Our Leaders Create Change
Personal Coaching that goes beyond the Classroom
Colonel John Antal
John Antal is an exceptional leadership coach and leadership mentor who travels the world teaching leadership.
John is a soldier, historian, author, leadership expert and master storyteller. His breadth of leadership experience includes a military career and he was a senior executive in the online gaming industry. He is the author of Leadership Rising, as well as 14 other books on leadership and military history.
In a single session, John will teach you the secrets of how to increase your leadership awareness to influence any group — your family, social organizations, business and government.
Eric Lint
Eric Lint is a financial leader with several global companies as well as a founder and advisor to many companies in the energy and information industries.
Eric Lint is a Managing Director of Farm Creek Advisors, serving in that Capacity since 2010. He has served as an executive, an investment banker, and consultant, to firms in financial technology, media, business information, enterprise software, energy, and the capital goods/engineering industries. He serves as an Executive Officer and Founder with Merchant Power Partners, Hydrocarbon Ventures, and Leadership Ventures.
Eric has served as a senior corporate development executive with several Fortune 1000 corporations, including ABB, Reuters, and Dun and Bradstreet.
He was an investment banker with Jordan Edmiston, and a consultant with a subsidiary of Arthur D. Little. Eric started his career with JP Morgan Chase, where he was a commercial banker in New York.
He has an MBA from the University of Connecticut, in addition to graduate studies in Economics at New York University. He holds a BA degree in Economics from Gettysburg College, where he is also a Trustee Emeritus. Eric has guest lectured in leadership, finance, and banking at Duke, Gettysburg, Virginia, and Columbia.
Topher Wurts
Topher Wurts is a lifelong entrepreneur who has spent his career building products and brands for companies large and small.
His unique and highly effective storytelling ability will provide a fascinating and memorable look into leadership. Topher is the ultimate collaborative leader, who is expert in building teams, creating energy and accelerating change.
Topher is a Chief Outsiders Partner and CMO based in Philadelphia. He helps B2B and B2C startups, mid-sized organizations, corporate divisions, and new product launches develop go-to-market strategies to generate rapid growth and revenue gains.
A change agent for various Fortune 1000 companies, Topher redefines brand identity to clarify value propositions, foster business awareness, and increase ROI. With an innate love of technology, he implements digital marketing, earned media, and content marketing strategies to drive business and communicate unique value.
Find out more about Topher at Chief Outsiders.
Highly-Rated Leadership Books from John
Leadership Rising: Raise your Awareness, Raise your Leadership, Raise your Life
Written by a proven leader and leadership expert, this book is an invaluable guide to anyone wanting to improve their leadership skills. Immersive, interactive, and memorable, it will empower you to raise your leadership awareness and help you on your journey to become a winning leader. Concise, focused chapters and an interactive format mean even the most time-strapped can benefit from John Antal's decades of experience.
If you are an emerging leader, this book will provide you with a mind-map and internal compass to maintain a bearing during your leadership journey. This mind-map will outline the contours of the leadership topography; the compass you create in your heart and your mind will provide direction; and your purpose will generate a destination.
If you are an experienced leader, this book is also for you. You will find in it reinforcement, confirmation, and a series of knowledge points to add to your existing cognitive map and compass and to help you develop other leaders at every level of skill and awareness.
“ABSOLUTE MUST READ! If you are interested in Leadership or asking - am I or can I be a Leader - read this hands on primer. Written by a proven Leader- John Antal "gets it" and has "done it". 1st: This book walks you through the thought process allowing You to answer Your questions. 2nd: Once your decision is made, John walks you through the development process to become a Leader and/or improve your Leadership. John makes you Think and Decide - Your call - drive on!”
- Shawn
“This is a SUPERB leadership primer - easy-to-read, enjoyable and interesting, plus, it’s an instructional tool. Antal’s writing style will light up your path to comprehending leadership. Whether you’re from the corporate or government worlds, civil or military, a new manager, a seasoned corporate executive, an NCO, or an Officer - this well written, concise, primer will make YOU a better leader. Purchase it - use it - keep it handy - it will improve your performance and increase your team’s achievements. A “must read” for leaders.”
- Rick
“The book is well written and expresses personal leadership training in a well-laid-out fashion. John's other books were well done and based on leadership examples put in tough spots. This book breaks down what leadership is and how to develop your own leadership traits. The book takes you on a journey and should be a reference each year as we travel through life. The decision-making section was new to me and enlightening. Had not thought of breaking down decision-making that way. ”
- James
7 Leadership Lessons of the American Revolution
On these pages you learn about real people facing historic challenges and overcoming what reasonable observers believed were insurmountable odds. The leadership skills told in these stories are timeless and telling. If you wish to improve your personal leadership skill, this book provides the role models for you to study.
You can be a leader no matter what your rank or position. You cannot be a good leader unless you can also be a good follower. Good leaders don't shine, they reflect. Lessons like these are the core of this book. The stories in this book are about leaders who were challenged at all corners, adapted, improvised and overcame to win. Leaders like Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, Henry Knox, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington, to name a few, are stories you will want to know and tell.
These leaders knew how to impel teams to succeed under the toughest conditions. These stories will come alive on the pages of this book to fuel your leadership fire and make you a better leader in any endeavor.
Leadership is always in demand, especially in today's troubled times.
“John Antal's book is incredible!”
- Tony
“The leadership principles of the American Revolution are greatly needed today in the home, church, government and all our great institutions handed down to us by our forebears. I highly recommend this enjoyable and profitable reading. Well done.”
- Shelby
“Colonel Antal has written an outstanding book about leadership using stories from the American Revolution, but please don't assume that this book has no relevance to today's modern landscape. It should be required reading for anyone who aspires to be an effective leader in any walk of life.”
- KMac
7 Leadership Lessons of D-Day
The odds were against the Allies on June 6, 1944. In such circumstances, good leadership can be the defining factor in victory or defeat. This book is about the extraordinary leadership of seven men who led American soldiers on D-Day and the days that followed. Some of them, like Eisenhower, Theodore Roosevelt Jr., and Lieutenant Dick Winters, are well known, while others are barely a footnote in the history books.
When things did not go as planned, they took action, adapted and overcame – they were leaders. Leadership was the only ingredient that would get them through the storm of death surrounding them and their men.
This book is not a full history of D-Day, however, it is a primer on how you can lead today, no matter what your occupation or role in life, by learning from the leadership of these seven.
A critical task for every leader is to understand what leadership is. Socrates once said that you cannot understand something unless you can first define it in your own words. This book provides the reader with a means to define leadership by telling seven dramatic, immersive and memorable stories that the reader will never forget.
“Excellent for distilling leadership lessons that remain relevant for today. Well-organized and written.”
- Lucy
“John Antal does a masterful job of capturing the essentials of exemplary leadership, painting vivid word pictures of these timeless lessons that will not soon be forgotten by the reader. A must for any Leadership curriculum, equally applicable from an undergraduate program to the corporate boardroom.”
- Austin
“Irrespective of occupation or vocation, everyone who's in a leadership position should read this book. The value of this book is that these are enduring lessons that anyone can use in whatever walk of life they're in and whenever they're put into positions of leadership.”
- Book Club Member
7 Seconds to Die
A Military Analysis of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War and the Future of Warfighting
The first full analysis of the second Nagorno-Karabakh War―the first war in history won primarily by unmanned systems.
The Second Nagorno-Karabakh war—fought between Armenia and Azerbaijan between September 24 and November 10, 2020—was the first war in history won primarily by unmanned systems.
This 44-day war resulted in a decisive military victory for Azerbaijan. Armenia was outfought, outnumbered, and outspent and lost even though they controlled the high ground in a mountainous region that favored traditional defense. Azerbaijan’s alliance with Turkey, and close technological support from Israel, strategically isolated Armenia. In addition, Turkey’s posturing influenced the Russians not to intervene to support Armenia. That Azerbaijan attacked Armenia during the pandemic was an additional factor. The fact that Azerbaijan won the war is not extraordinary, considering the correlation of forces arrayed against Armenia. What is exceptional is that this was the first modern war primarily decided by unmanned weapons. In this war the Turkish-made BAYRAKTAR TB2 Unmanned Air Combat Vehicle (UCAV) and the Israeli-made HAROP Loitering Munition (LM) dominated the fighting and provided Azerbaijan with a war-winning advantage.
"This small gem dissects the little-known second Nagorno-Karabakh war...Many of these dynamics are currently playing out at scale in Ukraine and have tremendous implications for the U.S. military and the future of warfighting."
- War on the Rocks
"To comprehend what is taking place in Ukraine and elsewhere and to anticipate how that will affect the future of warfare, it is essential to read Antal’s highly informative guide."
- Air & Space Power History
"This book reiterates that the enemy is always thinking and uses the Second Nagorno Karabakh War to expound on the future of the technology of combat. 7 Seconds to Die is an excellent primer for today’s thinking strategist and for anyone interested in understanding the changing methods of war."
- Colonel Richard Jung, US Army (Ret.)