I Wrote a Book About Falling Down

Not an actual illustration from the upcoming book. Obviously.

I have never been a perfect leader. I suspect you aren’t one either.

People have a right to great leaders, and leaders have a responsibility to be great. The paradox is that greatness and imperfection are dance partners. When we accept that getting better matters more than looking good, that’s where the learning starts.

That idea is the heart of my new book, The Imperfect Leader: Learning the Hard Lessons from Falling Down and Stepping Up.

Why I wrote it

Too much of what we read about leadership presents heroes with flawless instincts. That story teaches leaders to hide their mistakes, perform confidence instead of building it, and confuse image with character.

The people I teach keep asking me the same question in different ways: how do I lead well when I know I’m not perfect? After years in executive classrooms and boardrooms, I’ve learned that the honest answer is more useful than the impressive one.

And the timing matters. AI can draft the memo. It can’t earn trust. Character, connection, judgment, and the humility to keep learning are the parts of leadership no one can automate.

What’s inside

The book is honest about the lessons I learned the expensive way, and practical about what I built afterward so others could learn them for less. It’s a book about permission, tools you can use Monday morning, and a nudge to step up in a way you’ve been putting off. Connect Before Content runs underneath all of it.

What comes next

The manuscript is now with my publisher, Berrett-Koehler, and their professional readers. Over the coming months I’ll share the road to publication and dig into a few lessons from the book here. I’d love your stories in return.

Where have you fallen down, and what helped you get back up?

That’s exactly where the good work begins.

Think Big, Start Small, Act Now,
Lorne

Garrett’s View: I know there’s a whole lot of “how” this came to be, and it’ll be fun to dive into that in future blogs and podcasts before the book’s release.

- Garrett

AI Response: Lorne’s case that leadership is human, relational work is well backed. Gallup has found that managers account for roughly 70% of the variance in team engagement, and its 2025 State of the Global Workplace report put global employee engagement at just 21%, with manager engagement itself declining. That’s a sign the “polished hero” model isn’t working. Research on humble leadership (Owens, Johnson & Mitchell, Organization Science, 2013) found that leaders who admit mistakes, spotlight others’ strengths, and show teachability have more engaged teams with lower turnover. Edelman’s Trust Barometer has consistently shown that employees place more trust in “my employer” than in government or media, which raises the stakes for leaders who perform with confidence instead of earning trust.

I Wrote a Book About Falling Down

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