Ten Thousand Horses: How Leaders Harness Raw Potential for Extraordinary Results

In this inspiring leadership fable, John Stahl-Wert and Ken Jennings draw on their years of experience as consultants and chief executives, as well as on findings from Gallup’s ground-breaking Q-12 survey, to lay out an innovative leadership model that will turn employees from dutiful drones to committed contributors. Ten Thousand Horses is the story of Matt James, a top-performing advertising salesman who is promoted to head his division — an entirely different job than the one he was good at. His workers don’t respond to his efforts to lead them, and soon he’s on the brink of being fired. In desperation, he reaches out to his old, unorthodox mentor, David Butler, who now works with wild mustang horses on a ranch in Colorado. More than simply a leadership fable, Ten Thousand Horses is also a story of personal transformation. Beyond specific practices and techniques, Matt must learn a whole new way of relating to his employees — because, as he discovers, leading an engaged workforce is as much about who you are as what you do.