A Day in the Life of a Senior Leader

Introduction

We’re going to do this backward.

If everything goes to plan, this will be the fourth book I’ve written on the topic of leadership. All four have been constructed from existing articles from my blog as well as book-specific new material. All four have a distinct “I’m going to tell you this story about this situation in such a manner that you can derive the lessons that are important to you” vibe. It’s how this one starts.

You must understand that while this approach is a stylistic choice, it is also a personal crutch. I deeply despise being told what to do. Why? I don’t know. I had an older sister. I don’t like bullies. Avoidant personality. The point is, my default leadership style is to hang back, take it all in, throw out the occasional insight, nod here, and push there. My leadership style has been called “gentle” many times. “A good listener.” “Personal” is another one. “Lacking a North Star” was one that stung pretty hard.

I don’t want to tell you what to do; I want you to have the ambition and experience to figure it out for yourself.

This, I’ve realized after decades of leadership, is bad advice.

Inefficient Advice

Bad is too strong. Inefficient is a better description.

My poetic, hands-off storytelling might be easy to read, but what leaders need is a good signal from trusted sources as quickly as possible. This is why much of the book will eschew my prior stylings and get straight to the point:

1. You need to do this.

2. Right now.

3. Here’s why.

The irony ...