David Grossman Authors Heart First For Emerging Leaders

Three years ago, wise, and award-winning leadership and communications expert David Grossman authored Heart First, which I named the Best New Leadership Book of 2021.

I selected Heart First because the book is easy to read, incredibly engaging, and is filled with inspirational and powerful stories of lessons learned by a wealth of leaders with diverse backgrounds. Plus, it covers pertinent topics for workplace leaders, including diversity, equity, inclusion, and culture.
It’s a playbook you’ll want to read and then refer to time after time.

Now in 2024, Grossman has released Heart First For Emerging Leaders. Like the original book, this updated version is a treasure trove of valuable information.

“The experience of the pandemic and ensuing social unrest helped many leaders realize the strength of bringing empathy, humanity, and authenticity to leadership. I believe as strongly as ever in the power of that human approach,” says Grossman. “The first version of Heart First was written for the more senior leader. This newly updated emerging leaders edition is specifically designed for college students and young professionals, to help them build important leadership skills early in their careers.”

Grossman adds, “Giving back to the next generation of leaders to carry our industry forward is a passion of mine. There’s no better time than now – as organizations are facing unprecedented change – to help emerging leaders uplevel their skills and make the workplace better.”

Fortunately, and appreciatively, Grossman’s vision is to empower every communication student and young professional in the U.S. with learnings from the book. Through his Great Giveback Giveaway, professors, students, and young professionals can request free copies of Heart First for Emerging Leaders. To date, David has given away more than 15,000 copies of his Heart First books.  

Get your free copy today via this link this link.

Throughout the impressively designed book, you will meet nearly two dozen exceptional Change Makers – leaders at all levels who describe what exceptional leadership looks like.

Some of the key takeaways for me from Heart First For Emerging Leaders are:

Heart first does not mean choosing our heart over our heads. It’s about marrying the heart with the head to be an extraordinary leader.
Good leaders make you feel good about yourself. They don’t demean or demand. They support and guide. They inspire you to follow them.
Don’t spend too much time thinking about the future and not enough observing all there is to learn in the moment.
Build leadership skills through volunteer work.
When you feel at home at work, you are seen, heard and what’s important to you is valued.
Good leaders keep employees informed. They explain the “why” behind decisions. They communicate frequently enough and in a timely way. And they ask for feedback.
While it takes time to have a conversation, it often saves time and confusion in the long run.

Finally, as a special value add to help you lead and communicate even better going forward, Heart First readers have exclusive access to The Grossman Group’s most sought-after and often-used leader tools where you’ll gain online access with a special code found at the end of the book.

___

In addition to Grossman being my go-to person for expert advice on leading and communicating effectively, he is best known for known for his thoughtful, personal, and pragmatic approach, and coaches leaders at all levels to utilize communications as a strategic business tool.

He helps leaders drive productivity and get the results they want through authentic and courageous leadership and communication and is a sought-after speaker and advisor to Fortune 500 leaders.

Grossman is Founder and CEO of The Grossman Group, whose client roster represents a wide range of industries and includes some of the world’s leading companies such as Abbott Laboratories, Amazon, Hillrom (now a part of Baxter), Lockheed Martin, McDonald’s, Microsoft, and SC Johnson, among others. He has been featured on “NBC Nightly News,” CBS MoneyWatch, in the Chicago Tribune, Forbes, LA Times, and the World Economic Forum.

Comments

Nelson Mandela Leadership Quotes

Here are my favorite Nelson Mandela leadership quotes: "Lead from the back--and let others believe they are in front." "The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall." "It always seems impossible until it's done." "I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles." "I've learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." "Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."

Leading With GRIT

Feelings of being stuck, overwhelmed and frustrated plague too many of our workplaces says Laurie Sudbrink , author of the new book, Leading With GRIT . So, drawing on her over 20 years of coaching a wide range of organizations, colleges and Fortune 500 companies, Sudbrink provides in her book a road map to improve individual and organizational health . That road map includes teaching readers the principles of GRIT : Generosity Respect Integrity Truth Laurie Sudbrink "It is not only the concepts of GRIT, but how they are combined, that make them so effective," shares Sudbrink. Divided into three parts, Part I of the book is geared toward the individual, and is foundational to your success as a leader. Part II focuses on communicating with GRIT -- making communication easier, more enjoyable and more productive. Part III is how, in our role as leaders, we apply and sustain GRIT in the workplace, creating systems that help keep everyone on track....

Six Leadership Actions To Leverage Employees' Differences To Strengthen Teams

The new book, All The Difference: Six Leadership Actions To Bridge Perspectives, Strengthen Teams, and Create Value , teaches how leaders can turn their team's individual differences into deeper trust, greater creativity, and winning results. “The greatest risk of unmanaged difference isn’t conflict: it lies in the ideas, insights, and opportunities that may never surface,” explain the book’s authors, Susan MacKenty Brady , Stuart D. Kliman , and Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Leslie C. Smith . They suggest that you look around your team to fully see people with different communication styles, perspectives, cultural norms, and capabilities. These differences are expressed in all kinds of ways, such as casual gestures in a meeting, a colleague's opinion on a current event, or an intense work style. Often, those differences can lead to friction, even conflict. You may try to manage around them. But, for you and your organization to fully leverage the strengths of your team’s diffe...

How To Lead In An Era When Everything Is Being Displaced

Today, leaders are caught in a cascade of contradictions. The technology that promises unprecedented capability also delivers unprecedented doubt. Artificial Intelligence (AI) makes everything faster, cheaper, and more capable. It also makes the most fundamental question of leadership unavoidable: what are humans actually for? You did not choose this moment. But you are responsible for who you and your organization become in it. In Re-Placed: Answering The Call Of Leadership In The Age Of AI , leadership strategist and CEO Kari Zeller offers something rare in the AI conversation: a leadership book that starts with the human, not the technology. “The arrival of artificial intelligence doesn't have to displace us,” explains Zeller. “But it will, unless we learn to re-place ourselves first—to consciously reposition who we are, how we lead, and where we create value in a world where intelligence is no longer ours alone.” “Being re...

7 Keys For Building A Great Business

When you start reading Mark Thompson’s and Brian Tracy’s book, Now…Build a Great Business! , you may feel like you are reading 200 pages of Blog posts, but the bite-sized approach to providing tools, practical steps and ideas, rather than theory, is precisely the authors’ intended approach. The book thoroughly explains the seven keys for how to achieve business success : 1. Become a great leader 2. Develop a great business plan 3. Surround yourself with great people 4. Offer a great product or service 5. Design a great marketing plan 6. Perfect a great sales process 7. Create a great customer experience You’ll find a checklist at the end of each step (each chapter) where you can write down your action plan for applying what you’ve learned. Particularly interesting is the chapter on strategic planning , where the authors recommend you should ask yourself these important questions before you act to create or reinvent the direction of your organi...

Daily Intentions For Leaders

Everyone can benefit from the book, Dear Friend , which features bite-sized, daily notes for contemplation, inspiration, connection, and clarity. Busy and stressed business leaders can particularly benefit from the 365 profound, heartfelt reflections from author Michelle Maros , founder of Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life and cohost of the podcast, Life Happens with Barb and Michelle . Dear Friend invites readers to go deep and use the notes as a daily practice that compounds over time, nurturing strength, resilience, and clarity. In just a few minutes each day, this book will offer you a daily reprieve when you feel burned out, beaten down, or overwhelmed by the strains and stresses of modern life. The heart of Dear Friend began in the quiet mornings Michelle shared with her mom, Barb. Every day, they would sit together, reading affirmations or passages from Barb’s beloved books. These small rituals—simple but powerful—set the tone for each day, grounding them in g...

The Science And Secrets Of High-Performing Teams

Ron Friedman ’s new book, Superteams , is the best book about teams and team building that I have ever read and have reviewed on my blog. It’s all about what the best teams do differently. It’s packed with counterintuitive insights, surprising science, and real-world lessons "from the most comprehensive study of elite groups ever conducted" reports Friedman. Read through it once and then keep it handy to refer to repeatedly. The 50-plus strategies for how a team does its best work are invaluable. Friedman surveyed thousands of teams and pinpointed the precise habits that separate the best from the rest. He reports that “the results upend everything we think we know about teamwork. It turns out that the most successful teams aren't the ones that collaborate most, get along best, or put in the longest hours.” What really sets them apart, according to Friedman, is the way they: Manage their energy and attention. Bring out the best in one another. Keep improving...

Your 2026 New Year's Resolutions Check-in

Yikes. It's nearly August. Hopefully, you've mastered or are achieving good progress with your New Year's resolution(s) for 2026. If you need another resolution to tackle this year or haven't yet selected one, now is a good time to review this list below. New Year's Resolutions for leaders : Don't micromanage Don't be a bottleneck Focus on outcomes, not minutiae Build trust with your colleagues before a crisis comes Assess your company's strengths and weaknesses at all times Conduct annual risk reviews Be courageous, quick and fair Talk more about values more than rules Reward how a performance is achieved and not only the performance Constantly challenge your team to do better Celebrate your employees' successes, not your own Err on the side of taking action Communicate clearly and often Be visible Eliminate the cause of a mistake View every problem as an opportunity to grow Summarize group consensus after each decision point during a meeting Pr...

How To Conduct A Successful Post-Merger Integration

Most business leaders think that mergers fail because of bad strategy or overpaying. But according to former senior partner at McKinsey and Harvard Business School’s David Fubini , that’s not where deals break down. They fail in what comes during and after integration. More specifically, “Integration is what makes or breaks the success of a deal. Not design, not financing, not due diligence, not negotiations of structure,” says Fubini. “Because no matter how expertly you manage these elements, if you can’t bring all the pieces together, all your efforts might as well have been an academic exercise." Fortunately, in his new book, Post-Merger Integration: Building The Mindset, Skills, And Discipline Needed For Deal Success , Fubini (along with Patrick Sanguineti ) offers a behind-the-scenes look at how deals actually succeed and where they go wrong. And he shows leaders how to develop an Integration Mindset that will enable you to navigate the complex, nuanced reality...

How Great Leaders See Differently

“Your decisions are only as good as the world you can see,” explain the authors of the new book, The Panoramic Leader: How Great Leaders See Differently . “And in a rapidly shifting business landscape, the most successful leaders learn to see more.” Authors Cornelia Choe and Marshall Goldsmith explain that talented leaders don’t fail for lack of intelligence or experience. Instead, they fail because they make decisions based on a partial view of their environment and miss critical insights. As you read the book, you’ll learn that panoramic intelligence is about training yourself to see through more than just your own lens. It’s learning to consider the perspectives of the full range of stakeholders who affect your company—including ones who wouldn’t traditionally be considered in stakeholder profiles. It’s about stepping back to see the bigger picture. Choe and Goldsmith explain further that panoramic leadership consists of three lenses: Inner Lens – How...

Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Search This Blog