Rick Tirrell

Leadership Rites of Passage Rick Tirrell

In Leadership Rites of Passage: The Journey of the Aspiring Leader and the Methods of the Mentor, accomplished author, Rick Tirrell, examines the sixteen universal challenges every leader must master as well as the methods of great mentorship. This book is designed to help you build your own leadership skills, become an exceptional mentor, or conduct leadership seminars. This compelling business fable begins with the naïve and overwhelmed young Joe Miller and follows his career toward Extraordinary Leadership while he easily builds some leadership skills, nearly fails others, undergoes betrayals, and builds a team. At age 25 Joe joins his family firm believing he will have an easy run along with the supportive mentorship of his father. However, six months later his father dies suddenly, precisely as a massive recession hits the economy. Sales plummet, he cannot service his debt, employees are in revolt, and he knows he is inexperienced. He seeks the advice of Sagen Cruz, thus beginning a lifelong leadership mentoring relationship. Sagen masterfully displays his own mentoring methods which any reader can imitate. He asks probing questions and deftly allows silence to do his work. As he mentors, he points to the great masterworks of the leadership literature. He provides Joe a brief explanation of each theory and asks him to read a relevant book so Joe can put its contents to work. Sagen sends Joe on four missions; four separate areas of leadership development. Within each mission, Joe will encounter very specific challenges. If he chooses to ignore any challenge, it will continue to call to him until he masters it. Sagen has given these challenges a name, Rites of Passage. Each Rite of Passage is a separate chapter and at chapter end, three brief summaries offer us Joe's work, Sagen's process, and seminar discussion questions.