Any of us may be called to lead, for a short time or a longer one, in a large or small group, and almost all of us are capable.

I wrote this book with leaders of all kinds of organizations in mind, not just CEOs of corporations, but rather anyone who finds themselves in a position of leadership. This includes department heads, scout leaders, heads of not-for-profits, work group leaders, church leaders, school principals—literally anyone who finds themselves in a position of leadership, for whatever time frame, at whatever stage of an organization’s development.

This book’s basic principles apply to leaders across a wide variety of organization types and sizes. Silicon Valley Bank was a startup when I joined it in 1990. It had about 1,200 people in total when I passed my CEO baton on to my successor, Greg Becker, ten years later; today, under Greg’s leadership, it is one of the largest banks in the US and one of only a handful with a global orientation. And yet, I believe that the stories and principles elucidated in the book apply to every part of this journey, from startup to global bank.

Any of us may be called to lead, for a short time or a longer one, in a large or small group, and almost all of us are capable.

I wrote this book with leaders of all kinds of organizations in mind, not just CEOs of corporations, but rather anyone who finds themselves in a position of leadership. This includes department heads, scout leaders, heads of not-for-profits, work group leaders, church leaders, school principals—literally anyone who finds themselves in a position of leadership, for whatever time frame, at whatever stage of an organization’s development.

This book’s basic principles apply to leaders across a wide variety of organization types and sizes. Silicon Valley Bank was a startup when I joined it in 1990. It had about 1,200 people in total when I passed my CEO baton on to my successor, Greg Becker, ten years later; today, under Greg’s leadership, it is one of the largest banks in the US and one of only a handful with a global orientation. And yet, I believe that the stories and principles elucidated in the book apply to every part of this journey, from startup to global bank.