Leadership Memoir

In a compilation of fascinating stories, Dr. Jim Webb shares a view of visionary leaders who defied the odds to create extraordinary, lasting results in diverse environments. While guiding listeners on a journey through some of the world’s finest institutions and the influencers who produced and directed radical improvements, he shines a light on a variety of these exceptional leaders. Innovators Who Changed the World profiles the history of those who created, built, and guided organizations and people through transformation and changed the world in the process.

Stop waiting around for the career—and life—that you deserve and start taking the reins! Leading Women shows you how to claim power and respect, conquer your internal barriers, and change the world by helping other women do the same. Featuring stories from 20 nationally acclaimed female leaders, this empowering guide offers real-life advice for breaking free of the predetermined roles in the business world and life.

An in-depth look at the life of Oakland, California native, Barclay Simpson, Strong Ties focuses on the set of convictions and leadership qualities that allowed Simpson to build a successful business from nothing and to become one of the major philanthropists in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Always Leave an Airman Behind: A Real Story of Surviving the Air Force Crab Leadership Culture is a story about one airman's journey from being poor and homeless to becoming an international top performer. The story details the journey of this airman as he climbs the ranks and discovers the leadership lapses that are prevalent in the service that created a toxic culture of retribution, bullying, and pettiness that is a contributing factor to the growing military and veteran suicide epidemic.

In “The Trail to Success: A City Manager on Leadership, Management, and Civic Empowerment" Howard W. Brown Jr. shares his inspiring journey from a first generation college student to one of the youngest and few Black city managers in the nation. This memoir is not just a chronicle of Brown's rise, but also a candid account of the challenges he faced along the way. From a youthful marriage and subsequent divorce, raising two children, financial struggles, multiple relocations, to the relentless scrutiny of the media, Brown's journey was far from easy.

What this book is not: It is not a leadership academic resource, filled with principles, methodologies, laws, or processes – it’s a conversation. It’s like we sat down and shared stories over an ice-cold beer or chilled tequila on a hot, sunny day. It is an unconventional leadership book, an autobiography of lessons learned. By listening to this book, you’ll be taken on a ride with me through my personal leadership story.

Fiorina shares the lessons she's learned from both her difficulties and triumphs. Drawing on her experience as a pioneering business and nonprofit leader, a politically active citizen, and a parent, she diagnoses the largest problem facing our country today: untapped potential. Too often American men and women are held back by systems that prevent them from working and flourishing. Too many people lose hope for themselves.

La historia de Evelina Cabrera es una entre millones. Tiene, como ella dice, 70 años comprimidos en sus 33. Pasó de una infancia vulnerable a ser una referente del fútbol femenino, crear la Asociación Femenina de Fútbol Argentino y dar una conferencia en la ONU sobre su trabajo social con las mujeres, a quienes brinda herramientas para empoderarse y cambiar su vida. Evelina forma parte de una época en que las mujeres marcan un rumbo diferente, alejado de roles estereotipados, liberadas de mandatos restrictivos, y en este mundo nuevo alza su voz.

One in three will experience a significant trauma in their life. Brilliantly read by author and army Apache pilot Lt. Col. Brian L. Slade, experience the war from the cockpit as he shares his experience with trauma in Afghanistan.

In this funny, irreverent, unique, eccentric memoir, magician Steve Spill reveals how he managed to survive decades inside a rarely profitable, sometimes maddening, but often deliciously rewarding offbeat showbiz profession - magic!

Most histories of the US Army in World War II view the Mediterranean Theater of Operations primarily as a deadly training ground for very green forces, where lessons learned on the beaches of Oran, in the hills of the Kasserine Pass area, and at the collapse of the Tunis bridgehead all contributed to later success in Western Europe. Steven Barry, however, contends that victory in the MTO would not have materialized without the leadership of battalion-level commanders. They operated at a high level, despite the lack of combat experience for themselves and their troops.

Dr. Catherine "Cathy" DeAngelis has shattered numerous glass ceilings in medicine for herself and generations of women she's mentored. Raised in 1940s hardscrabble Pennsylvania coal mining country, Cathy's unyielding determination and indomitable self-belief steamrolled medicine's entrenched sexism. In a life filled with "firsts," she was named the first woman editor-in-chief of JAMA - the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Their stories needed to be told. And classmates working together, under a blanket of trust and friendship, was the only way to allow people to open up. It was a three year journey into the hearts and souls of America's youngest heroes to gather these important historical accounts, but it was worth every hour spent. Inside this book are the voices the first Annapolis graduates into a decade of war and they remind us that America is in good hands. They were walking to class on 9/11, wearing Naval Academy summer working blues, when the towers were struck.

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo shares the inspiring story of how he came to be who he is. After experiencing abuse as a child, Dr. Ladapo was incapable of connecting emotionally with other people. He was dissociated from virtually everything in his life and numbly powered through college, medical school, and residency to become a doctor and university professor. It wasn’t until he fell in love with his wife that he was forced to come face-to-face with the enormous emotional and spiritual disruption caused by his deeply buried trauma.

Nothing about Lori Van Dusen’s childhood indicated she’d become one of the nation’s top independent financial advisors. She was born prematurely on the wrong side of the tracks and with a genetic blood disorder. Her parents divorced when she and her twin brother were less than a year old. But her big, boisterous, loving Italian family, led by her beloved grandfather, a first-generation American with only an eighth-grade education, taught her that the only limitations in life are those we impose on ourselves.

From the harsh steppes of Mongolia to the boardrooms of today, one leader's principles have stood the test of time. But this isn't just another business book rehashing ancient wisdom. This is the story of how a young outcast transformed himself into history's greatest empire builder—and what his methods can teach us about navigating our own path to success.

Richard A. Stone MD is the former Deputy Surgeon General of the United States Army. He returned to government service to lead the Veterans Health Administration at the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2018. Brought on as a proven changemaker and experienced leader in an inflection point for the agency. He had no idea his tenure would be defined by the public health challenge of our lifetime.

Woman of Valor is a remarkable and true story of bravery, compassion, and rescue during the Holocaust. Eta Chait, a young Jewish woman, lived with her parents and siblings in Lukow, Poland. Woman of Valor follows her journey, from the horrors of the ghetto into the hardships of survival in the woods under the most extreme conditions. And then through her eyes as a fighter, we witness the struggles and fears of those who were trapped by the Holocaust. This is the moving story of a young woman who refused to give up.

Leadership and motivational strategies from Pat Fortenberry, a small-town girl from humble beginnings who built one of the top direct-sales organizations in the country and made more than $16 million in the process. In More than Makeup, Pat teaches skills for managing, motivating, leading, and inspiring a sales organization as well as self-improvement tools that can help anyone become a stronger leader and a better sales person.

Fulfilling the Dream: My Path to Leadership and Finding Purpose in Serving Others is an honest, eye-opening, and inspiring book about setting aside personal ego and ignoring racial and political bias to bless and benefit others. Wayman Britt's story is a tale of believing one's dreams, realizing them, and then dedicating his life to helping others imagine and achieve better lives.