About
Great leadership isn’t about winning. It’s not about pleasing people, and it’s certainly not about titles. Great leadership is about making the contribution only you can make for your family and friends, your community or organization, your country or the world. But having that influence requires us to “grow into-and take ownership of-who we are and what we stand for.” The journey isn’t automatic. Leadership maturity isn’t the natural byproduct of aging. It requires wisdom, courage and effort. Too many people find themselves stuck under the weight of their circumstances, so they don’t realize their potential.
Based in decades of research on adult development, The Map explains how we can take control of our growth and accelerate progress in leadership, life, and legacy.
Authors
For the past twenty-five years, Keith Eigel has been focused on growing leaders across corporate, nonprofit, ministry, family, and educational settings. He cofounded and heads up the team at The Leaders Lyceum, an organization dedicated to facilitating the growth of executive and next generation leaders. Keith received his Masters and Doctorate in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the University of Georgia. He and his wife Leigh headquarter their varying influence with their four children from their Atlanta, Georgia home.
Karl Kuhnert has dedicated his entire adult life to understanding great leadership. On the faculty at the University of Georgia since 1987, he chaired the Industrial/Organizational Psychology Program for eight years and has been recognized as the Undergraduate Teacher of the Year four times. Karl received his Doctorate from Kansas State University, but still has a special place in his heart for Penn State where on scholarship he played football and learned the values of education and resoluteness. Karl and his wife Gay live with their two daughters in Athens, Georgia.
Endorsements
Effective leaders are grounded in their values and secure in who they are – a maturity not easily won and achieved by too few. In clear and compelling terms, The Map charts a tangible course for accelerating growth to become the kind of genuine leaders that our organizations, communities, families and even the world urgently need.
John L. Thornton
Chairman: Barrick Gold Corporation and The Brookings Institute
Former President of Goldman Sachs
_________________________________________________________
The Leaders who have changed the world have stood on their values. They have been shaped by the challenges they have faced more than the privileges of their upbringing. It is not an easy road, but it is an easy burden. The Map points us in the right direction.
Ambassador Andrew Young
_________________________________________________________
Few books about leadership are as thoughtful and insightful as The Map. Using abundant examples and their own meticulous research, the authors give leaders at all levels a guide on how to lean into challenges and take control of their journeys to more effective leadership. They argue persuasively that everyone can get to the “Promised Land.”
John E. Schlifske
Chairman and CEO: Northwestern Mutual
_________________________________________________________
The Map provides a tectonic shift in our thinking about how leaders can be most effective in their roles. It takes us beyond knowledge and skills to how experiences can be a transformative crucible for the highest level of leadership.
Dale E. Jones
CEO: Diversified Search
Corporate Director: Kohls and Northwestern Mutual Life
_________________________________________________________
“I’m still journeying toward my Promise Land, and I am grateful to have Keith and Karl’s “Map” to guide me. Indeed, The Map has been the one thing that has kept me from straying too far off course. Readers who genuinely want to grow will find Keith and Karl’s insights invaluable professionally and personally. May the true journey, with all its highs and lows, now begin!”
Stuart Gulley, PhD
President: Woodward Academy (largest independent School in the continental US)
Author: “The Academic President as Moral Leader: James T. Laney at Emory
University, 1977-1993,”
_________________________________________________________
This book is a must read. It provides fresh analytical insights and tools for aspiring, new and seasoned leaders who want to bring their inward and outward journey into greater focus. I can testify, too! Supplemented by a one-on-one engagement with Dr. Eigel, these principles helped me to discover the pathway to a much more developed version of myself, to the benefit of those in both my personal and professional life. I now have a deeper spiritual energy and a richer psychological tendency to pause and step back from high-pressure situations and, with great timing, re-enter ready, willing and able to add the highest value. That has made me a better leader and a better man!
Dr. John Sylvanus Wilson, Jr.
11th President of Morehouse College
Former Executive director: The White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
_________________________________________________________
Making our way through the journey of life is full of challenges. Eigel and Kuhnert have shown us how those very challenges are actually the fuel for taking us further down the path that life has gifted us. They have also shown that engaging this journey is the key to improving the quality and effectiveness of our leadership – in the broadest sense possible. To do this they have taken a very complex subject, human developmental growth, and conveyed the essential points with an elegant simplicity. The combination of ideas, stories and practices presented in The Map can aid anyone in the work of leading in our own lives and in serving those around us.
Jonathan Reams, PhD
Associate Professor: Education and Lifelong Learning
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Editor in Chief: Integral Review Journal
Co-founder: The Center for Transformative Leadership and The European Center for Leadership Practice.
_________________________________________________________
The Map brings the process of psychological growth to the center of leadership development. It is challenging to be successful at leadership without psychological growth and development. As someone who has spent years studying the risks of narcissistic leadership, and someone who has had the good fortune of taking Keith and Karl’s leadership training course, I strongly endorse their approach.”
Keith Campbell, PhD
Co-Author: The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement
_________________________________________________________
I have had the privilege of working with Dr. Eigel on this journey of growth at the University of West Georgia! Our Engage West! initiative of evidence-based leadership and a culture of high performance has at its core…or soul if you like…the belief that being engaged in growing ourselves will in fact grow others. The “Map” that is contained in the contents of Eigel’s and Kunhert’s book is an invitation to a journey…a journey that has the power of transforming yourself, impacting the people in your life, and the organizations you lead.
Dr. Kyle Marrero
President: University of West Georgia
_________________________________________________________
Karl and Keith have written a very engaging and insightful book on leadership. It is unlike most leadership books which attempt to take lessons from effective leaders and apply them to everyone in leadership roles. By and large these books attempt to distill a list of things that great leaders do into a shorter list of things that anyone can (or should be able to) do. Keith and Karl correctly note that it is impossible to separate what a leader does from who a leader is. Leadership effectiveness occurs in the context of the maturity and experience of the leader. This book provides practical advice and coaching to guide the leader (or aspiring leader) in growing from their personal challenges and obstacles. These are important leadership insights whether you are leading your business, team, family, or social group.
Michael Jenkins, PhD
Sr. Assoc. Director of Executive Programs
The Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia
_________________________________________________________
This excellent book provides a compelling guide for achieving your potential as a leader. Unlike so many anecdotally driven leadership books, this guide is based on over twenty years of research by two of the most original, insightful thought leaders in the field. They describe the complexities of leadership development as both lateral (building new skillsets) and vertical (learning new mindsets). The book delineates the path to achieving vertical (level 5) proficiency: through their research findings (e.g. 80% of leaders fail to move beyond Level 4), best practice cases, and an array of invaluable questions and challenges that each leader must address to achieve leadership maturity. It is an invaluable map that can help any leader navigate the perils of leading complex organizations in a turbulent environment. Choosing to read this charming and illuminating book is a great strategic decision for any leader—the time spent will pay major dividends personally as well as professionally.
Roderick Gilkey, PhD
Professor in the Practice of Organization & Management; Goizueta Business School at Emory University
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; Emory School of Medicine
_________________________________________________________
“Satisfaction comes not from reaching the destination, but by continuing to grow”.
These wise and inspirational words by the authors remind us of the journey of our lives where our personality is the vehicle and our energy is the fuel. Eigel and Kuhnert’s meticulous blending of research and storytelling using personal examples makes “Finding Your Path to Effectiveness in Leadership, Life and Legacy” an imperative resource for anyone who want to chart their own course in effective leadership. Candidly put, this book is a pioneering source that will enable you to build and follow your roadmap for achieving effective leadership.
Shweta Sharma Sehgal, PhD
PhD Scholar at Department of Business Economics, Delhi University
Resources
Templates
Sample Growth Gap Tools, GO Statements, and Small Steps
Complaint 1: “My boss is holding me back in my career.”
Complaint 2: “I have too much to do & there is never enough time.”
Complaint 3: “My teenager is driving me crazy.”