In 2015, Jim Clifton, former CEO and current chairman at Gallup, one of the most respected survey and business analysis organizations in the world said this…

“Most CEOs I know honestly don’t care about employees or take an interest in human resources…Since CEOs don’t care, they put little to no pressure on their HR departments to get their cultures right, which allows HR to unwittingly implement all kinds of development and succession strategies that don’t work...

Now, here’s a truly frightening number Gallup has uncovered: Organizations fail to choose the candidate with the right talent for the manager job a whopping 82% of the time. Virtually all companies try to fix bad managers with training. Nothing fixes a bad manager.” (my bolding)

Add to this the fact that 85% of newly promoted managers and team leads never receive any training, mentoring, or support for their role and you have a steaming hot mess in the making. So, I thought maybe these newbie leaders and enlightened old-timers might need a little love and support - hence my book, “Leading Without Losing Your Sh*t.”

The reality which I experienced as a manager, a manager of managers, and a managing consultant for over 35 years has compelled me to author a book that consciously doesn’t replicate the bromide-laced, banal, business leadership books out there today. Let me walk that back a bit. Those books have a place in leadership support world, but “the elephant in the room” or “the dead horse on the table” (choose your favorite corporate metaphor) is that in the trenches, assuming a leadership role in a corporate environment is challenging on multiple levels; little to no training and ongoing support as mentioned above, often an unmanageable span of control (translated - too many direct reports), and unclear mandates and direction from above.

So, if you wanna be one of the 18 percenters check out the book and change the world of business - incrementally of course.