“THE CEO’S COMPASS: How to Navigate Your Team Through Turbulent Times”: A Sneak Peek

In my forthcoming book (published 11 Nov with Pre-orders soon) –
“THE CEO’S COMPASS: How to Navigate Your Team Through Turbulent Times”
I share the wisdom and advice from some of my 400 guests I have interviewed so far.  

Here is an extract from that book:

Leaving a legacy

I remember it vividly.

A rain-soaked wood.
Boots heavy with mud.
Breath sharp in the cold air as I waited for an RAF Chinook to lift me to my next operation.

Beside me stood my commanding officer – now General The Lord Richard Dannatt GCB CBE MC DL (Podcast 200). 

He turned and asked me a deceptively simple question.

“What’s your plan for your life?”

I admitted, truthfully,
I didn’t have one.

He didn’t miss a beat. He looked me in the eye and said,

“If you don’t chart your own course, you’ll end up following someone else’s. And, trust me, their plan for you isn’t much.”

That lesson landed deep.

In business, as in life, if you don’t set your own direction, someone else will.
Leadership demands that you take the wheel – define your path – and build a legacy on your terms.

You don’t control the storms.
You control your response.

So, you set your compass.
You trust your training.
And then you take the next step – no matter how rough the seas become.

This book is your compass.

Inside, you’ll find lessons forged in the crucible of leadership and business.
Hard truths, practical tools and the kind of wisdom that only surfaces when the stakes are highest.

My hope is simple:
May these pages help you chart your course.
Guide your team through adversity.
And build an enduring legacy – one worthy of your journey.

Let’s get to work.