Taming Your Crocodiles

One of Bloomberg's 10 best books on leadership for 2018!

What does it take to become a great leader? True leadership means freeing yourself from false, mostly borrowed constraints, charting a purpose-filled path based on values that reflect who you really are, and inspiring others to do the same. Before becoming a coach to CEOs and other leaders worldwide, Hylke Faber had his own transformational journey, stepping back from a high-stress career as a strategy consultant in New York City and almost becoming a monk in order to discover a more holistic approach to life.

This book distills his experience into a guide that will help you grow into the leader you really are by transforming your "crocodilian" fear-based conditioning into "owls" — mindsets and behaviors that reflect your true essence.

In this bold, comprehensive book, Hylke offers practical advice for coaching yourself and others, both one-on-one and one-to-many, influencing the people around you to evolve their mindsets and behaviors to a more authentic place. Every chapter includes tools Hylke has successfully used in his work that you can apply to become a more truthful leader, both at work and at home.

With 'Taming Your Crocodiles', you can learn how to let go of fear, unlock your potential for growth, and foster a supportive environment for your team, in which presence, learning, contribution, and excellence merge.

"I do believe that the issue of fear is personal and that is why it is buried in the workplace. Taming Your Crocodiles is groundbreaking not only because of its structured methodology, but also for its courage in calling out the issue itself. I am deeply impacted by Taming Your Crocodiles. I can speak personally and freely on this topic because this work has liberated me to lead more fearlessly at Microsoft and beyond." — Toni Townes-Whitley, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector and Industry

"Taming Your Crocodiles is a daring and important addition to the field of leadership development. It's personal, provocative, and practical. It challenges us to become radically honest with ourselves about who we really are and how our learned crocodilian fears are holding us back from who we can be. And it provides an inspiring, well-structured path to help us coach ourselves and others to let go of our crocodiles and lead from a place that realizes much more of our true potential." — Vijay Govindarajan, Coxe Distinguished Professor, Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business; Marvin Bower Fellow 2015–16, Harvard Business School; New York Times, Wall Street Journal bestselling author

"In this simple but transformative book, you have everything — absolutely everything — you need to go on life's greatest journey to grow as a leader, not by changing yourself but rather by discovering who you are becoming." — Chris Ernst, Director, Learning & Organization Effectiveness, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; author of Boundary Spanning Leadership

"Inspiring, thought-provoking, and comprehensive. Taming Your Crocodiles offers a compelling combination of process, stories, and practice. It invites us to reflect on who we are and how to lead ourselves and others from an authentic place. Including lessons from the great leaders of our time, it helps readers to evolve by becoming more conscious of their inherent strengths and more free from self-limiting mind-sets and behaviors. A must-read for anyone who wishes to grow their leadership to the next level!" — Joel Brockner, Phillip Hettleman Professor of Business, Columbia Business School