This Is Not How Leadership Should Feel

For the person at the top who built something real — and now carries it alone. 

This book is written for the leaders inside South African SMEs — founders who've become managers, business owners who became employers, and the person everyone else turns to when things go sideways. If you're holding the vision, managing the people, navigating the culture, and still somehow trying to grow — this is for you. Not theory. Not Harvard frameworks. Just honest, direct talk about what leadership actually feels like when the stakes are yours.

What's inside

The book is built around two honest realities of leading a small business:

• Part 1 – Lead Yourself First Before you can lead anyone else, you need to stop running on adrenaline and assumption. This part deals with the weight you carry alone, the identity shift from operator to leader, how to make decisions when you're exhausted, and why your business behaves exactly like you do — whether you're aware of it or not. You'll build the self-awareness and daily discipline that stable leadership actually requires.
• Part 2 – Lead the People Around You People don't need a perfect boss. They need a present, clear, and honest one. This part gives you practical tools for hiring with your eyes open, having the conversations you've been avoiding, building a culture that doesn't depend on your mood, and developing the people around you so the business can breathe without you in the room. No HR jargon. No corporate performance-review templates. Just the kind of leadership that works in the real world of small business.

Throughout, you'll find stories from real leadership moments — the ones that feel uncomfortable to read because they mirror your own — alongside plain-language tools and reflection exercises you can work through with nothing more than a notebook and 20 honest minutes.