Leadership and the Art of Struggle ─ How Great Leaders Grow Through Challenge and Adversity

Leaders struggle every day to have influence, battle stress, and create the future. Each day seems to spawn three problems for every one that gets solved. New initiatives fail, senior managers and investors grow impatient, and direct reports can chafe at feedback. Steven Snyder has a message for junior leaders and CEO's alike - this is all perfectly normal and part of the job. The myth of the perfectly confident, unflappable, and poised leader is just that - a myth.

Snyder builds on more than 30 years as an executive, CEO, and academic to provide a blueprint for growing through adversity. He has studied nearly 100 senior executives to distill what really matters most in becoming a great leader. His main takeaway is that the struggle never goes away, and real growth only becomes possible when leaders become willing to learn. Snyder then digs into fifteen key strategies for mastering the art of struggle, from understanding the inevitable tensions, to practicing accountability and emotional centering.

To be sure, Snyder does not promise any magic pill or quick fixes - the process of becoming a great leader is a lifetime journey. There may be no perfect leaders - but readers of this book will learn how to achieve greatness in the struggle.

Steven Snyder has more than thirty years of experience as a CEO, senior executive, entrepreneur, and leadership coach. He was Microsoft's first general business unit manager and oversaw the critical relationship between IBM and the software company. After pursuing a Ph.D. in psychology, he became CEO of the start-up NetPerceptions and oversaw its IPO and growth to $1 billion in capitalization. After the internet bubble burst, he joined the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management to teach business ethics. He is currently executive in residence at University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Minnesota.

Introduction
Chapter One: An art to be mastered
Chapter Two: Make sense of a chaotic world
Chapter Three: Navigate tensions
Chapter Four: Illuminate blind spots
Chapter Five: Transcend conflict
Chapter Six: Connect with your life's purpose
Chapter Seven: Anticipate
Chapter Eight: Savor the marathon