want To).  He talked about the importance of emotional intelligence in upper management positions and how women are naturally wired to be better at this.  He also discussed how women don’t often need to be the leader as much as men do and that we aren’t always willing to do what it takes.  Take it easy.  What he means is we choose to pursue other things because the kill to get to the top isn’t the driver for many women.  Mr. Smith also talked about mergers and acquisitions and why they fail.  He used the merger of ESPN and Disney as a good example of what companies should do when they buy other companies.  Look at why you bought them in the first place and give them authority to help make change for the rest of your company.  His example, the ESPN team is now in charge of all marketing for Disney.  Creative.  I wouldn’t be surprised if that was humble Mr. Smith’s idea in the first place.  Anyway, his stuff is definitely worth a look.