What is it? What not?

What it is?
De Summa is a vademecum – a personal travel companion – for persons aiming for enduring leadership results. It brings together a number of  essential principles that can be actioned as well in for-profit as not-for-profit situations.
‘de Summa’ aims to be a concise compilation for frequent personal use. It is a pocket book, a traveller’s guide (vademecum) that allows the user to quickly check possible insights or options for action.
The Summa has been stripped of nearly all examples, narratives, references, examples.  This is done purposely. I believe strongly in the power of self-reflection, self-discovery and self-learning.  It is your life, your future. You have to own it.  I hope the ‘voids’ left in the texts will provoke you to find your own insights.  In the spirit of ancient masters in Greece, Rome, Japan, China, and so many other cultures, the path to self-realisation is yours, not theirs.  They are merely there as a source for you to access.  None of them ever said that the path to self-realisation was supposed to be easy. Actually it isn’t. But it is so, so rewarding…

What it is not?
‘de Summa’ is not a book with a commercial aim. It is a manuscript. It aims to help readers/users to discover+develop their own way. It aims to help individuals to contribute to the collective, to progress, to the future. That is why it is personalised, not commercialised.
As such, the Leadership   ‘Summa’   is the opposite of a Management book. It features neither the latest research insights nor is it an exhaustive textbook; it is neither filled with specific case studies nor with lots of narratives from a range of industries or CEO’s. The ‘Summa’ is just what it is: a summa-ry with mostly ‘essentials’ and some ‘optionals’.

How to make best use of it?
It is best to NOT read the manuscript in one go.
Every section might trigger a thought, provoke an insight you were longing for in the context you are in now. Reading too many sections back-to-back will trigger too many thoughts and not help to clarify the situation you are in. Rather, like a ‘lonely planet guide’, use the vademecum as you journey along.
It truly matters to stop and go. E.g. by re-reading a specific section you read before. One that relates to the situation you are in now. And then to compare: in my situation, what exactly is going on here? What is happening when we strip the situation of all smoke and mirrors? The trigger to an insight might be hidden in a summa principle, but equally well in the illustration graphic, inside a working definition, or even in the plain text.
Then wonder: what would work for me? How would this work for me?
Sometimes, this trigger will allow you to make up your mind, take a decision and move to action. Sometimes not. Then pause and take up your companion-book at another time, when more intel or insight is available.

Buy it HERE.