The Leadership Dojo
Build Your Foundation as an Exemplary Leader, by Richard Strozzi-Heckler
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New book The Leadership Dojo reveals the innovative techniques that have helped tens of thousands on five continents become more effective & compassionate leaders.

Describing leadership as both a role and a way of life, Richard Strozzi-Heckler provides an alternative to the glut of quick-fix motivational books that are becoming all too familiar. Strozzi-Heckler’s The Leadership Dojo: Build Your Foundation as an Exemplary Leader finally shares the same teachings that he has brought to Fortune 500 executives, top-ranked military leaders, and social entrepreneurs. His unique blend of martial arts mastery with time-tested business strategies has worked for tens of thousands of clients.

Based on the increasingly popular bodywork method of somatics (a unity of language, action, energy, and meaning), Strozzi-Heckler provides an innovative approach to leadership that allows practitioners to take new actions that increase trust, motivation, and effectiveness in their organization.

Strozzi-Heckler writes, “Bookstores are filled with stories of great leaders and what they did in certain situations, but nothing about how leadership is learned.” The Leadership Dojo combats this by including in each chapter sets of “practices” that serve as simple, everyday strategies for incorporating this methodology into one’s life.

Of Strozzi-Heckler’s training of U.S. Marine Corps, The Wall Street Journal has said, it’s “focused as much on the soul as it is on the soldiering.” The Leadership Dojo combines the precision of the military with a set of spiritual and mental practices that allow the reader to develop lifelong leadership skills.

Advance Praise:

"Strozzi-Heckler, a martial arts expert, former marine, and executive coach for AT&T and Microsoft, provides a decidedly mystical primer on leadership. Effective managers, he says, must cultivate their inner "warrior spirit"—becoming, à la George Washington in the Revolutionary War, the physical embodiment of their organizations. Unorthodox, sure, but it worked against the British." 
U.S. News & World Report 

“…Richard Strozzi-Heckler draws on his vast coaching experience and encyclopedic knowledge of somatics to pinpoint the true source of leadership…The result is a pragmatic, powerful, and promising approach, worthy of study by anyone seeking to educate, train, or develop leaders to do well and do good at the same time.”

James N. Baron - William S. Beinecke Professor of Management, Yale School of Management

“The teams that I led using this training met goals on time and under budget. Team members became effective leaders who went on to bigger roles and responsibilities. I would not dream of leading a team without relying on the teachings of Richard Strozzi-Heckler. It would be like skiing without the snow.”

Nancy J. Hutson - Senior Vice President, Pfizer Research & Development 

“In this day and age, the question confronting all sectors is how to develop exemplary leaders who embody their message. The Leadership Dojo goes far beyond the traditional concept of leadership development, illuminating fresh practices to guide this quest. A must-read for leaders and leadership development professionals alike.”

Richard J. Leider - Founder, The Inventure Group, bestselling author of Repacking Your Bags & The Power of Purpose

Book Description

History is filled with accounts of great leaders, but how did they become so? Written for emergent leaders in any endeavor, this new work from renowned consultant Richard Strozzi-Heckler offers a new approach toleadership. The first book of its kind to base business and management strength on integral body awareness, the book presents key principles such as shugyo, or self-cultivation, as crucial in developing the individualresponsibility, social commitment, and moral and spiritual vision required to lead with authority and efficacy. The Leadership Dojo is based on three questions: What does a leader do? What are the character values most essential to exemplary leadership? How do you teach these values? Drawing on the wisdom of ages from Plato to the Bhagavad-Gita, from Thucydides to the Abidharma, the book asserts that understanding and answering these questions holds the key to superior leadership skills. Strozzi-Heckler teaches with real-world examples based on his wide experience training decision-makers at companies like AT&T and Microsoft. The book’s multifaceted approach helps readers establish a powerful Leadership Presence, a platform from which they can take ethical action with compassion and pragmatic wisdom.