Prepare for Impact
Driving Growth and Serving Others through the Principles of Human-Centered Leadership
Prepare for Impact is a practical business book that champions self-reflection, self-improvement, and a humane approach to leadership.
Ryan Estis and Chad Estis’s insightful leadership guide Prepare for Impact promotes thoughtful approaches to business and lists tools for success.
From their competitive childhoods into their early careers, the Estis brothers challenged and uplifted each other. After months without making his first sale, Ryan attended a motivational seminar and set off down a self-improvement track; he attributes this work to his eventually becoming a top salesman. When Chad followed in Ryan’s footsteps, Ryan sent him his list of 30 Steps to Sales Success to assist.
This book covers those selfsame principles, going over each of the thirty steps in turn. Most are useful both as guideposts for fellow salespeople and as ideas applicable to all young professionals; they move from “effort” to “education” and “presentation,” winding up in the realm of “teamwork” and “mentoring.” And after introducing these steps, the book shifts its focus from lower-level employees to those in leadership roles, introducing 9 Tactics for Being a More Human-Centered Leader.
These “keys to success” for self-aware, human-oriented leadership are flush with valuable insights. The steps approach treats sales like a sport that requires training, practice, and the proper techniques to master. Looking beyond selling itself, the steps reflect particular actions and mindsets that translate well in other fields. And the book’s leadership tactics reflect awareness of changing workforces, embracing remote, hybrid, and flexible work. Together, the tactics encourage leaders (and aspiring leaders) to take ownership over the successes of companies on the whole, including those working under them.
The Estis brothers’ narration reflects earnest belief in their method. They possess joint chemistry that keeps the text upbeat and engaging. Indeed, as they reflect upon their “rookie mistakes” and leadership failures, the text adopts uncommon vulnerability and insight. Still, their succinct anecdotes are not always well grounded; they include floating dialogue that seems untethered from concrete scenes and settings. Further, perspective shifts—the brothers sometimes speak as one and are at other times referenced from a distance—lead to some clunkiness.
Text boxes containing relevant statistics drive home the book’s points, amplifying its suggested steps and tactics, as do the book’s complementary photographs (such as one of the 30 Steps painted inside the Atlanta Falcons offices, which starts an early chapter on a credibility-boosting note, encapsulating the reach of these teachings). And in line with the book’s human-centric approach, it cites the mentors, writers, and speakers who influenced the steps and tactics.
Prepare for Impact is a practical business book that champions self-reflection, self-improvement, and a humane approach to leadership.
Reviewed by
Hannah Pearson
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
