Leadership development expert Kevin Weare is set to launch “Putting the Lead into Leadership,” a refreshing and humorous take on workplace management that ditches corporate jargon in favor of clear, relatable lessons drawn from the everyday experience of being a good dog owner.
Unlike traditional leadership books that can feel dry, abstract, or overly academic, “Putting the Lead into Leadership” simplifies complex leadership theories through memorable analogies that make sense in real-world settings. Drawing from years of leadership training experience, Weare uses humor and insight to show that leading people well requires the same patience, consistency, and clarity that make for a great dog owner.
Weare’s extensive background includes leadership roles across the military, corporate, and consultancy sectors. A graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he holds a BSc (Hons), two Master’s degrees in Leadership and Management, and is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). His ongoing doctoral research focuses on optimizing leadership development and creating innovative methods to accelerate the growth of emerging leaders.
The book highlights a common issue in organizations: many new managers are promoted based on technical performance rather than leadership capability — often with little or no formal management training. This gap leads to communication breakdowns, team frustration, and missed potential.
Drawing from his work delivering leadership development programs, Weare notes that traditional training often fails because it is too theoretical, delivered too late, and rarely connected to real-life experience. “Putting the Lead into Leadership”reverses this approach by using engaging analogies that people can immediately relate to and apply.
“Many leadership courses end with a funny story or analogy that people actually remember,” says Weare. “This book is built around those stories — practical, humorous analogies that stick.”
The inspiration for the book came from observing how different dog owners interact with their pets. Some walk calmly beside their dogs, communicating with confidence and clarity. Others, flustered and frustrated, shout commands as their dogs pull on the lead. Weare connects these patterns to workplace leadership, showing how strong leaders communicate clearly, remain consistent, and build trust through calm direction.
He lives in the UK with his partner Jamie and their two Sprocker Spaniels, who inspired many of the book’s lessons through their own training journeys.
The book serves both newly promoted managers seeking practical, easy-to-apply guidance and experienced leaders looking for affirmation and new insights. It explores essential areas of leadership including personality types, emotional intelligence, coaching techniques, situational leadership, communication and feedback delivery, meeting management, presentation skills, delegation, team building, and change management. Each topic connects workplace lessons to dog ownership experiences in a humorous, relatable, and memorable way that reinforces key leadership behaviors. To help readers apply lessons directly, Weare includes self-assessment tools for evaluating personality traits, emotional intelligence, and leadership styles. The book also introduces structured frameworks such as the GROW Model (Goal, Reality, Options, Way Forward), the Eisenhower Matrix for decision-making, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for motivation, the STAR Method for feedback, and Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model for organizational transformation. Each model is explained through dog training analogies, making complex leadership theory simple, engaging, and easy to retain.
Weare reinforces that leadership is learned rather than innate — and that most leadership challenges stem from a lack of development rather than personal flaws. Like good dog ownership, effective leadership depends on consistency, clear communication, and positive reinforcement.
Drawing on both military precision and consulting experience, Weare contrasts the hands-on, behavior-based leadership training he received at Sandhurst with corporate programs that often prioritize theory over application. He explores the power of communication, emphasizing that only 7% of communication comes from words, 38% from tone, and 35% from body language. The book provides practical strategies for running productive meetings, handling difficult questions, and delivering constructive feedback.
Several chapters tackle common management mistakes such as micromanagement, which Weare describes as focusing on process rather than outcomes. Using playful metaphors, he introduces concepts like “adopting puppies,” which refers to taking on others’ problems unnecessarily, and “dumping puppies on desks,” a metaphor for poor delegation. He also discusses “Gandalf Lines,” symbolic boundaries that leaders should establish to maintain authority and accountability while still empowering their teams.
The book covers the stages of team development — forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning — and provides practical guidance for leaders to support teams throughout these phases. It also examines organizational change through the lens of Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model, exploring why 70% of workplace change efforts fail and how leaders can build support, communicate vision, and sustain momentum.
Ultimately, “Putting the Lead into Leadership” makes leadership development approachable, engaging, and deeply human — reminding readers that leading people, like training dogs, is about patience, clarity, and trust.