The New Book by Bill Sommers & Dan Sitner
Unleashing Potential
How Great Leaders Facilitate Success
A practical framework for leading in a world where the people you lead often know more than you do — from commanding to facilitating, from telling to asking. Built on the principles of Stakeholder Centered Coaching®.
Foreword by Frank Wagner, Co-Developer of Stakeholder Centered Coaching®
Advance Praise
What leaders are saying about Unleashing Potential
The leader who has all the answers is no longer an asset — they are a ceiling. Bill Sommers and Dan Sitner bring together decades of experience across education and business to teach a fundamentally different kind of leadership: one that uplifts others to think, grow, and contribute at their best. Unleashing Potential is for every leader who wants to multiply their impact and lead better, starting today.
Dr. Marshall Goldsmith
Thinkers50 #1 Executive Coach and New York Times bestselling author of The Earned Life, Triggers, and What Got You Here Won't Get You There
Unleashing Potential provides a thoughtful and practical look at how leadership continues to evolve in today's world. Dr. Bill Sommers and Dan Sitner combine real-world leadership experience, coaching insight, and educational perspective to show why facilitative, stakeholder-centered leadership matters now more than ever. It is a valuable contribution for leaders who want to create meaningful and lasting impact.
Brandon Mergard
CEO, Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching®
I've believed in this book since it was nothing more than an idea. Too many leadership books tell you what to do. This one shows you how to become better by learning from the people you lead and serve. If you're serious about becoming a more effective leader, this is a book you won't want to miss.
Jim Knight
Founder, Instructional Coaching Group; Research Associate, University of Kansas
Unleashing Potential is an excellent resource for both established and aspiring leaders looking to strengthen their leadership approach in today's VUCA world. I used the action steps from the “Accountability as a Gift” chapter just last week, and they had an immediate impact on my approach. This is a book I'll continue to revisit for years to come.
John Willis, PE
President and CEO, Parametrix, Inc.
I have read numerous leadership books that fade by the next meeting. This one does not. Sommers and Sitner hand you a practical way to grow as a leader and to let the people around you see it, which is the part most books never reach.
Kristopher Evje
Superintendent, Ortonville Public Schools; Founder, Play TALL Leadership
Don't let the title fool you into thinking this is just another leadership book. The authors take readers on a guided journey that connects historical lessons to today's challenges while providing thoughtful, actionable tools that can be applied immediately. Engaging from the first page to an epilogue that is, in a word, perfection.
Jane Kitchen, MBA
Director of Finance, Recovery Works NW
From the Book
Unleashing Potential
How Great Leaders Facilitate Success
Unleashing Potential is for leaders who are ready to make the shift: from commanding to facilitating, from telling to asking, from knowing everything to unleashing the people around you.
Built on the principles of Stakeholder Centered Coaching® and grounded in decades of real-world experience, this book gives you a practical framework for leading in a world where the people you lead often know more than you do — and that's exactly the point.
Eleven chapters. Real tools. A different way to lead.
Inside the Book
Eleven chapters. Real tools. A different way to lead
Every chapter closes with reflection questions and action steps, so the ideas turn into behavior your stakeholders can actually see. It ends with the Back From The Future exercise and your own Stakeholder Centered Leadership Framework.
- 01Leadership in Motion
- 02The Leader's Lens
- 03It's All About People
- 04The Power of Involvement
- 05From Feedback to Feedforward
- 06Changing Behavior, Changing Results
- 07Leading Through Change
- 08Accountability as a Gift
- 09Leadership Multipliers
- 10Leading in the Age of AI
- 11The Legacy You Leave
AUTHORS
Bill Sommers, Ph.D., is a veteran educator, a Marshall Goldsmith Certified Executive Coach, author of multiple leadership books, and founder of Learning Omnivores — a network devoted to continuous learning and development.
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