LEADERSHIP STARTS WITH YOU

If you don’t invest in developing your leadership, who will?

  • You can’t wait until you are given or promoted to a leadership position.
  • You don’t start with followers and then develop your leadership.
  • In order to be a leader of others, you must first become a leader of yourself.

The real secret to developing strong, lasting leadership starts with YOU learning how to lead YOU. Because the people whom you’ll eventually lead are wondering: If I can’t trust you to lead YOU, how can I trust you to lead ME?

Leadership Starts With You is solid, simple and fun to read. It captures precisely where the leadership journey really begins—with self leadership. Young leaders will benefit from the practical, down to earth tips included in this book. I recommend it to students and youth workers alike.
Tim Elmore, Founder of GrowingLeaders.com

You need to take a couple of hours and read this book. Then you need to take the next three months and start to develop habits that will strengthen your ability to lead yourself well.

Hey Tim, life has been a bit hectic for me. So I haven’t had time to give you my opinion of the book. But before too much time passes I want you to know I LOVED it. I literally think about a piece of the book almost daily. The biggest one is you inspired me to go for it and do P90X and the other was the part about…I forget how it goes but about, a year from now what aspect of your life will you regret having not done or changed? For me it was getting fit again and the second is writing. I don’t do it everyday and I’m trying. I also recommended the book to every leader I know and my husband is considering using it and handing it out to his staff members (he and 4 other partners run a software company). Anyway, awesome job, love your blog too and I will keep spreading the word. [=)]
Kelly Miller

The thing is, leading yourself first is as important for the leader of a Fortune 500 Company as it is for the student who leads his or her club at school. Most leaders fail, not because of the way they lead others, but because of the way they lead themselves. Over the course of my experience, there is one distinguishing characteristic that separates effective and ineffective leaders more than any other – the intentional effort to lead oneself well before trying to lead others well.

Love this book! Great quick reading with tons of short, but succinct leadership insights: Before they fall in line behind you, they want to see if you can lead YOU. Oh such wise words. Tim does a great job hitting these and many other points to clarify it’s important to get one’s own “house” in order before attempting to lead others. Well done and a great “Must Read” for all management types from new supervisors to senior execs.
Liz Weber, Author of Something Needs To Change Around Here

LEVERAGE SELF-LEADERSHIP INTO SUCCESSFUL LEADERSHIP

Here’s the Table of Contents:

THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO KNOW
KEEP THE PROMISES YOU MAKE TO YOURSELF
DISCIPLINE SOUNDS LIKE PUNISHMENT
CONSISTENCY
GROW YOURSELF
INVEST YOUR TIME
THE DAILY CHECK – IN
THE TO-DAY LIST
ONE YEAR FROM NOW
TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOURSELF
RESPONSIBILITY (PART 2)
THE CORPORATION OF YOU
YOU’RE NOT A MONK
NO SHORTCUTS TO GOOD CHARACTER
STRETCH YOURSELF – THE LAW OF THE RUBBER BAND
EXERCISE
WAYS I GET IN MY OWN WAY
LEARNING FROM MY MISTAKES
HOW DO YOU TALK TO YOURSELF?
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
THE POWER OF EXAMPLE
HUMILITY
SERIOUSLY?

The subtitle of this 115 page book is “If I can’t trust you to lead You, how can I trust you to lead ME?” It is a good question and it informs the reader of the journey they are about to embark on – a introspective and, if taken seriously, occasionally stark look at ourselves and our personal leadership.

Tim weaves personal stories with pointed questions for us to ask ourselves about our own leadership journey. There is great stuff about time and choice management, about learning and growth, about responsibility and more.

He does more than raise good questions, he shares some of the tools and practices that he uses. Chances are, some of these will be more instructive or useful to you than others, but all are valuable.

Given the brevity, I looked forward to reading this book in one sitting, but I was unable to – it raised too many questions for me to ponder. I had to stop and think and journal, not just keep reading!

It is well written and well intentioned. And…it is, by far, the best value in leadership reading I’ve experienced this year.

Kevin Eikenberry

I’ve got one question: Did the same amount of money you spent on that double, no-foam, non-fat, hazelnut latte help you lead yourself any better?

It probably made you feel better, but it didn’t help you lead better. I know that the same amount of money spent on this book can help you do the following…

  • Keep the promises you make to yourself as a way to keep the promises you make to others.
  • Develop a disciplined framework to your life.
  • Apply The Rhodium Rule – the one rule that tells you why self-leadership is so important.
  • Create a growth P.L.A.N. that actually works.
  • Get the most value out of each day.
  • Take responsibility for your life rather than accept it.
  • Assess your own character to identify your own blind spots.
  • Capitalize on improving your physical health to improve all other areas of your life.
  • Take an authentic look at your life and approach your shortcomings with humility.
  • Lead yourself in front of others to develop influence with others.

In addition, I provide a variety of tools, assessments, and practical action steps for you to put to work immediately in your own life.

I can’t count how many times I’ve seen a leader struggle or fail because he or she tried to lead others before leading him or herself. Look around. Newspapers, cable and social networks are littered with stories of leaders who had to step down because they didn’t establish a strong, internal framework on which to build their leadership.

WHY SHOULD YOU READ THIS BOOK?

There are many books out there that speak to the issue of leadership. But very few take the time to develop one’s ability to lead him or herself well. I believe you should read this book for three reasons:

1. You leading you has a direct impact on the way you lead them.
2. This is a fast read with a slow process.
3. I can’t say it enough…self-leadership precedes successful leadership.

THIS IS SO WORTH IT! I GUARANTEE IT!

I want to develop leaders who last. I’ve made this book extremely accessible to anyone who wants that as well. But if you read through it and feel like it wasn’t helpful – I’ll refund your money. No questions asked.

START RIGHT NOW!

It will take you a couple of hours to read the book in its entirety. But it will take the rest of your life to develop and improve in the discipline of leading yourself well. Click the buy button (on the right) and start identifying where you can improve and grow today. If you really want to be an effective leader, remember that it starts with you.