Following Your True North through Real-World Challenges
My New eBook – Published September 12, 2018
Lead True, my new eBook, is now available for FREE download. To get your copy, follow the link at the end of this article. I decided to make it free so more leaders like you will read it. My only goal with this new book is to help you become a better leader as you face life’s challenges, and for more of you to become authentic leaders who have a positive impact on the world through your efforts.
Lead True is a curated collection of the most relevant articles on important leadership topics that I have written in the recent years. Lead True will serve as a companion to my best-selling book, Discover Your True North that so many of you have read. When you have discovered your True North, it will enable you to succeed in the challenges you will confront in the real world.
Each of the articles comes with a recent commentary to update my reflections on the issues in the article. Key concepts are brought to life by many colorful illustrations put together by the Three Ships team in North Carolina that has helped me prepare and publish this exciting new book.
Having just returned from ten days of hiking and climbing in the Alps of Switzerland, France and Italy covering 70 miles and 18,000 vertical feet, I learned the importance of having compass to navigate the difficult situations that we all must confront, and to build a team around you to support you on your journey.
Lead True begins with a series of articles updating what we have learned in recent years about authentic leadership and why it has become “the gold standard for leaders.” These articles address the pitfalls in trying to “fake it to make it,” why leaders lose their way, how we can turn our crucibles into opportunities for personal growth, and having courage as the defining characteristic of great leaders.
Next, we take the journey “from I to We” by gaining self-awareness, discerning the purpose of our leadership, examining our life goals in terms of success or significance, and the role of mindfulness for leaders.
Now we are ready to confront the challenges that you as an authentic leader will confront in the workplace: the importance of being an empowering, collaborative and positive leader today, how to become an innovation leader, and coping with the inevitable short-term pressures leaders face, especially when they succumb to shareholder pressures. We look at case studies of the failed leaders of General Electric, Wells Fargo and Ford, as well as what Mark Zuckerberg could learn from Starbucks about leading in crisis. This section closes by examining how Unilever rises above consumer companies by focusing on the long-term with a multi-stakeholder approach. Next we plunge into the new era of global leaders and how they lead differently from domestic leaders.
In the final section, we examine the emerging role of leaders that engage in challenging public issues in the volatile world in which we live, addressing questions like when CEOs should take public stands on issues like global trade, diversity, discrimination, health care and philanthropy.
In the Epilogue, I reflect on my fifty years of leadership, and how leaders have changed over these years.
There is a lot to absorb in these 300 pages. My advice is to read this eBook a couple of articles at a time and reflect on how you can apply these lessons to the current leadership challenges you face. Then continue reading the articles at your leisure until you have completed them all.
If you like what you read, please pass on the link to download to your friends and colleagues.
Let me close by thanking you for your authentic leadership and the ways in which you are making a positive difference in the world. If you follow your True North, in the end you will find that leading is one of life’s most fulfilling endeavors. At the end of your journey, you will be able to look back with satisfaction not just on your accomplishments but at the positive impact you had on other people.
Here is the link for the download of Lead True: www.billgeorge.org/lead-true-ebook/.