THE QUIET LEADER is an alternative leadership concept and future book by writer Dave Ursillo, “the Renegade of Written Word” (DaveUrsillo.com).
In 2009, Dave made what some might call a drastic decision, leaving the security of a State job amid a massive recession to fully pursue his aspirations of becoming a career author and truly inspiring men and women to lead better, happier, and more fulfilling lives.
As 23, Dave had already grown tired of his lifelong pursuit to fulfill the call of the leader within. This relentless drive had pushed him to explore various possible career paths, including State and federal government (five offices over the course of six years, including the White House Council on Environmental Quality in 2008), the military, elected student government, journalism, and various others.
During the months that he lived in Washington D.C., pursuing some form of gainful employment amid the nation’s recession, Dave questioned in his journal whether it was possible for someone like him — someone who considered himself a leader – to be the best, most effective and most influential leader possible, without having followers.
Dave reasoned that convention dictates that for one to be a leader, one must necessarily have followers. Followers validate a leader, give the leader his/her ability to be effective and influential. But, the leader also becomes dependent on followers. Because followers validate a conventional leader, the absence of followers renders the leader without his or her influence. Losing ones followers means that one loses his or her ability to be a leader.
While he didn’t realize it for years, Dave had been fostering a unique philosophy of “selfless giving, inherent optimism and perpetual positivity” that, he realized, had the unique ability to influence others around him to emulate this similar behavior. Those who were routinely touched by this “quiet leadership” and consciously or subconsciously undertook similarly positive behavior, in essence, became like followers.
THE QUIET LEADER looks to inspire those who have become disenfranchised and disheartened to conventional leadership, and offer them a unique philosophy on leadership that contends that anyone can become an influential leader without followers.
To sum up THE QUIET LEADER in three points, the book is:
- A timely treatment of the current socioeconomic and political circumstances America is encountering in lieu of the so-called Great Recession and continuing discontent with elected leaders,
- A timeless study of what it means to truly be a leader,
- A step-by-step guide to unlocking one’s fullest potential to become a quiet leader in everyday life.
The process for writing a nonfiction book in today’s world (considering the state of the economy, the publishing industry, etc.) is different than what one might initially figure.
As of January 2010, THE QUIET LEADER currently stands completed in nonfiction book proposal format. Dave is actively seeking out an elite literary agency to represent him and this ambitious title, at which point they will together pursue a publication contract with a publishing house.
As Dave pursues literary agents, he is beginning to write the manuscript for THE QUIET LEADER, while reaching out to contacts, family, and friends to collect anecdotes, stories, and interviews with real life quiet leaders that will provide “realness” and inspiration to readers.
While the publishing industry is very unpredictable, Dave ambitiously hopes to see THE QUIET LEADER published in by or in 2011.
