If leadership is something you’ve ever thought about, aspired to, started to do or even been doing for some time, then this book is for you! (And if you like exclamation marks, you’ll enjoy it even more!!!)

There is no cookie-cutter template for people who make great leaders. You could just be starting out on your professional journey or you could be an experienced leader looking to step up for one final, legacy-defining challenge at its end. You could be ambitious to lead in a global media corporation or burning to create and build your own tech start-up; you could be about to take your first step up into a retail management role, or feeling a little stuck in your current role and needing an impetus for change. Your experience and focus could sit squarely in business or it could lie beyond, in leading educational, charitable or government teams and organisations.

The advice here isn’t specific to any one industry or career type. It’s a leadership manifesto and a practical manual designed to help people at all stages in their career and leadership journey. As authors, we’re both business leaders, so our focus is primarily on business, but the lessons can equally apply to almost any field, be it medicine or government, the arts or science R&D.

And if you’re not quite sure that leadership is for you, or that you’re up to the job, then we’d especially encourage you to read on. Because, as we’ll discuss, the world needs more leaders and it needs to find them from many more places than it does today. Leadership is not just for the traditional, middle-class, middle-aged, privileged set. The world is changing, the doors are wide open and we want to show how you, yes you, can step up, be yourself and be a leader. Many of tomorrow’s most promising leaders are not currently putting themselves forward and we hope this book inspires more people to do just that!