Becoming an effective leader who lifts your organization to new heights may seem challenging, but it doesn’t need to be complicated. Strong leadership is rooted in basic principles. Although the specific nature of the organizations you may work for throughout your career will vary on a case-by-case basis, the essential steps you must take to lead with skill will remain constant.

The Blueprint explains what those steps are. More importantly, it demonstrates how we can take them in our own careers and lives.

Author Douglas Conant is particularly well-qualified to teach these lessons. He’s served in leadership roles at such major companies as the Nabisco Foods Company, Campbell Soup Company, and Avon Products. As founder of ConantLeadership, he helps other experts share their own leadership insights. However, Conant wasn’t always this successful. In 1984, before achieving such heights, he lost his job without warning and almost no explanation.

However, Conant did not allow this experience to discourage him for very long. Instead, he turned it into an opportunity. He used this period in his life to seriously examine what factors had prevented him from achieving his dreams and fully realizing his personal vision for himself. By studying the craft of leadership and reflecting on his own achievements, Conant revolutionized his approach to leading organizations. The result was a dramatic shift in his career that propelled him to greater success, joy, and overall fulfillment than he had ever experienced before.

With The Blueprint, Conant has condensed his lifetime of leadership experience and study into six content-rich steps anyone can immediately apply to transform their leadership journey.

1. Reach high - envision

2. Dig deep - reflect

3. Lay the groundwork - study

4. Design - plan

5. Build - practice

6. Reinforce - improve

Along with serving as a leadership manifesto, The Blueprint is also a practical manual. Conant provides exercises and practices readers can use to leverage these six essential steps in virtually any situation. This process enables every leader to build their own personal leadership foundation; this is what empowers them to make a powerful immediate impact - and to create lasting positive change - in organizations and the world.

Conant’s story serves as a reminder that all leaders face challenges at times. It also reminds us that it’s possible to overcome those challenges and dramatically change our careers and our lives.