Willie Pietersen has practiced and studied leadership as a CEO of multibillion-dollar businesses, as a professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business, and as a consultant to some of the world’s biggest and best-known organizations, from Ericsson and Johnson & Johnson to ExxonMobil and the Girl Scouts of America.
Now, in Leadership—The Inside Story: Time-Tested Prescriptions for Those Who Seek to Lead, Pietersen offers penetrating, often surprising insights from a lifetime of experience as a business leader. Pietersen shares his unique perspective on leadership as an unending journey of learning, adaptation, and growth, in which vital lessons are waiting to be discovered in every life experience and around every corner.
Filled with eye-opening anecdotes, memorable observations, and sage advice drawn from decades of hands-on experience, the book offers a host of evidence-based ideas that can help make anyone a more effective and impactful leader. Here’s a sample of the varied insights you’ll glean from Leadership—The Inside Story:
- How business managers can apply Darwin’s theory of evolution to formulate a more successful competitive strategy.
- Why asking the wrong question can make a business problem virtually impossible to solve-while asking the right one can unlock it almost instantly.
- How leaders can self-sabotage by underestimating the impact of their nonverbal communication.
- How some of the world’s greatest scientists, artists, and leaders have achieved breakthrough discoveries simply by taking a walk.
- The five crucial characteristics of any leader who wants to earn the trust of others.
- How living with a pet dog can teach you about the true meaning of transparency—and why it matters.
“In these pages,” Pietersen writes, “I’ve tried to offer ‘ideas with energy’—concepts and guidelines that pass the test of being useful in practice. They’ve provided the inspiration for my own philosophy and practice of leadership.” Now these ideas with energy will be available to aspiring leaders from every walk of life.
“The lessons here go far beyond corporate boardrooms and can resonate in universities, locker rooms, and across dinner tables. Incisive, insightful guide to leadership rooted in character and lifelong learning.”
—Publishers Weekly BookLife [Editor’s Pick]
“Willie Pietersen’s voice resonates with power and wisdom. . . . Packed with valuable anecdotes, lessons, and most important, practical advice, this book is a treasure trove of strategies that can be immediately applied to enhance your leadership skills.”
—Midwest Review of Books
“Willie has developed a framework for leadership built on values, focus and strategic thinking. In Leadership—The Inside Story he offers actionable advice for leaders at all stages of their careers. I believe if you’re going to lead other people, you need to start with yourself. This book is a great tool for learning practical leadership skills.”
—Hans Vestberg, Chairman and CEO of Verizon
“Willie Pietersen is a national treasure when it comes to profound thinking about principled leadership. He helped Girl Scouts of the USA transform the way we approach leadership from top executive staff leaders to the girls themselves—and his new book is a must-read.”
—Kathy Cloninger, former CEO, Girl Scouts USA
“When I took on a new leadership role at API, one of the first calls I made was to Willie Pietersen—and it was one of my best calls. His wisdom and counsel were instrumental in helping me chart a leadership course and lay the foundation for positive, effective organizational change. Six years later, that work continues to shape our principles and approach. Willie's new book is a must-read for all current and aspiring leaders.”
—Mike Sommers, President and CEO, American Petroleum Institute
“Leadership and becoming a better leader are massively broad and deep subjects. Willie Pietersen has been able not only to skillfully consolidate his key insights but also to make them actionable.”
—John Lewis, President & CEO, United National Federal Credit Union
"Willie Pietersen is an experienced, compassionate, thoughtful strategist and a lifelong student and practitioner of leadership. I highly recommend this book of lessons that can be applied in any industry and will undoubtedly make the reader a more successful leader.”
—Bradley H. Feldmann, Chairman and CEO, Neology, Inc.
"How can we secure our futures in the age of AI and disruption? Wille Pietersen offers principles that are both urgent and timeless for leading in a world that demands rapid adaptation. He reminds us not only of the imperative of continuous learning for organizations, but, most important, how we can become leaders committed to personal learning and renewal.”
—Michael Fenlon, former Chief People Officer, PwC
Booklife Review 2025 Editor's Pick
'Calling for an "integrated leadership" that blends the strategic, the interpersonal, and the personal, this rousing but practical guide from Pietersen, a professor of practice management at Columbia’s Graduate School of Business, offers hard-won insight into what it takes to make and inspire change, in an organization and in one’s self. Noting that “Learning is complete only when it changes behavior,” Pietersen demonstrates—through anecdotes, illuminating data, and well-selected testimony from a host of thinkers—that affecting meaningful change is about a lot more than implementing systems. His personal stories are inviting and on-point. Meeting with a corporate supervisor three months into a senior position, Pietersen reported that it’s actually “people issues” that were proving the greatest challenges to the success of his enterprise. The evergreen response: “Pietersen, welcome to leadership.”
'In crisp, engaging prose, Leadership shows what Pietersen learned from there, with an eye on specific problems, like getting information to flow from the bottom up, creating winning strategies when business gets tough rather than enact cuts that “abandon the pursuit of value creation,” and accepting the truth that “there is no such thing as a non-decision.” He illustrates these situations with memorable real-world scenarios while also, throughout, exploring the broader idea that leadership and ongoing learning are inseparable when it comes to bringing an organization to success. Leadership, he posits, must be based on competence and character, the latter being intangible and intrinsic, nurtured by being observant, listening, and taking responsibility.
'Pietersen rightly notes that the so-called leader who is overly focused on buzzwords or promotions will quickly be identified as insincere or worse by his subordinates and will subsequently lose their support. He frequently cites Darwin—as well as inspiration points like Nelson Mandela and Pietersen’s own dog, Maisie—to argue that survival in a changing environment demands the ability to adapt. The lessons here go far beyond corporate boardrooms and can resonate in universities, locker rooms, and across dinner tables.
'Takeaway: Incisive, insightful guide to leadership rooted in character and lifelong learning.
'Comparable Titles: Brandon Bornancin’s The Power of Going All-In, Simon Sinek’s Start with Why.
'Production grades
'Cover: B
'Design and typography: A
'Illustrations: N/A
'Editing: A
'Marketing copy: A'
—Booklife Review 2025 Editor's Pick