Being an Exceptional Leader guides the reader in creating a unique leadership path by helping them understand what they need, what to avoid, which beliefs and behaviors matter, and which to use more often to move toward becoming an exceptional leader. The opportunity exists to learn:
· What drives our behavior as leaders, often outside our conscious awareness?
· We realize that some of the beliefs we hold about leadership are more critical than we might imagine in determining whether we are, or can be, leaders.
· We will inevitably encounter speed bumps and roadblocks along our leadership path. Being an Exceptional Leader offers a deeper understanding of the seven forces that are constantly at play and influence how we lead. We gain insight into how forces such as stress, trigger events, extreme behaviors, MUST thinking, and our minds are constantly at play, influencing how we function as leaders, or not.
· The book guides readers to use the game-changing insights and skills it offers so they can apply their best thinking and behaviors more often, without forces that obscure or undermine their effectiveness as leaders.
· More than anything else, Being an Exceptional Leader offers new knowledge that provides an opportunity to learn how to thrive and flourish as a leader, be a driving force for change, achieve results by working skillfully with people, and sustain the ability to move beyond current performance by building the capacity to be an exceptional leader.
Growth is necessary for any organization to survive and flourish, and it is equally essential for leaders to prosper. We were not born leaders; instead, we develop into leaders through what we learn from our experiences, which can enhance or diminish our ability to lead. If you are stepping into a management role or looking to build foundational capacity, this serves as an essential book on becoming a leader & developing leadership skills from the ground up.”
Leadership is the most valued and important element in any business, and it is in high demand yet in short supply. The central question we need to ask ourselves about leadership is whether we want to remain the leaders we are in our thinking and behavior, become more than the leaders we are now, or become exceptional leaders, more than we ever imagined. For people running their own ventures, that question is why this reads as the best business leadership book for entrepreneurs & professionals.
We will inevitably encounter speed bumps and roadblocks along our leadership path. Being an Exceptional Leader offers a deeper understanding of the seven forces that are constantly at play and influence how we lead. The book guides readers to gain the game-changing insights and skills it offers, so they can use their best qualities and behaviors more often, without these forces obscuring or blurring their effectiveness as leaders.
Our ability to grow and excel depends on what we value as leaders, what we believe, and how we choose to behave. We must understand what can undermine our ability to lead. By identifying our strongest behaviors and beliefs, we can consistently choose to be leaders who strive to be exceptional. We must not forget what we learned yesterday as we focus on today and plan for tomorrow. The central question we need to ask ourselves about leadership is whether we want to remain the leaders we are, become more than we are now, or become exceptional leaders.
More than anything else, Being an Exceptional Leader offers new knowledge that provides an opportunity to learn how to thrive and flourish as a leader, be a driving force for change, achieve results by working skillfully with people, and sustain your ability to move beyond your current performance by building the capacity to be an exceptional leader, more than you ever imagined.
Most books on strategic leadership hand you a theoretical framework and leave you to figure out Monday morning. Being an Exceptional Leader by John Thinnes works the other way around: every chapter ends with immediate, practical actions you can apply with your team that week, guiding you to understand what you need, what to avoid, which beliefs and behaviors matter, and which to use more often to move toward becoming an exceptional leader. That week-by-week structure is what makes it a leadership & management book for new & middle managers rather than a theory text.
Uncovering Unconscious Mindsets & Strategic Traps
Being a leader is often more challenging than we imagined. As an emotional intelligence leadership book, it makes it easier to understand what it means to lead and what it takes to move beyond your current performance. You will gain the opportunity to learn what drives your leadership behaviors, often outside your conscious awareness, including how stress, trigger events, extreme behaviors, MUST thinking, undercurrents, and gap traps influence your ability to lead.
The book moves from self-awareness to team dynamics to long-horizon strategy, in that order, because leaders who skip the first step tend to stall at the third. Each section is short enough to read in one sitting:
- Adapting Style to Situation: Understand how directive, coaching, consensus, and delegating approaches actually land with different people, and when to switch between them. If you have been searching through books on leadership styles to find practical approaches rather than abstract theory, this volume covers how style functions on the ground.
- Building Repeatable Plans: Read market signals, pressure-test assumptions, and build a plan your team can repeat without you in the room. When readers look for books on strategic leadership, they often want language they can use immediately; this book acts as a working manual for mid-market and growing organizations.
- Scripts for Tough Situations: Use proven scripts and openings for performance issues, layoffs, missed promotions, and peer conflict.
- Sustainable Motivation: Learn why recognition, autonomy, and clear purpose outperform traditional incentives, along with the daily habits that make them stick. While many leadership motivation books focus purely on inspiration, this section gives you actionable routines to build sustainable drive.
- Team Reflection Frameworks: Work through 3 to 5 questions closing every chapter, written specifically for personal journaling or a leadership team discussion.
Navigating the Seven Forces of Organizational Friction
We inevitably encounter speed bumps along our path. Being an Exceptional Leader offers a deeper understanding of the seven forces constantly at play in your organization. By identifying your strongest behaviors and beliefs, you can navigate these forces without letting them obscure your effectiveness.
Distinct Advantages Over Standard Market Options
- Books on Strategic Leadership: Search for top books on strategic leadership and you will find lists dominated by enterprise case studies. This book offers direct language for mid-market leaders managing real-world team dynamics.
- Books on Leadership Styles: Rather than buying separate titles, you get style, communication, and strategy integrated into one volume.
- Leadership Motivation Books: Unlike standard leadership motivation books that rely on high-level encouragement, this work is exercise-driven, offering tools you can use with a supervisor who missed a deadline.
- Books on Leadership Excellence: Gallup research shows companies pick the wrong person for management roles about 82% of the time. While many books on leadership excellence remain light on daily execution, Dr. John Thinnes draws on executive experience as an author of an influential leadership book to deliver a clear route to lasting competence.
Target Audience & Operational Scenarios
Our ability to grow and excel depends on what we value, what we believe, and how we choose to behave. This book is designed for:
- New Managers: Build a strong foundation during your first 90 days.
- Directors and Owners: Pull back from daily firefighting to think two or three years out using proven principles found in top books on strategic leadership.
- HR Leaders and Cohorts: Assign a chapter a week across a team to leverage the built-in reflection prompts.
Whether you want to refine your approach using insights from books on leadership styles, utilize a practical book on leadership for women and men alike to navigate complex team dynamics, or build long-term capacity through top books on leadership excellence, Being an Exceptional Leader offers new knowledge to help you thrive, flourish, and lead with clarity.
Frequently Asked Questions: Books on Strategic Leadership
The five pillars are commonly described as vision, alignment, execution, adaptability, and people development. The book treats them as a practical checklist to revisit each quarter.
The 7 C’s most often cited are character, competence, communication, commitment, courage, compassion, and conviction. The chapters on style and difficult conversations map directly to character, communication, and courage.
Researchers in Harvard Business Review identified six: anticipate, challenge, interpret, decide, align, and learn. Readers looking through books on strategic leadership will appreciate the included self-assessment that reveals which skills need immediate attention.
Leaders can start by paying attention to the gap between the results they want and the behavior their approach produces. If the same situations repeatedly lead to strained working relationships, poor decisions, or outcomes that fall short of expectations, it may be time to reconsider how they are leading. Being an Exceptional Leader also encourages leaders to examine what happens when stress or a trigger event changes their usual behavior. Recognizing these patterns creates an opportunity to pause, understand what is driving the response, and deliberately choose a different behavior when the situation calls for it.
Understanding different leadership styles gives leaders more options when a situation changes. A style that works when a team needs clear direction may not be as effective when people need greater ownership. Leaders can examine what the situation requires, consider how their current behavior is affecting the people they lead, and adjust their approach when needed. This flexibility helps leaders make more deliberate choices instead of relying on the same response in every circumstance. Being an Exceptional Leader emphasizes that leaders have a choice in the type of leader they become and the behaviors they use along that path.
Readers should consider how the leadership principles apply to the culture, expectations, and people within their own workplace. A behavior that is effective in one setting may need to be approached differently in another. Being an Exceptional Leader encourages readers to use its knowledge and insights as a foundation for creating their own leadership path, rather than simply copying someone else’s approach. The goal is to understand which beliefs and behaviors align with the leader they want to become, then apply those lessons thoughtfully in their own environment.
Access the Content Today
Being an Exceptional Leader is available in paperback, ebook, and PDF download for readers who search for books on strategic leadership in PDF form. Bulk pricing is available for teams of 10 or more. Order yours today!