Becoming a Student of Leadership

"Becoming a Student of Leadership - Making Leadership a Practice" is a book about leadership in the broadest sense of the word. It asserts that we all serve as leaders in some way, and we need to become students of leadership to learn how best to lead from our various positions within an organization. As students, we must practice with a drive to continually improve and with the humility to know that we'll never be finished learning. The most effective leaders spend less time trying to prove what they know and more time creating opportunities for everyone to learn. The book is written as a series of stories, meditations, and essays about various aspects of leadership including the influence of ego, the importance of humility, the power of radical candor, and the ability to address adversity with generosity and an assumption of positive intent. Many of the pieces present stories about Jeffrey's work and life experiences — and often about his mistakes and shortcomings — that led him to revelations about how to become a better leader.

"Becoming a Student of Leadership - Making Leadership a Practice" is a book about leadership in the broadest sense of the word. It asserts that we all serve as leaders in some way, and we need to become students of leadership to learn how best to lead from our various positions within an organization. As students, we must practice with a drive to continually improve and the humility to know that we'll never be finished learning. The most effective leaders spend less time trying to prove what they know and more time creating opportunities for everyone to learn. The book is written as a series of stories, meditations, and essays about various aspects of leadership including the influence of ego, the importance of humility, the power of radical candor, and the ability to address adversity with generosity and an assumption of positive intent. Many of the pieces present stories about Jeffrey's work and life experiences — and often about his mistakes and shortcomings — that led him to revelations about how to become a better leader.

Current leaders will find "Becoming a Student of Leadership" useful not because it offers radically new ideas on effective leadership but because it draws readers in with personal anecdotes that remind us of how to be an inspired leader. It reminds us of our human imperfections and encourages us to challenge our views and perspectives. It helps us to check our egos and seek to discover our blind spots and weaknesses that diminish our ability to lead and inspire from a place of humility.

Managers will benefit from the book because they, too, need to understand the difference between effectively delegating and oppressively micromanaging. Many of the stories included in these pages will remind managers how introducing meaning, purpose, and possibility to the work of the team, rather than being an officious taskmaster, will inspire higher levels of engagement, motivation, and productivity across the organization.

Young professionals and aspiring leaders who have known too few inspiring and too many misguided leaders will also find hope and value in reading about how the path to leadership starts right here, right now, and is taken with intentionality, humility, and practice. They will learn that leadership is not about obtaining and wielding power, but about making connections with the team, creating a compelling vision, and generating energy and excitement about the work ahead.

In fact, "Becoming a Student of Leadership" has something for everyone – the opportunity to discover the leader in all of us. We all have a reason to lead effectively at some point in our lives. The essays, meditations, and anecdotes found in these pages are written as a series of reminders about leadership concepts many of us may already know, but they shine a new light on how to lead in ways that make others eager to follow.

The book was not written as a linear narrative or in chronological order, nor was it written as a step-by-step guide to becoming a leader. It's more of a collage of meditations and reflections on relationships, work dynamics, and our own internal narratives that encourages readers to be reflective about these dynamics as they engage in leadership. Although readers may find it useful to read the book straight through from beginning to end, they may also choose to jump around to sections that they find of interest at a given moment (or in response to a particular challenge) in their leadership journey.

With over 30 years of professional experience building and leading high-performing teams, Jeffrey Page is still working on his leadership practice. He is currently working as the vice president of operations for a small government IT consulting business, Precise Software Solutions. Prior to his current work in the private sector, Jeffrey spent over 27 years working for the federal government. He served as the chief operating officer at the Corporation for National and Community Service (now named AmeriCorps) from 2014 to 2017, and as budget director from 1998 to 2005. From 2005 to 2014, Jeffrey worked as the chief financial Officer for the Library of Congress. Jeffrey began his career as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and he spent 12 years working with the Peace Corps – 10 in Africa and two at Peace Corps headquarters. Early in his career, Jeffrey decided to become a student of leadership, studying the leaders he worked with (good and bad) and transforming his learning into an intentional practice. He has approached his leadership practice with a persistent drive to learn and with the humility to know he'll never be done learning. As part of Jeffrey's learning process, he has designed and led leadership development programs, facilitated workshops, given talks to professional groups, offered courses, published articles, written a leadership blog, and mentored and advised executives, senior managers, and aspiring leaders on leadership topics including emotional intelligence, radical candor, ego, humility, work relations, communication, and customer service. Jeffrey was born and raised and attended college in northern California. He currently lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, where he enjoys spending time with family and friends and walking his dogs Xena and Piper with his wife Lisa.