This is the book that articulates the ground-breaking ideas known as Unshackled Leadership.

Scott Hunter developed the core concepts that are the foundation of the Unshackled Leadership philosophy based on his 23+ years of working in and analyzing organizations of every type and size. He observed that all successful organizations have enthusiastic, confident, optimistic, appreciative and happy people who work together on behalf of a future they have all committed themselves to.

Significant numbers of people are unhappy at work. A 2005 Gallup poll reported that only 11% of surveyed employees said they were strongly engaged at work.

After working with hundreds of companies and tens of thousands of individuals, it became clear to Scott that what people want, more than anything else, is to work in an organization where their daily activities nurture them, where they can experience and express their creativity, and where management supports their commitments. People want to realize their full potential, experience a sense of accomplishment, achieve personal satisfaction, attain their goals and ambitions and receive recognition and rewards for their contributions.

The Unshackled Leadership program identifies 15 factors that cause people at the top to shift their perspective on the role of the leader and to redefine the culture of the organization so that everyone on the team is operating from a common understanding and a defined platform built on faith, trust, possibility and abundance.
 
The operating model articulated in Unshackled Leadership shows business leaders how to:

• Become receptive to the possibility that there may be another, more powerful way for them to think.
• Simplify their life into two diametrically opposed paths - they have to and do choose.
• Transform all of their relationships at home and at work.
• Take responsibility for everything in their life - they stop being a victim.
• Shift from a circumstantially determined life to a chosen life of joy, happiness and satisfaction.
• Experience an extraordinary level of intimacy with the people in their life.
• See that their thoughts create their attitude/mood which determines their results.
• Shift to a paradigm of faith, trust, possibility and abundance.
• Begin to see and appreciate the magnificence in others.
• Create an organizational mood of joy and excitement.
• Stop withholding their disappointments and upsets and start communicating responsibly.
• Create an opening for championship caliber teamwork.
• Make decisions and choices consciously and wisely.
• Create "partnership" as a fundamental way of being with others.
• Operate consist with their vision rather than their circumstances.

 
This book "synthesizes the best thinking in cutting-edge leadership. Scott Hunter explores the outworn beliefs and attitudes that inhibit our growth in relationships, organizations, and society at large. Not only does he expose our 'stinkin' thinkin'--he also gives us the tools to fix it. A lively, empowering guide."

Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager®


If we stay as we are, we'll only get more of what we've got.

You were born into a "paradigm" underwritten by an existing set of beliefs. A belief is a thought you repeat to yourself over and over because you think it's the truth. You bought into virtually every one of these beliefs without any thought as to their validity or usefulness. You didn't decide to believe almost everything you believe in! The vast majority of what society trained you to believe either isn't the truth or isn't very useful.

The existing paradigm is not set up to create enthusiastic, confident, optimistic, appreciative and happy people working together on behalf of a future they have all committed themselves to. On the contrary, it's designed to create pettiness, gossip, competition, conflict, arguments and righteousness.

If we keep operating in the existing paradigm as we have in the past, we'll keep getting more of what we already have. Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again while thinking we'll get a different result.

In Unshackled Leadership, we shine a beacon on the existing paradigm to remove it from the realm of the invisible. We look at it for what it is and understand how it causes us to think and act as human beings. This exercise makes it immediately apparent why our companies, and indeed our world, are in the poor shape they are in. We then propose an alternative paradigm - another possible way of being - that will enable you to create cooperation, caring, cohesiveness, trust, respect, and most important for company leaders, satisfaction, fulfillment, harmony, creativity and productivity.

John Stuart Mill, the 19th century philosopher and political economist, said, "When society requires to be rebuilt, there is no use in attempting to rebuild it on the old plan. No great improvements in the lot of mankind are possible, until a great change takes place in the fundamental constitution of their modes of thought." That's what you need to do as you lead your organization into the future: initiate a great change in the fundamental constitution of your thinking. Anything less is like putting a bandage on a broken arm. It might look good but it won't get the job done. Forget the bandage solutions!

Once you commit to this new way of being, everything will flow with ease. Practice the new way of being until you get good at it, which shouldn't take long if you're willing to commit yourself to it. It's time to take off the shackles and give yourself the freedom to lead your organization anywhere you want to take it and truly experience the extraordinary.

"There are countless books about the seven steps to nirvana at work, etc. Stop searching for magical solutions. Scott Hunter's work is all that is needed. His work stands alone. He simplifies the process. This isn't rocket science. Scott lays out a practical program for making a difference that gets positive results from the start… It makes sense to let go of tired old concepts of how things are supposed to be and get on with embracing life."
 
John Gartland, President, Joseph Gartland, Inc.

Finished your new book and thought it was great. Not only did you touch upon important work issues but the comparisons to life issues were fantastic. It all made sense to me. Your equation of how "what comes out of our  mouths" paints the scene is so true. We can paint a beautiful picture with our words or create a nightmare!"
 
Stephen Ballas, Senior Director - Customer service, Pernod Ricard USA 

You have two choices and you must chose one.

There are two very different conversations going on within you. We all have a split mind, many call one our upper mind and the other our lower mind.

The upper mind is the home of our "higher consciousness." Every philosopher, every religion and every great thinker, from Buddha to Jesus and many others has acknowledged the presence of our higher consciousness. This is the voice of peace, love, oneness, togetherness, possibility and harmony. Theologians call this the voice of God. Call it whatever you want.

The lower mind is the home of the ego. It's the part of our mind that was programmed by the paradigm in which we were born. It is the voice of fear, limitation, separation, scarcity, greed, and much more.

In Unshackled Leadership you discover that the ego is not your friend and does not have your best interests at heart. In fact, the biggest challenge you'll face in providing leadership for your team is that the ego always speaks loudest and always speaks first. For the majority of people, the voice of the ego is so loud they never hear the voice of their higher consciousness. Even when we are called into action by that voice, the ego fights it with all the power it has.

Life is not all that complicated. Listen to the voice of the ego or listen to the voice of your higher consciousness. You live in one conversation or the other, you project that conversation onto the world, and then you live in it as if it were the truth.

Unshackled Leadership poses the question: "Will you live the reflection of a conversation you created long ago, without much thought or consideration, that your ego has kept alive, or will you take responsibility for that conversation and create a world for yourself worth living in?

An old Cherokee Indian story demonstrates this choice: One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two 'wolves' inside each of us.
 "One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.
 "The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."
 The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"
 The old Cherokee replied, "The one you feed."

Unshackled Leadership presents an undeniable argument that you have far more control over the quality of your life and the quality of your relationships than you ever imagined. Your satisfaction and your happiness are under your control and you never realized it. What an incredible opportunity you have to be satisfied, happy and surrounded by brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous people. "Scott's book is a fantastic road map to not just better relationships but a more fulfilling life experience. The first place I used his road map was at home and my family was the beneficiary of it. Once we started to incorporate his message into our company people started to report back deeper appreciation for their colleagues. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to build a great culture in the work place." Craig A. Robbins, President, Colliers International
 
"I read your book and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was fascinated by the concept of the internal conversation. I think you are right on about that and believe that it is truly revealing and thought provoking in understanding/explaining and predicting how someone is going to think, perceive and ultimately act. The concept about starting where you want to end is also "spot on." You have a gift for telling the story and helping people to understand what you are trying to say."
 
William S. Husak, Ph.D., Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Athletics Department, Loyola Marymount University

We unconditionally guarantee that you'll love this book. More importantly, we unconditionally guarantee that it will make a huge difference in your life and in your ability to lead your team. It will take off the shackles that have stood in the way of your achieving your dream and free you and your organization to experience the extraordinary. If this book does not live up to that promise, just return it to us and we will gladly refund your full purchase price.
 
"After 35 years in business, I thought I had a pretty good grasp on people skills. This book changed all that. Definitely one of the best written books I've read."
 
George Azzanni, President, Kaiser Electric Inc.
 
"Scott: I just completed your book, and I think it is fabulous! Extremely well written: clear, well argued, fun to read, great examples, and above all convincing and practical. You really make the case about everyone creating their own paradigm: so why not change it? You also give compelling examples and very practical methods for us to learn to listen better."
 
Michael D. Coleman, Ph.D.