The Parts of This Book

The book is made up of steps and chapters. When it comes to your leadership story, there are 10 steps—five to understand your story and five to communicate it. Each step guides you through questions, activities, and tips to give you a deeper understanding of your story and help you ultimately to become a better leader. Although all of the steps are meant to fit together, you may find it necessary to spend more time on one step than another.

In chapter 1, we try to define just what leadership is. What enhances it and what compromises it? Why do others sometimes have a view of your leadership that is very different from what you see in the mirror? We also meet Bob. He will be with us throughout the book as he tackles each step, right along with you.

In chapter 2, we focus on defining and understanding what the current and ideal versions of your leadership story are. Each step in this chapter deals with a different story element; it includes an overview of the element and why it is important, five reflective questions, five activities designed to further create self-awareness and drive action, and three quick tips.

Stories take place over time, and they have a beginning, middle, and end. When it comes to your leadership story, the narrative arc is that point in your career when it all comes together. In chapter 3, you will have the opportunity to identify and reflect upon where you are on your narrative arc, as well as the people and events that have had the greatest influence on who you are as a leader.

In chapter 4, we focus on how you can best communicate your leadership story. The steps take you through knowing your message and audience, looking for and maximizing moments of truth, understanding the role of actions and other nonverbal communication, and enlisting others to help you tell your leadership story. Each step provides an overview of the topic and why it is important. I also include reflective questions to help you think about how to communicate your leadership story, strategies to help you refine the message of your leadership story, and a short anecdote to illustrate that aspect of storytelling.

I end the book with a conclusion and resources. The conclusion ties all of the concepts together and provides final thoughts for you to consider. It provides an opportunity for you to look back at the whole process of understanding and communicating your story. My hope is that at the conclusion of this book, you are better prepared for challenges and rewards of leadership. Further, I hope that you are more inspired and that you have a greater ability to inspire those you lead.

The resources section provides a quick guide to the activities you can do yourself and those to give to others. It also gathers in one central place the reflective questions designed to help you understand and communicate your story, and the tips from each step in the process.

The perspective and activities in this book are meant to establish a process for reflection, to put in place an understanding that will help you avoid blind spots and become the author of your leadership story. After reading this book and working through some of the reflective questions and activities, you will have a better understanding of the current and ideal versions of your leadership story. You will also have strategies to communicate your leadership story.

So, if you are ready, let's get started.