Be truly inspired, discover your potential, and leverage it to drive organizational success

What You Aren’t Seeing uniquely combines the uplifting story of Herbert Greenberg, the founder of a global management consulting firm, with insights into the psychology of leaders and practical guidance on uncovering and developing true leadership potential in yourself and others.

This life-changing guide shows you how to question your habits, preconceptions, and strategies for connecting with people in order to identify your personal leadership strengths and optimize them for personal and career growth. By using the same approach to draw out others’ stories, you can relate in meaningful ways, see their potential, and help them become more influential players on team initiatives.

While following Herb’s firsthand accounts of losing his sight, then gaining a perspective, you will hear an inspiring personal story of setbacks and triumph, while also learning:

The eighteen principles of extraordinary leadership organized to provide the convenience of a how-to guide
Accessible explanations of the psychological underpinnings that motivate us, attract people to us, and drive us to take risks and challenge the status quo
Thought-provoking discussions and focus questions to embolden you to dig deep into the core of your character and fortify your leadership presence

Whether you’re beginning your career or want to become a more formidable leader, mastering the social cues and strategies for interacting in inspiring ways gives you a distinct competitive advantage—What You Aren’t Seeing is exactly where you need to look to gain an edge.

PREFACE xi

INTRODUCTION xiii

By uniquely combining an entrepreneur’s inspiring personal story with practical ideas and insights, this book will help you become the leader you were meant to be. It will help you consider what you might not be seeing— so that you can look more clearly inside yourself and see new possibilities around you.

SECTION 1 Seeing Inside Yourself

CHAPTER 1 Are You Connecting? 3

Herb Greenberg grew up in Brooklyn, which became his anchor and his bridge. Whenever he connects with others now, he starts with where he is from and is intrigued by where they are from.

CHAPTER 2 Back to Brooklyn 17

Herb was invited into the dugout of the Brooklyn Dodgers by the team’s captain, Pee Wee Reese, then interviewed on the radio by Red Barber, the team’s play-by-play announcer.

CHAPTER 3 Spots Before His Eyes 31

At the age of nine, Herb had a serious operation. Then, because of an infection, over the next year, spots started to appear before his eyes and he slowly, without realizing what was going on, lost his sight.

CHAPTER 4 Learning What to Accept and What to Fight For 43

After losing his sight, over the course of the next year, Herb and his parents alternately challenged and accepted what had happened. There were certain things they would accept and others that they would not.

CHAPTER 5 Getting from Here to There 57

Attending school in the heart of Bedford-Stuyvesant, one of Brooklyn’s toughest areas, Herb would get attacked daily. To this day, he always has his right hand free so he can swing if he is attacked, though he has not been in a fight since he was 13.

SECTION 2 Seeing New Possibilities

CHAPTER 6 Advancing in Degrees 71

From an early age, Herb was instilled with a strong sense that he always had to be “just a little better” because of his disability. With that motivation, despite enormous odds, he received his Ph.D. with highest honors from New York University at the age of 25.

CHAPTER 7 Staring Prejudice Down 87

After Herb received his Ph.D., when his potential employers found out that he was blind, he received no job offers. “Now that was rejection,” he says.

CHAPTER 8 Sensing an Opportunity 97

With $15,000 borrowed and an embryonic idea about helping people identify and realize their potential, Herb and his partner tried to make their mark. Just as they were running out of funds, an executive from General Motors decided to take a chance on them.

SECTION 3 Seeing Far and Wide

CHAPTER 9 The Tests of Being an Entrepreneur 117

As they offered companies a new way to hire top performers, Herb and his partner found themselves turned away from places where they thought they would be welcomed, then, occasionally, when they least expected it, surprised by an opportunity that would open like a skyline.

CHAPTER 10 Never Being Satisfied 135

“For better or worse,” Herb says, “I have never been completely satisfied. At least, not for too long. I am always feeling that there is more to be done, more we can do. I guess that created a dynamic where I was always trying to be just ‘a little better.’”

CHAPTER 11 Welfare to Work 151

Helping anyone who is in any way disadvantaged is at the core of who Herb is. Between 1968 and 1970, through his in-depth approach to understanding an individual’s potential, he helped over 4,000 people move from welfare to work for the first time in their lives.

12 Looking Far and Wide 165

“It was a very exciting time,” Herb recalls. “I remember sitting on a Boeing 707 with a publicist we brought over for the occasion, and he kept marveling, ‘We’re going to where Shakespeare lived.’”

CHAPTER 14 Sports 197

While he could not help the Brooklyn Dodgers, Herb’s insights have helped over three dozen professional sports teams—from baseball to basketball to football to hockey—with their draft choices.

CHAPTER 15 New Ways to Lead 215

While pursuing an opportunity, Herb uncovered more than he had bargained for. Through an in-depth study, he developed a model of leadership that has had enormous implications for how leaders need to adapt in order to be effective in today’s global marketplace.

CHAPTER 16 Back Against the Wall 233

“We knew that we could no longer avoid making some of the most painful decisions that we have ever had to make,” Herb says. “In order to get through the eye of this storm, we were going to have to shrink to half our size.”

CHAPTER 17 The Future 247

“I want to make Caliper all that it should be,” Herb says. “What I want mainly is for Caliper to grow, to be seen, to be appreciated, to make the kind of impact that our philosophy is capable of making. Leading is about constantly looking within you and around you—being aware of how your strengths can help you (or get in the way) as the marketplace around you continually evolves.

CHAPTER 18 What’s Your Story? 261

Your leadership story is what illuminates you, making you known, understood, and worth following. Ultimately, your story defines you as a leader. It tells others where you are from, where you are going, what you will stand for, and what you will not stand for.

CONCLUSION The Next Step 275

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 277

INDEX 279