From CIA to CEO: Unconventional Life Lessons for Thinking Bigger, Leading Better and Being Bolder

From CIA to CEO is an ops manual and one-of-a-kind tradecraft toolkit for leaders and entrepreneurs that reveals how the rarefied techniques of the CIA can help anyone find their voice, discover their potential, and thrive in the world of business.

Agent-turned-entrepreneur Rupal Patel shares the unique skills she developed as a woman and field agent in the high-stakes, alpha-male world of the CIA, and combines those clandestine insights with her experiences as a business leader and advisor. Each chapter brings tools and tips from the top-secret world of the CIA into everyday living and leading, including methods like Profiling and Situational Awareness that uncover and amplify strengths, and game-changing new frameworks like Identity Driven Leadership and Personal Energy Mapping that unleash performance and develop steel-core confidence.

Full of motivating stories and truly unique exercises, From CIA to CEO shows readers how to leverage the CIA mindset to remake the rules and become unstoppable on their way to Mission Success.

The daughter of Indian immigrants, Rupal Patel is a born-and-bred New Yorker now living near London. Her unconventional career as a CIA analyst and successful entrepreneur has taken her from dusty briefing rooms in jungles and war zones to the gilded halls of NATO and Capitol Hill. As a CEO, leadership consultant and strategic advisor, she now helps founders, corporate leaders, and next-generation change-makers lead in powerful, meaningful ways while building mental toughness and unshakable resilience.