Five Takeaways For Agency Owners Who Want To Be Better Leaders

Human brains are hardwired for stories. If you want a book that has impact and influence, focus on the stories in your book, articles, and speaking.

Robert Kaplan is an executive coach who wanted to help leaders who are struggling to be better.

“Often that means grappling with yourself, and it’s not necessarily easy or straightforward,” says Kaplan, author of Grappling: Leaders Striving to Improve (2024, River Grove Books.)

It’s a book of short stories that bring to life what it’s like to work on yourself with the help of a trained person—the challenge of improving yourself.

A book like this might be a great way for you to market with a book that you are proud of.

I helped Kaplan edit the stories based on real people he coached (but names and details are changed to protect confidentiality).

“You don’t just witness these leaders in the office,” says Kaplan, president of Kaplan DeVries (no relation), consultants to senior managers on leadership. “You get to follow them into their homes. Their spouses get involved.” ?

Do you have questions about marketing with a book and speech?

If you want to join our monthly marketing with a book and speech community Q&A session with special guest Bob Kaplan, please join us at 10 am PT on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Yes, we know it's election day. To register, please visit www.indiebooksintl.com/events

You can ask Bob, my associate editor-in-chief Devin DeVries, or me any question you want about planning, writing, publishing, or promoting a book.

With over 30 years in leadership consulting, Kaplan has published extensively in Harvard Business Review and the Sloan Management Review, among many others. His last book was Fear Your Strengths: What You’re Best At Could Be Your Biggest Problem.

In these stories, Kaplan illuminates the myriad ways high-performing executives undermine themselves, such as through bad habits and misguided beliefs that are blind spots.

?In the book, you meet a variety of leader types: a CEO fixated on an unworkable strategy, an executive who can’t handle pushback, and a brilliant technology leader who can’t stop spewing knowledge. At the other extreme, you encounter a CEO who has trouble leaning in, a division head who lacks confidence interpersonally, and a turnaround executive focused on results, not enough on people.

?The executive coaches in each story use a 360-degree process that includes interviews with the leaders, their coworkers (bosses, peers, direct reports), and even their family members (especially the spouse.) ?

?Kaplan was an early developer of 360-degree surveys in business as a feedback tool. He invented the Leadership Versatility Index, which won a patent. He also led an R&D effort at the Center for Creative Leadership that resulted in a forerunner of executive coaching.

?“To improve is to grapple with yourself, but it’s often not a fair fight. Your interest in improving is rivaled if not overmatched by the mental factors and forces that made you what you are and keep you that way,” says Kaplan.

?Kaplan offers these takeaways for leaders who want to change:

When you try to change, often willpower isn't enough. Something stands in your way. You need to find out what it is to get it out of the way. Could it be a crooked thought, a needless fear, an overheated ambition, or an unrealistic expectation?

If self-awareness is hard to come by, then consider getting help. It wouldn't have to be a professional. An able friend could be just the thing. Ultimately, it's a fight, and the fight is with yourself. Good luck vanquishing your foe!

Working on yourself is difficult to do well alone. That's because it can quickly become uncomfortable or involve beliefs or needs you’re unaware of, as Kaplan suggests. “This is where a guide comes in, someone who knows the terrain of self-work for leaders, who listens perceptively and guides with a light hand,” says Kaplan.

Kaplan has a bachelor’s degree in English and a doctorate in organizational behavior from Yale University. He lives in New York City with his wife, Becky.

What issues are you grappling with? How would you like to be a better leader?