Ryan Leak

Bestselling author and transformational speaker Ryan Leak shares research-based strategies for working with even the most challenging people to create more collaborative and productive teams.

Who is the most complicated person you work with?

You probably don’t have to think very hard to answer that question. You already know their name, their job title, their quirks, and their flaws. You have firsthand experience with the mental and emotional fallout they leave in their wake. You’ve seen the problems their complexity creates for everyone on their team. You wish you could fix them, solve them, ignore them, or teleport them to a parallel dimension.

But you can’t.

You have to work with them.

(You could quit, but your next job will have a complicated person waiting for you.)

That means you need effective strategies to collaborate with (nearly) anyone. Especially the picky, prickly, problematic ones.

Drawing from his global consulting experience with teams and leaders from the glitz of sports and entertainment, to the number-crunching world of finance, to the meticulous realms of insurance, pharma, and manufacturing, Ryan Leak provides proven strategies for…

• Seeing challenging individuals as human beings to understand rather than problems to solve
• Detoxing unrealistic expectations and getting comfortable with complicated
• Learning to communicate effectively in complex environments
• Embracing healthy disagreement as a tool to discover better solutions
• Setting boundaries that let people into your world without letting them run your world

“The process of learning to collaborate with difficult individuals is transformative—it’s a gateway to greater creativity, stronger teams, and increased productivity,” Leak explains. “On the other side of complicated is the wonderful, wide-open world of effective collaboration and a workplace you love.”

Experience explosive growth and success in your career and personal life by taking ownership of your personal development and understanding you don't need to know all the answers—but you do need to ask the right questions.

Whether you're a leader of ten, a hundred, or many more, there's no one more important to lead than yourself. If you're not leading yourself, why would anyone else want to follow you? Ryan Leak speaks to thousands of leaders every year, and he has learned that the most successful people have taken ownership of their own development—and in order to realize your potential, you need to fully understand yourself.

Being a great leader is not about having all the answers but asking the right questions—and that starts with careful introspection and inviting others to tell you what they see in you. Leveling Up helps you focus on the person you're becoming and think about the goals you want to accomplish. Some of the twelve strategic questions in this book include:

• What is it like to be around me? (The Self-Awareness Question)
• What credit can I give away? (The Team Player Question)
• Who knows who I really am? (The Transparency Question)
• What's my definition of success? (The Vision Question)
• Do I have to do it all? (The Rest Question)
• Am I enjoying it? (The Fun Question)

Leadership theory and business practices are important to study, but nothing is better than discovering the answers that will reveal who you are at your core, where you want to go in your career and life in general, and how you can influence and impact those around you.

Now available in trade paper! A USA TODAY Bestseller! Chasing Failure will help you remove every excuse for not pursuing the life you want to live, and that failure may just be the quickest way to success.

We all have something we'd love to do, but often our fear of failure outweighs the potential of our destiny. But what if we found out that failure could actually help us succeed?

In Chasing Failure, Ryan Leak shares the science behind why people are afraid to fail, mixing in real-life stories and adding practical steps to help us intentionally chase failure in order to embrace the opportunities that come with it. Everyone fails in life--but if you're willing to learn, improve, and grow because of your failures, you are already on the road to success.

As a motivational speaker, whether addressing people in corporations, churches, or youth events, Ryan has a message of hope: failure is right around the corner, so be brave enough to chase it! The good life is on the other side, and as he says, "God promises to be with you always, even through the failure."

Packed with wisdom, specific strategies, and a key takeaway included at the end of each chapter, Chasing Failure will help you:

• Explore whether your dream idea is worth pursuing
• Count the cost and create an action plan for your idea
• Learn how to effectively deal with criticism
• Understand how to embrace failure and learn how it can propel you

By blending personal stories, get-up-and-go encouragement, and practical step-by-step advice, Ryan Leak will show you how chasing failure could be the quickest way to success.