The Everyday Leader: Masterfully Lead the People Who Must Report to You

The Everyday Leader is titled to reflect the wide range of leadership roles that place people “in charge” of the success of others. Whether you are a committee chair, mid-level manager, community leader, entrepreneur, or senior executive, if you are responsible for getting the best from direct reports or other workgroups, you wield considerable influence over those in your charge every day. Why not become the best at it?

The Everyday Leader is not a novel; it is a resource designed for leaders to use on an ongoing basis. It provides timely insights, stories, and strategies that can be applied as leadership situations emerge.

Based on experience and research, there is no question that building and sustaining a work environment that motivates, challenges, and excites people to do their best work produces significant benefits for both organizations and individuals. The quality of the work environment a leader creates or inherits can have lasting effects on employees’ health, aspirations, and home lives.

Masterful leaders with supervisory responsibilities are skilled in several areas. Among the most important are “people” capabilities, including:

• Building trusting relationships
• Inspiring each employee to perform at a high level
• Identifying and leveraging individual talents
• Creating a motivating culture of accountability
• Achieving desired and required results

The people-leadership role has the most direct influence on employees, the quality of their work, and how they feel about doing it.

The Everyday Leader supports leaders at every level. It synthesizes some of the most practical and accessible research on leading people. It also presents real-world leadership experiences from the trenches, along with concise explanations of concepts and ideas relevant to leadership today.

Throughout the book, readers will encounter relatable stories involving middle managers, community leaders, chief executives, and their direct reports. The book also offers practical approaches for helping each leader chart a path forward. Its collection of tools, reflection questions, worksheets, and recommended actions can be used and adapted to help leaders become more effective at guiding teams toward outstanding performance.

If Gallup is correct that only 10 percent of the working population is naturally equipped to lead and manage workgroups, The Everyday Leader seeks to ensure that readers either become part of that 10 percent or help increase it. By providing practical resources and support, the book equips leaders to help teams in any setting thrive and contribute meaningfully.

You can lead your direct reports humanely, genuinely, and masterfully.