The strength of the book is its practitioner orientation, easy-to-use examples, and understanding of the importance of training contexts on the processes and outcomes. To improve the overall usefulness of the leadership game use, however, it would be helpful for practitioners to understand some basic principles of adult learning and how to apply them to using the games. Adults incorporate experience in the teaching-learning situation, but need guidance from facilitators. Facilitators require training in how to help participants understand the requirements of problems in learning situations as well as suggest ways to apply experience-based learning to resolve them. It is difficult to see how practitioners can use the games to meet specific learner needs, interests, motivations, and skill levels. Nothing is more practical, as Lewin suggests, than theory - or as relevant to teaching.

The author has several unstated assumptions about facilitators and the learners they guide. One is that facilitators know about the competencies of their learners beforehand and can adjust the level of instruction to meet the various skill and ability levels of the learners. The facilitator who assumes that all participants have the same level of competencies, the same degree of interests and purposes in attending the program, and the same opportunities to transfer knowledge is naïve and unprepared. Facilitators need to know when to intervene in experiential learning activities and how to inspire participants who are silent, calm those who become vocal, angry at others who unfairly grab attention and hold the floor. Facilitators should know when to step in and re-direct. They should not be told, for instance, as on p. 21, that "your job for the most part is to get out of the way and let them do it, knowing always that the debrief provides ample opportunity to discuss what happened." The author provides little criteria on intervention and even less on what type of intervention is appropriate for what condition. This knowledge is critical to the success of any training program and comes through the facilitator's own disciplined training in theories and concepts of individual and group behavior, reflection and feedback, and actual practice over time. Telling facilitators to just use "body language" as guides is like giving them a pop gun to use in a herd of charging elephants.

The author also assumes that facilitators know how to use the games to reach learning objectives and how to modify them to meet the particular needs and interests of participants. Yet, there is no discussion of how to identify learner objectives and use the exercises to reach them. Accordingly, without any specific purpose for why they are being undertaken, the exercises become ends in themselves rather than means to achieve broader purposes. Without seeing the relevance of such games, participants may find them entertaining at best, but ultimately wasteful.

The costs of a training event may be high and the payoffs, in terms of participants' immediate skills gains and contributions to organizational productivity, may not be apparent immediately. However, factored in the costs of instruction are compensation for facilitators' expertise: formal knowledge and training and practical experience with a variety of adult learners. Granted, not all facilitators are reputable. Some even border on charlatans. But given the choice between learning from someone who both knows their content areas and how to adapt them for particular purposes and learning from someone who can, at best, just let things roll, which is worth the investment?

The leadership games have much potential merit, however. Managers who send people to the high priced leadership development programs can use them to exercise their responsibilities for developing human resources. Following up on programs where theories may be ethereally out of reach with some real time problems or special projects, for instance, is an excellent way to reinforce learning and adapt it to particular needs. The exercises can also be useful for refreshing training content later. One of the most effective ways of transferring learning is for the manager or the human resources director is to schedule a brief training session three or four months after the event to practice skills and gain valuable feedback on how the training is "working."

Leadership Games makes an important contribution in that adults need to take more responsibility for what they learn, particularly through experiences. What it lacks, however, is more than a roadmap can provide. Structure and expert facilitation, clear and relevant learning objectives, and adaptation of examples based on practice are critical elements in successful leadership programs.