Leadership Without Leadership Books

Most leadership consultants have the same recycled workshop: trust falls, personality tests, and quotes from dead generals. They’re teaching you to lead MBA graduates in Fortune 500 companies while you’re trying to manage three employees who show up when they feel like it.

I’ve led teams in multiple countries, across multiple industries, from corporate boardrooms to startup chaos. I’ve hired dozens and fired dozens. I’ve built great cultures and toxic ones (learned from both). Leadership isn’t about the theories these consultants are peddling – it’s about getting real people to do real work in the real world.

Here we demolish leadership mythology: why most leadership books are worthless for small business, managing real people (not HR textbook examples), building culture without consultant workshops, the truth about remote work, and why you need to fire faster than any HR consultant would recommend. Practical leadership from someone who’s actually led, failed, and learned.