Powered by experience and fuelled by passion, this collection of essays talks to the heart of what it means to be a business leader and what it takes to get there. The essence of the book focuses on the importance of understanding and knowing yourself as an essential prerequisite for leadership success.

If you are picking this book up hoping for a tightly researched Harvard Business School style set of theoretical essays on leadership, then you will be sadly disappointed. What you will find in here instead are a series of inspirational voices and insights into the very real world of business leadership, all of which are battle-hardened, no-nonsense viewpoints that need to be read and understood.

Blending large, global corporate experiences and realities with the challenges that face entrepreneurs in every aspect of setting up and leading emerging business, each bite-sized chapter is designed to make you pause, reflect and do something differently tomorrow.
This is Ian Russell’s second collection of essays, following on from the success of the internationally well received The Other End of the Telescope, and he draws upon over three decades of global experience to provide a series of impactful and meaningful messages for all leaders, in his usual irreverent and hard-hitting style.
Ian’s insights are augmented and amplified by four other contributors from a unique set of backgrounds and experiences:

Laura Thomas, the millennial founder of creative agency Salt&Candy, tackles head-on the realities of bootstrapping a business in this frank, unvarnished and absorbing journey of self-discovery which has given her the inner strength to succeed where many others fail.

Pepe Marais, co-founder of the brand and communication group Joe Public, writes movingly about the magnificent power of the unconscious mind and its incredible manifestation power when operating on the instinct of the heart and the gut.

Luvuyo Rani, founder and CEO of perhaps South Africa’s most successful township technology business, Silulo Technology, writes about the criticality of an overarching purpose in overcoming the odds, and the lessons he has learnt from trying to tackle the digital divide.

Bart Peterson, president and CEO of the Christel House International group of schools, tackles the balance between courage, arrogance and belief, as he draws on his experience of being the first Democrat elected in 36 years as Mayor of Indianapolis and pushing through important but unpopular legislation.

Press the pause button, sit down and take the time to reflect on your own leadership journey. Go and discover the Upside of Being Yourself.

The Upside of being Myself and Other Leadership Stories will be released in September 2022