Praise for Gus Lee’s earlier, Courage: The Backbone of Leadership

“Gus Lee, in this well‐written and useful book, demystifies courage and reveals what it is made of: integrity, competence, and good judgment.”

—Warren Bennis
Distinguished Professor of Business, University of Southern California, Founder, Modern Leadership Development

“When it comes to leadership, Gus Lee has walked the walk and talked the talk. Now, in his latest book, he offers all of us, who call ourselves leaders, a primer on how to gain and maintain in ourselves and our organizations that critical element that makes the difference: courage!”

—H. Norman Schwarzkopf
General, US Army (Ret.)

Praise for The Courage Playbook: 5 Steps to Overcome Your Fears and Become Your Best self

“Gus Lee, who is not only very smart but also has an abundance of common sense, has written a terrific book about a perennial problem facing all of us: developing the courage to conquer our fears.”

—John J. Mearsheimer, R. Wendell Harrison
Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago

“Gus's training changed my life. He uses courage to shape us ‘weeble wobbles'—and to help us stand firm even after we wobble and get knocked down, time and time again. The tools and concepts provided in The Courage Playbook challenged my approach to leading and communicating, by not just understanding and assessing my own courage but also by identifying practical applications of courageous behaviors. As Gus writes, ‘courage is more action than abstraction and is more behavioral than theoretical.' As a combat veteran, entrepreneur, and business executive, I didn't need to think more about courageous actions; I needed to act more courageously and more quickly. Through The Courage Playbook, Gus personally coached me, provided me tremendous insights on myself, and empowered and encouraged me with practical ways to live the first of human qualities.”

—Chris Miller
SVP Flippen Group, West Point Class of 1998, Operation Iraqi Freedom

“Meeting Gus Lee changed my life; his book will change yours. The Courage Playbook is a 5‐alarm wake‐up call to self‐awareness, recognizing we control how we show up for others each day. We choose cowardice or courage in all our interactions—just getting along, or really getting it right. Gus's Leaders of Character, LOC Biography Form 5 inventory was my jump‐start in understanding the painful truth of my lack of ‘real' courage. Yet, I was not left lost, without a way forward. Gus provides the roadmap and all the GPS tools necessary for navigating the difficult terrain in becoming one's best self—a true person of courage.”

—Joe LeBoeuf, PhD
COL, US Army, Retired Former Academy Professor, USMA; Professor of the Practice Emeritus, Duke University

“The Courage Playbook's practical tools are universal game‐changers. From the time Gus Lee was my mentor at West Point he has helped me and others in evaluating and forming ethical solutions for those who desire to be the best they can be. The Third Step helped me stop reactions to fear that I'd retained in a career that demanded courageous leadership and physical bravery as an Air Cavalry combat leader in Vietnam. The Courage Playbook's comprehensive tool sets have enhanced my life, especially in a profound respect for others, no matter race, religion or sexual preference. It's improved my relationships in my community, and I will continue to use it to constantly improve my character and quality of life.”

—William Malkemes
COL, US Army (Ret.)

“The Courage Playbook's focus on practice, not theory, was essential to my ability to transition from a performance‐based junior executive to a growth‐based chief executive. The concept of UPR is easy but doing it every day takes a lot of practice. I used the 10‐week UPR Behavioral Practice continuously to value and develop every member of my organization. Every quarter I spent 10 weeks going down the checklist. Then I spent the last three weeks of the quarter personally praising every member for their contribution. That's how you build a high‐performance company with little employee turnover.”

—Steve Wilson
Founder and CEO of an INC 500 Company

“We took Gus's advice to heart as my team took action and developed leadership rules to live by and demonstrate courage to build trust. By remembering that courage is an expression of caring, we overcame the barriers to sharing feedback and hitting hard issues head‐on. In the business world we face tough issues every day, and by remembering to approach interactions and address shortcomings from a position of caring, we learn to be courageous. The Courage Playbook's tools provide the guide for putting high core values into action and cementing them into our behaviors at work and at home. I am constantly reminded of the lessons I learned from Courage, and when I know I am facing an untenable situation I prepare myself, dig deep, take a big gulp and leap across that river of fear. I am pleased to share that I have yet to drown but learned at times of my shortcomings and succeeded beyond my expectations with others.”

—Jena Holtberg‐Benge
General Manager, John Deere Reman

“Yes Kids, Try This at Home. Forty years working with community leaders taught me about courage. The Courage Playbook helped me bring that skill home to confront fear and change avoidant behavior. Using the skills‐practice based approach, the skills themselves, and ‘memory cards,' I replaced my contempt for incompetence with ‘Unconditional Positive Respect' and resolved a long‐running dispute with a global company in two days. Then, I answered the question: ‘What does my husband most want me to change?'—so we stopped yelling at each other, and a frustrating home improvement project was finished in a night. The skill, courage, is easy to understand yet hard to do. With The Courage Playbook I am deploying it where it is most needed, at home.

—Jolie Bain Pillsbury, PhD
Author of Results Based Facilitation and Theory of Aligned Contributions

“The Courage Playbook is not for those who only want to talk about courage. If you want to do the hard work of developing courage from the inside out, there's no other tool like it. I frequently face situations that require courage. This book was a great encouragement to me to stay the course and not give into fear. The Courage Playbook will lead you step by step from fear to fearless.”

—Eric Bolger
Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, College of the Ozarks

“As a career soldier, I was often amazed by senior officers who would risk injury or even death in service to our nation, while also demonstrating an aversion for doing anything that might risk their careers. In this context, Gus Lee appropriately cites Mark Twain's observation, ‘It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare.' I recommend The Courage Playbook to everyone in or desiring to be in a leadership position. It teaches you the right thing to do and how to do it. It is invaluable in learning to lead the toughest of all followers: yourself.”

—Gilbert S. Harper
Brigadier General, US Army (Ret.)

“Kudos to Gus Lee for his amazing Playbook. I found his remarkable Step One assessment tool helped me identify that childhood relationships with parents and siblings can distort adult relationships. Identifying this ‘baggage,' I was able to more fully listen to others and use his Courageous Communication tools. This has helped me enormously in patient care and made my personal relationships more rewarding. The CourCom tools help me see how internalized fears and anger result in disrespecting others and so shatter the trust and cooperation we all need for successful and rewarding collaboration with others.”

—Mary M. Zhu, MD, PhD, MPH, MA

“The Courage Playbook finds me in a place in life where continuation of old comfortable habits and behaviors is untenable and counterproductive both professionally and personally. Fear, avoidance, and laziness of thought and execution have been my life's Achilles' heel. The Courage Playbook shines a bright and painful light on the effects of these mental and behavioral choices, calling them out but at the same time offering carefully drawn self‐directed offers for change with clear instruction on how to use them and move forward toward self‐mastery. The work is often painful, but in the words of someone who knows there is some pain, the gain is significantly more. By its design, it requires one to go through the fire to separate from old painful mind habits and move toward more life‐affirming and supportive choices. Of all the projects, classes, 12‐step programs and therapy sessions, The Courage Playbook is the most complete and compressive framework moving me towards a better version of myself. With gratitude and deep respect, I give my thanks to Gus Lee for having provided me the tools and skills to move forward on my pathway to a healthier life.”

—Dr. Toussaint Streat
Physician

“In The Courage Playbook, Gus Lee takes all the tools and behavior‐based guides he patiently taught me and puts them into an easy‐to‐understand, follow‐the‐steps practice guide. These tools have helped me overcome my fear and avoidance of conflict and set me on the path to becoming a courageous leader. As a husband, father, friend, and entrepreneur, improving my courage and character first and then those of others has transformed and deepened all my relationships. I encourage you to start on this journey today toward a more meaningful life.”

—Chris Kay
COO, Water Harvesting, Inc.

“There are many good fire departments across the country, albeit only a few really great ones. After 46 years in the fire service, I believe this may be from the fire service's focus on discipline and the traditional nature of the job. The truly great fire agencies are made up of firefighters and officers that embrace Gus Lee's concept of self‐governance, which requires a personal commitment to transformational change. For these individuals, continual growth becomes a passion that they embrace to the core of their being, requiring physical, mental, and most importantly, moral courage. Lee, in The Courage Playbook, provides a path for those willing to change. Is it a quick and easy fix? No, it is exceptionally hard. But for those who desire to embrace the challenge of truly creating a better life for yourself and those around you, apply these ancient principles. Life will never be the same.”

—Ron Lindroth
Fire Chief

“Gus's first Courage book placed me on a ‘high core values improvement plan.' While Gus does not know my cowardly foibles from firsthand observation, his Playbook calls me out as if he had been watching at my most fear‐controlled moments for the last decade. His new book inspires with real‐life examples and self‐assessments that gnaw to the root of my fear while providing the tools to build back courage. The CLEAR model particularly exposed my lingering bad habits and provided a map for improvement. Now back to work I go.”

—Jack Colwell
Co‐Director, Public Safety Practice, The Arbinger Institute

“Gus Lee's Playbook is about courage, character and leadership. It's a practical set of revealing assessments and carefully crafted techniques designed to improve anyone's ability to make tough choices to do the right thing—every time—regardless of personal risk. That starts with a disciplined approach requiring unconditional respect for one another and consistently listening with humility and empathy. The courage to do so builds character and enables leadership. Not for the faint of heart, but well worth the effort.”

—COL (Ret.) Larry White
Infantry: Vietnam, 1971–72; Korea, 1982–83; West Berlin, 1983–86; Kabul, 2009–10

“A delightful guide full of important information for those of us who want to understand fear and recognise how it works in our lives and discover characters we can look up to, to position us for freedom. While answering the questions in The Courage Playbook's Assessments, I recognized how fear worked in my life, how it impacted my behaviors, and with the tools provided in the book, they are giving me courage to change. With small progress each day, it will develop into a habit.”

—Beata Negumbo
Programme Assistant, FAO Representation in Namibia

“Throughout my life and career, I could choose inaction by relying on the phrase, ‘Discretion is the better part of valor.' In The Courage Playbook, Gus Lee's deep dig into courage, he delivers a gut punch; the words come from the lips of a cowardly braggart in Shakespeare's Henry IV. Lee observes that the discretion wording ‘gives modern cowards an excuse to avoid conflict.' What a life lesson. This book is for those of us who desire to shun avoidance and change our mindset. Eminently readable and research‐based, it is in a class all its own: literary nonfiction. It gives us practical tools for reversing our fearful mentality and for implementing the changes necessary to be courageous in both ordinary and extraordinary conflicts we all face. I wish I had read it sooner.”

—Robin Shakely
former Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney, 39‐year career prosecutor, mother, wife, and reforming coward

“The Courage Playbook puts courage into action. As a law enforcement leader, my life and legacy were transformed after reading Gus's earlier Courage book. I am excited to see so many ideas about living courageously laid out in such a helpful way in this new book. It is what I desperately need to figure out how courage looks and works in my family and professional life. Courage helps me lead my family, and myself, in our darkest and most challenging days and has shaped me into a leader who first looks in the mirror, as I strive to lead and serve others in my organization and my life. Courage has become the virtue that I take with me into every interaction. I'm so thankful that Gus Lee has put such a practical guidebook together for living a courageous life. It has helped me make sense of so much that I learned through trial and experience. If you're picking up The Courage Playbook, your time and investment into the process of living out courage will be worth every sacrifice. Be willing to cross the River of Fear—the journey on the other side is a life that is not perfect—but well worth living.”

—Roy Bethge
Chief of Police, Cherry Valley Police Department, Illinois

“Under pressure and unsure in tough situations, you can refer to The Courage Playbook to get your bearings, survive and succeed. Gus Lee's Five Steps have improved how I treat and educate others and beats the heck out of painful and grueling effort that ends in foreseeable failure. Gus effortlessly convinced me of two primal things, refined in this book: first, respect for everyone, all the time, is the key; second, you need courage to exercise that respect. The Courage Playbook is the civilian Ranger Handbook of doing the right thing. It will bring you home.”

—Dr. James P. Sullivan
Sullivan Engineering; Professor, Purdue University, Army aviator

“Moments in life that call for moral courage are not rare; they pop up every single day of our lives with friends, family, coworkers, and strangers. Oftentimes we miss these moments as we justify our behavior with ‘I'm too busy,' ‘It's too hard,' and ‘It won't change anything.' Gus Lee's The Courage Playbook cuts through our fears and offers us a practical set of tools to recognize these moments and courageously do the right thing with unwavering respect for others. This book will change how you see the world and transform your relationships for the better. I use The Courage Playbook's quick references every day to help me become the man I want to be at work and at home.”

—Ben Bain
national security professional

“Gus Lee knocks it out of the park and makes a difference with The Courage Playbook, which gives us tools to improve effectiveness in leading and in life. In Step Three, he strips bare common human inhibitors to leadership and gives us a practical way to defeat them. I witnessed Gus apply these principles, know that they came from the school of hard reality, and that they actually work. In my career and interface with Gus, I've used his applications to promote my ability and that of others to be self‐examining leaders in a guided personal journey of reflection and improvement.”

—Tom Rozman
Past Director, Collective Training Directorate, Deputy Chief of Staff for Training, US Army Training and Doctrine Command; past Director Central Region, Virginia Department of Labor and Industry

“Gus Lee has penned a road map for those of us striving to overcome our compulsive tendency to prefer faux self‐preservation over courageous moral action. The 3 NOs helped me more clearly understand the compounding effects of my self‐deception and better equipped me to take ownership for the quality of my relationships. I remain grateful for the ways in which the practical lessons that constitute The Courage Playbook continue to unfold in my personal and professional life.”

—Major Chip Huth
30 years, Kansas City Missouri Police Department

“Informed, honed, intentional and deliberately acquired courage, which Gus Lee presents in The Courage Playbook, walked me through meaningful exercises that led to my making serious decisions and direction changes with clarity and precision. Gus describes how courage can be developed, sharpened, and used to raise decisions and people to greater heights and avoid reckless actions that in truth are not courage. He writes with clarity, wit, wisdom and research and lives the way he writes. Down to earth, boots‐on‐the‐ground illustrations make concepts come alive and applicable. The Courage Playbook is readable, poignant, and practical.”

—Dick Stenbakken, EdD, MDiv, MEd, MA
Chaplain (Colonel) US Army, Retired Director of Family Life Ministries

“The Assessment tools helped me get a bead on behaviors that were controlling me—I was trapped without joy. Step Two actions equipped me to stop my self‐lying, sharp self‐interest, blaming and anger, with huge benefits to my company. Steps Three and Four are saving my marriage and our daughter from constantly seeking approval of others. Thank you for the immediate action steps and the fundamental planning truths in Step Five. Sharing your work and experience with others is producing blessings.”

—Rock Adams
President, Rock Hard, Inc.

“Several years ago, I was blessed with the opportunity to work with Gus Lee. The Courage Playbook and other Gus Lee books represent what is possible in our lives when we commit to practice, experience, learn, overcome, and share our big life lessons. Gus has faced substantial challenges, refused to quit or give in to an easier path and remained resolute to a higher calling and purpose. Gus is the real deal; he shows up every day as a respected moral and courageous teacher and leader. This book lays down a very effective road map that we can use to create a more positive and intentional way in our own lives and model to strangers and to those we love and care about. It equips us to face difficulties and opportunities, to make the conscious choice to not become bitter but better. Using Unconditional Positive Respect and seeking the Highest Moral Action, we steadily become more courageous in every part of our lives. This is Gus's gift to us. His life story, experience, and wisdom have greatly impacted my life. Implementing the insights and practices shared in The Courage Playbook will challenge and reward you with the ability to experience a more inspired life. Enjoy the journey!”

—Rob Knauer
Vistage Worldwide, Chicago Chair, leads high‐performing CEO Peer Advisory Boards; CEO, Black Ocean Advisors, Inc.

“The Courage Playbook uniquely provides the structure to help those aspiring to become their best self. Gus created the tools for anyone to grow in self‐awareness and understanding on a journey to become a better follower and leader with intent and practice. I found the book's assessments challenging and had to talk with family and others to ensure I was being honest with myself. The Courage Playbook is well worth revisiting with changing professional and personal challenges. It joins a short list of books that add value with each reread and periodic reevaluation and refocusing to update our best practices, which I now do as I systematically develop and coach leaders to be their best.”

—Scott Tessmer
Retired Naval Officer

“I appreciate the introspective tools Gus uses in The Courage Playbook, especially the Three NOs. They are a living checklist for me to mentally review before tough conversations, when I've been blindsided, and when I automatically react out of fear. Remembering to show unconditional respect, to not let fear control me, and to remember that I can choose courageous actions to do the right thing are but samples of the essential tools Gus equips us with in his new book.”

—William A. Salmon
Fire Captain (Ret.), Poudre Fire Authority

“During my 23 years as an NFL side judge, including three Super Bowls and more than a dozen playoff games, I encountered innumerable challenges. The NFL is a high‐stakes enterprise where officials' mistakes garner considerable scrutiny and criticism. I wish that I had The Courage Playbook to guide me during my career. Gus Lee's principles and lessons would have given me even more confidence to act with courage, confidence, and clarity. In retirement, I am still a husband, father, and grandfather. I teach at the college level, volunteer with the police and serve on our city's parks, beaches and recreation commission. The Courage Playbook is my blueprint for doing what is right in every sphere, thus strengthening me to make a greater difference for my family and communities. What a gift!”

—Dr. Laird Hayes
NFL Side Judge, known for making the biggest call in Super Bowl history (SB XLVI)