Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Although the book is written for leaders and managers, Who’s in the Driver’s Seat? is a book for anyone who wants three easy steps they can apply, in any situation that will assist them to behave and communicate in ways that will always bring about a positive collaborative outcome.

Q: What is the book about?
A: Who’s in the Driver’s Seat?: Using Spirit to Lead Effectively, is a groundbreaking book that openly and honestly confronts the high operational cost of leadership ego. Dr. Gluckman provides some staggering statistics showing the degree to which leader ego is a measurable financial liability. She proposes that leadership spirit, on the other hand, is a quantifiable financial asset and competitive edge. Spirited Leaders display behavior and communication skills that build authenticity, unity, courage, collaboration and accountability.

The book is built around two leaders. George and Dave tell their stories, chapter by chapter, of how the different behaviors and language styles of the ego-driven George, and the spirited Dave, impact the performance of their respective teams. This is a practical, hands-on book that can be read quickly and applied easily.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: This practical, hands-on book is the culmination of many years of research and experience working with leaders around the globe. I have spent a large part of my life studying and working with great and not so great leaders in all industries. This has given me a deep understanding of the leadership traits and qualities that bring success and those that do not.

Originally, my expertise in leadership traits came from growing up in an apartheid South Africa led by arrogant, self-righteous, self-serving leaders. Their egos convinced them that being white made them superior and helped them to justify the shocking practice of apartheid.

When Nelson Mandela was released from prison and became president of South Africa, I worked with the leaders of the major organizations in South Africa who had to completely transform themselves and their organization to re-engage with millions of alienated employees.

Some leaders were able to reinvent themselves; others were not. This was when I discovered how the human spirit, when skillfully applied to business goals, will have a remarkable impact on the organization’s culture and economic performance.

I witnessed that the leaders who were able to energize the spirit of their employees were able to motivate them to move mountains. These leaders all possessed the same fundamental leadership traits which I describe in Who’s in the Driver’s Seat?

I am a sought after keynote speaker and talk show guest and have lectured for the Executive MBA Program at TWU and the University of Dallas, Graduate School of Management. I have published extensively in business journals and authored a chapter in Mission Possible.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: This book offers a model for significantly increasing the ROI delivered by leaders and their teams – from boardroom to backroom. The groundbreaking concept behind Who’s in the Driver’s Seat? is that every organization possesses a powerful energy and spirit but most leaders do not know how to tap into it and apply it to the business goals. This is the first and only leadership book that teaches a model of how to use corporate spirit as a quantifiable financial asset.

Who’s in the Driver’s Seat? is a practical, easy-to-read book that offers a step-by-step process for energizing and operationalizing organizational spirit. This model is known as Spirited Economics™.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: Ego is not a bad thing. We all need ego as long as we recognize how it shows up for us, when it shows up for us and how to keep it in check.

Organizations are now giving serious attention to ego as an unnecessary expense that is drastically hurting their bottom line because leadership ego de-energizes employees.

There are approximately 22 million switched-off employees in the USA today, costing the economy up to $350 billion a year (Gallup, 2007). This book provides practical tools to replace ego with leadership behavior and communication that energizes the spirit of the people and creates a sustainable organization.

Visit my website http://www.sandygluckman.com to get a free download of a white paper on Spirited Economics™, browse my blogs or to buy my book.