That gnawing feeling - the one that says you could be running your team or business better - it doesn't go away with more effort.
If you lead a business, manage a team, or coach others who do, you already know: you're smart enough and you're working hard enough. That's not the problem. The problem is the results don't match the effort.
Maybe your team could be taking more initiative. Maybe too many decisions still run through you. Maybe you're putting out so many fires that what's important keeps losing to what's urgent. Whatever it looks like - something isn't working the way it should.
Craft: The Expedition of Business was written for that moment - by an entrepreneur who founded, grew, and exited his own business, and now works with small business owners, executives, and leaders nationwide.
There are plenty of business books offering someone else's formula to follow, or a success story that worked one time - for one person - in one set of circumstances. This one takes a different approach - it helps you build your own judgment as a leader, so you can find your own path instead of following in someone else's footsteps.
It's built around four parts - decision-making, people, leadership, and organizational strategy - each one designed to sharpen how you think about your business and your team.
Decision-Making - What makes one business decision more important than another? How do you make it clear to your team how their decisions connect to something larger? And when so much advice sounds the same, how do you develop your own convictions about your business and your market? The answer involves a climb up The Mountain of Why.
Understanding People - Why your team perceives reality differently than you do, why their behavior makes more sense than you think, and what's actually driving their actions. This goes far deeper than personality tests - and it will change how you hire, communicate, and lead.
Business Leadership - Why mimicking famous CEOs, military leaders, or great coaches often backfires, and what makes leading a business its own craft.
Strategy in Action - There are four forces working against every organization. Most leaders feel them but can't name them. This section names them - then explores what history's greatest expeditions can teach us about why some organizations find their way and others don't. The difference has less to do with the tactics you choose and more to do with the principles behind them.
Together, they help you see your business more clearly, understand what's actually going on with your team, and make decisions you're confident in - even when the path forward isn't obvious.
Reading about business is easy. Changing how we think and operate is harder. That's why this book includes access to a companion Field Notes journal - a place to work through how each chapter applies to your leadership and your business.
Because building a great business isn't something you learn once - it's a craft. If you feel the pull to build something exceptional and become a better leader in the process - the expedition begins here.
Tomlin, Zack: - Zack lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife Jackie, their two daughters, Hadley and Abilene.After spending more than a decade founding, crafting, and exiting his business, Zack now works with leaders of small and mid-sized companies.He is the founder of Your Craft Your Climb, a coaching and consulting practice serving clients both in person and remotely across the country.
