Pro Leadership Series – ANDREW WYATT LEADERSHIP

WHY VIRTUOSO?

WHY VIRTUOSO?

So where did the idea of VIRTUOSO LEADERSHIP come from? It all began when I realized that character was a critical component in living the life of significance that had eluded me. Once I learned the importance of character, and that character is only grown in adversity, I had to take a hard look at my own. That’s when I realized that my weak character was a major cause of my wilderness journey.

What I discovered about my own character was painful. I learned I was a self-focused leader lacking the primary trait of a VIRTUOSO LEADER, an outward mindset, which is the ability to see life from the perspective of others.

I didn’t have an outward mindset and as a result my perspective was inward, selfish, self-protecting, but also self-limiting. It prevented me from experiencing abundant life. I also learned, character is the “fruit” not the “root”, it occurs as a result of something else, such as your identity, your attachment, or your maturity.

When I began coaching, I had a fantasy, of being invited to coach winning teams, helping them become champions. Reality quickly exposed my fantasy. While everyone can benefit from a coach, it is when adversity comes, that a leader is open to hiring one. More often than not, coaching means stepping into someone’s pain, and helping them to gain perspective and get unstuck.

My wilderness journey took me through a deep look at my own inner life, and getting unstuck was my first fruit. As a coach, I needed to be able to quickly assess what was limiting a leader, and I realized I cannot take people any deeper than I have gone myself.

My search for an assessment tool led me to develop the VIRTUOSO LEADER EQUASTION:

IDENTITY = ATTACHMENT + MATURITY + CHARACTER

The assessment starts with CHARACTER because it defines everyone, strong or weak, good, or bad. It is a “fruit” not a “root”, a presenting symptom, underneath it are maturity and attachment. Identity is the foundation on which they stand.

All of us were created to have an anchored identity, a secure attachment, maturity to handle hardship well, and character that gives life, not only to ourselves, but also to others. The problem is, our life, our past, our traumas and our experiences can result in unanchored identity, insecure attachment, holes in our maturity, all contributing to weak character.

But I found the answer on the journey of VIRTUOSO LEADERSHIP, and you can find it too.

Virtuoso, is barrowed from Return on Character, by Fred Kiel. Kiel was an iconic industrial psychologist, who pioneered the use of character analysis as a method of leadership development. In his insightful work, Kiel proves the role of character in adding to or detracting from the value of an enterprise, both financially and culturally. His firm’s (KRW International) research and the results, clearly demonstrate the real reason leaders and their companies win.

From 2006-2013 KRW followed 121 CEOs from the largest and most prominent companies around the United States, gathering data from surveys completed by thousands of managers and leaders who worked with, for and reported to the 121 CEOs.

The research measured four individual character traits: Integrity, forgiveness, responsibility, and compassion. Dividing the leaders into two groups, they tagged those who demonstrated low character, as “self-focused,” while those who demonstrated high character, “virtuoso.”

Next, each company’s performance was analyzed and compared over the seven-year period of the study. The results were compelling and telling. Two of the most persuasive were: companies led by “virtuoso” leaders had a Return on Assets, nearly five-times greater than the companies led by the members of the “self-focused” cohort. A second finding, Employee Engagement, was 26% greater for companies lead by “virtuoso” CEOs. WOW!

One final thought on the Return on Character study: KRW extended an offer to sit down, one on one, with each participating CEO, to review their company’s results. None of the “self-focused” CEOs accepted the offer; all of the “virtuoso” CEOs did, saying they desired to improve for the benefit of their teams and their organizations (that is an “outward mindset” in practice).

Who wouldn’t want to be a VIRTUOSO?

Are you ready to take the next step?

Then join me on the JOURNEY.

Until we next time,

LIVE INSIDE OUT,

Andy Wyatt

July 24, 2025

The Foundation of Leadership – The View from the Top

“Leadership is about vision and responsibility, not power”. Seth Berkley

Pro Leadership Principle: (My strength) x (My Passion) = My Level of Fulfillment

The View from the Top

The summit is where you take all you have learned on the inside and you move it to the outside, by turning the first nine steps of your climb into action. You translate your vision into reality. This last phase has four steps: clarifying your strategy, defining your tactics, acting to WIN, and leading yourself TODAY.

First, clarify your strategy. What are the big blocks that need to be moved in order to accomplish your call? Spell it out: identify your specific goal and what it is going to take to get there. What will you do when? Big picture. Let me give you an example following on my previous one of one of my aims–be an author and write five books. In my strategy statement, I have spelled out generally the type of books I will write to fulfill this aim. What I am going to do is here; how I am going to do it comes next.

Next, define the tactics you will use to accomplish your strategy. What is it going to take to win? What specific steps will you need to take to fulfill and when will you need to take them? Here you map it out. You have your goals, now make your plan and next you will work your plan acting to WIN.

WIN stands for “What’s Important Now.” It is a way to set priorities. I do it annually, every four months, monthly, weekly, and daily. It is critical to accomplishing goals that one works on what matters most. Using WIN and breaking my plan into specific time periods allows me to do that successfully.

Finally,remember that today matters. John Maxwell wrote a great book by the same title, Today Matters. You will accomplish all you desire, one day at a time. The more you can train yourself to live in the moment, the easier it will be for you to lead the most important person who needs your leadership. You. Legendary golf teacher, Harvey Penick, taught that a golf tournament is won one shot at a time. That is not only true of golf, it is also true of business and of life–one day at a time, one shot at a time.

I take the first day of every year to plan my year. I divide my year into three four-month periods. I take the first day of each of those periods to plan that period. I take the first day of every month to plan that month. I take 45 minutes every weekend to review and plan my week. I take 15 minutes at the end of every day to plan tomorrow. Does that mean everything goes according to plan? Hardly. However, the more often I focus on WIN, the faster I move toward my ultimate destination.

If you follow this blueprint for leadership, in time you will end up operating not only in your strengths, but also in your passion and that will result in a fulfilled life.

Build Your Own Skill Set

How do you answer these two questions?
- What are my strengths?
- What am I passionate about?
Do you feel fulfilled in your life; why or why not?
Are you ready to take action?
- Have you excavated before you elevated?
- What type of foundation have you built?

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The Foundation of Leadership – Stick to Your True Calling—Then Keep Climbing

“Leadership is about vision and responsibility, not power”. Seth Berkley

Pro Leadership Principle: (My strength) x (My Passion) = My Level of Fulfillment

Stick to Your True Calling—Then Keep Climbing

There are many benefits to answering the base camp questions, but if I picked the best one, it would be that the solid foundation these answers build will prevent the one who answers them from being distracted from their true calling. Why? Because when the inevitable interruptions and distractions common to this life come along, your answers to these base camp questions will serve as a “true north” for you, always bringing you back on course toward your ultimate destination.

This is especially important as you continue in the climbing phase of leadership, where your vision is clarified, you determine your aim, and your aspirations, and this results in a clear mission. I don’t mean a mission that you simply carve onto a plaque that hangs in your office, but one that becomes a part of your life, a mission that you not only work for, but it works for you.

I am a vision-driven person; I need one to succeed and I believe you do too. First comes your vision, the big dream for the future of your life, your vocation, and your business. Often people are uncomfortable with vision; this is commonly the result of being risk averse, not wanting to believe something that may not be probable. One of my favorite exercises as a coach is to help a client move into a visioneering state. It is simple and it is fun; it is also good for you. Here is how it’s done.

The first step is to turn on your imagination. That’s right, I said turn on your imagination, because adult life and the responsibilities and pressure of it will often cause that switch to be turned off. Think back to childhood; did you have any problem imagining yourself as anything? I doubt you did. What happened between then and now? Life happened.

So, take a break from life and dream a dream; see yourself as the leader you want to be and see your company where you want to lead it. Now, write it down. Voila, you have a vision! Let it “cook” for a while and see where it goes (i.e., let it settle in your thinking and allow it to help shape your direction and decisions). Remember the guiding question, “What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?”

Next question: what is the aim of your vision? If it were fulfilled, where would this vision take you? Keep it simple.

I have seven aims and they are all “Be” statements: one is Be an Author – write five books. You are reading the first one right now. My aims have been revised and refined over time as my vision has grown or been fulfilled. Yours will too, so do not worry about being perfect, write down what comes to mind.

From your aim you go to your aspirations: why do you want to go where your vision will take you? This may be one thing or a list of things. I have found these to be bigger and broader desires—life changing desires. You may not share these with many people outside of your inner circle, so don’t worry about what you aspire to. I am a possibility thinker who believes any aspiration a person has, given the talent, the time, and the environment, is possible.

A word of clarity: our aspirations need to fit with our natural talents and abilities. As an example, I love to play golf and sometimes I will imagine I am playing The Masters. In reality, I will never play at that tournament because no matter how strong my aspiration is to do so, I am not talented enough to get there, so it will remain an imaginary exercise and not an aspiration I will work towards.

The last part of the climb phase is your mission. This will be a reflection of a central governing belief. Often your “why” will be born from this. You read my “why” at the beginning of the chapter. It came out of my primary governing belief: Without leadership nothing happens; strong, caring, servant leaders are good leaders and good leaders produce good outcomes. Once you have defined your belief, you are able to form your mission.

It is possible that your “why” is your mission. I have seen this to be the case for many entrepreneurs, me included. Take a look at your “why” and ask, “Is this our mission?” If your answer is yes, you’re done and ready to move on to the final phase: the summit.

Build Your Own Skill Set

How do you answer these two questions?
- What are my strengths?
- What am I passionate about?
Do you feel fulfilled in your life; why or why not?
Are you ready to take action?
- Have you excavated before you elevated?
- What type of foundation have you built?

Get the Chapter

Buy the book

BASE CAMP

BASE CAMP

First, some background; where are we, and how did we get here:

I am an experiential learner, I learn on the field not in the laboratory. Experience is not the best teacher, but sometimes, and for some personalities, like mine, it’s the only teacher.

My wilderness journey felt like a mountain climb, when I looked down I got scared when I looked up I got discouraged. But the pain of my former captivity motivated me for the climb and gave me the resolve not to turn back.

Before my climb could begin, I had some work to do, because “what got me here, wouldn’t get me there”. I had to learn some things and I had to unlearn some things. That’s what I did in my “Base Camp”

Base Camp is where you prepare for your climb. Base Camp is where I learned the LIVE INSIDE OUT principle and the answers to three key questions:

Who I was?
How was I made?
How do I work.?

The LIVE INSIDE OUT principle is simply that you cannot be effective on the outside until you are clear about what’s on the inside.

As my friend and coach, Johnny Parker writes in Frontstage Backstage : External Success Requires Internal Health, you will not be able to handle the bright lights of your front stage if you don’t first do your work backstage. My backstage was a mess!

I needed a new way to operate, a new operating system, but before I could accept the fact that my inner life was not clear, before I could answer the three Base Camp questions, I had to know the answer to the three questions every human being longs to know:

Am I accepted?
Am I secure?
Am I significant?

I call these, the “in the mirror” questions, because no one can answer them for you. And unless and until your answer is yes to all, you will not be able to freely become all you were created to be.

Once I had metabolized the answers to these three questions, I could then answer the three base camp questions: who am I, how was I made, and what was I created to do?

My answers formed my philosophy, system, and leadership framework that this new book explains. It is a philosophy from my heart, from the inside out. It is guided by my faith and it is driven by my purpose which is to build big people, not a big company.

I call my new operating system: ASW 2.0. The climb has been both transformative and life giving for me.

It can be for you too. If you are looking for more from this life, this philosophy, system and framework can help you find what you are searching for.

The Virtuoso Leader Philosophy is the foundation on which THE 4 CORNERSTONES OF A PROSPEROUS BUSINESSsystem is built. It was born out of my experience as an entrepreneur, leader, CEO, and coach, and it took a journey through a wilderness for it to be fully formed.

While the philosophy is the foundation of the four cornerstones, the framework is a distillation of the wisdom that came out of my “wilderness years.” These years were the seed stock of LEADERSHIP FORMED IN THE WILDERNESS; The Forging of a Virtuoso Leader, the second book in the PRO LEADERSHIP Series.

The first Book, PRO LEADERSHIP, Establishing Credibility, Building Your Following & Leading With Impact. Andrew Wyatt (Morgan James, 2021), is being revised and republished under the title, LEARNING LEADERSHIP, Confronting Every Leaders Three Big Challenges. This book was the result of 25 years of business experience, building and leading an enterprise. It contains 24 leadership principles taken from the yellow legal pad that tracked all my steps and occupied the top-drawer of my desk for the first 25-years of my career.

It’s been said, adversity builds character, but prosperity reveals it. I know this is true because I lived it. The company I founded, lead and helped to build grew big, fast, but it didn’t last. My piece: many reasons, but a large contributor; my character could not carry abundance, so my company eventually came to a painful end.

And I stepped from the corner office, into the wilderness, and began the journey to VIRTUOSO LEADERSHIP.

I lost my CAREER, but I gained a CALLING.

Like Israel in bible times, I left the prosperity of my “Egypt” and stepped into an unknown wilderness, not knowing where I was going or how long the journey to the promised land would take. Fortune and position had disappeared, but that was not the greatest loss, no, the greatest loss was my identity and with it, the courage to lead.

My first operating system, ASW 1.0 was driven by the 3-Bs: my Business, my Balance Sheet, my Bank Account. That operating system was exchanged for something much more valuable and lasting. I was given WISDOM born from adversity.

The bible says, “wisdom is better than silver or gold”. I didn’t want to believe it, now I do.

The Virtuoso Leader Philosophy is the outcome of hundreds of wilderness hours, the metabolization of vast amounts of wisdom and experience, gathered and consumed like manna, one day at a time. The answers to hard questions.

It all came out of what looked like a defeat, a failure. And as so often is the case with business struggles, it comes down to “the people” and leads to a person, often whose character is not ready to carry abundance, so what is built will not last.

But what has come as the result of the death of ASW 1.0 is greater than I could ever imagine. In its place a virtuoso leader philosophy was born, and a system has been developed: THE 4 CORNERSTONES OF A PROSPEROUS BUSINESS. This system together with its framework, game plans and playbooks are the guideposts to guide anyone who desires to join the journey to VIRTUOSO LEADERSHIP.

Until we next time,

LIVE INSIDE OUT,

Andy Wyatt

June 5, 2025

The Foundation of Leadership – Clearing the Fulfillment Bar

“Leadership is about vision and responsibility, not power”. Seth Berkley

Pro Leadership Principle: (My strength) x (My Passion) = My Level of Fulfillment

Clearing the Fulfillment Bar

When I coach, one-on-one, the ultimate goal of the coaching process is to help my clients to clear the bar, the bar they alone can set. This is part of my coaching process, “the blueprint for leadership,” and it has three phases: base-camp, climb, and summit.

The base camp phase is knowing who you are, how you were made, and how you work. It is based on the principle of in before out. You cannot be effective on the outside until you are clear about what’s inside.

The climbing phase is understanding your mission, what it means, and what it will require to fulfill it. In this phase you take what you know from the inside and plan its application on the outside.

The summit is the place where you know who you are, you are clear about your call, and you are clear about the strategy and the tactics necessary to fulfill your mission, and as a result you begin to live your life to the fullest.

Each phase is composed of a number of critical steps; each must be accomplished before moving on to the next. To skip any of the steps is to risk not only delay, but also a change in your destination. Each section of the climb will answer a number of questions, and, like building blocks, the answers you give will become the foundation for your success.

In base camp, you will answer five questions: who am I, what are my governing values, what are my roles, what is my why, and what is my calling? The purpose of answering these questions is, as I wrote above, to learn who you are, how you were made, and how you work. This is a tough phase because it requires a great deal of self-reflection, which may be difficult for some people, just as it was for me. So why do the work? Because no one can change the outside unless they are willing to either accept or change the inside. When answering the five base camp questions, here is how to frame your answers:

Question #1 – Who am I? It all starts by answering this question. I am asking you to step in front of the mirror to take a good look into yourself. Ask anyone you see, “Who are you?” and the answer you will get from most people is what they do, not who they are. None of us are what we do; we are all more valuable than that. Who we are may determine what we do, but what we do is not who we are.

Question #2 – What are my governing values? Think of these as the cylinders of your engine. They are your underlying motivation in all you do. They are the framework of your life. Values form as you grow, and they strengthen as you mature. They are the foundation you build your life upon. Values are not beliefs, because beliefs can change but values rarely do. As an example, I have seven governing values, these seven have not changed in the thirty years since I defined them, but I have clarified them over time. They are: faithfulness, generosity, leadership, excellence, simplicity, health, and freedom. For each of my values, I have written a clarifying statement. I won’t share those because for the same value, your clarifying statement [AL1] may be different. What matters is your value having your clarifying statement.

Question #3 – What are my roles? You will answer this by looking at your responsibilities and then tracing them back to the key people they are related to. For example, I have four roles: Husband, Father, Head Coach/Managing Partner, Friend. Just as I have a clarifying statement for each governing value, I have one for each role. You should have one for each role too.

Question #4 – What is your why? What juices you, what inspires you, why do you do what you do? I ask all of my perspective coaching clients to read Simon Sinek’s Start with Why. If you don’t have time to read the book or to listen to it on Audible, go to YouTube and find Sinek’s Ted Talk, “Start with Why.” We all have a why and discovering it will help you to clarify your direction and free you to move there (more on this in Chapter ##).

Once you have more clarity on what fulfills you, what your governing values are, and you are clear on your roles and your why, it will be easier to recognize the answer to question #5, what is my calling. Given all you know about yourself, what do you feel led to do? I like the question Robert Schuler asked John Maxwell, “What would you do, if you knew you wouldn’t fail?” Answering this question helped me to ultimately identify my call, and I have used it to help others to identify theirs too.

Build Your Own Skill Set

How do you answer these two questions?
- What are my strengths?
- What am I passionate about?
Do you feel fulfilled in your life; why or why not?
Are you ready to take action?
- Have you excavated before you elevated?
- What type of foundation have you built?

Get the Chapter

Buy the book

IDENTITY – THE BEGINNING

A serene river flowing through a lush forest, with the text overlay: "LEADERSHIP FORMED IN THE WILDERNESS THE FORGING OF A VIRTUOSO LEADER PRO LEADERSHIP SERIES BOOK TWO".

IN THE BEGINNING

When I was young, we had a phonograph in our basement, and I would play Bach and Beethoven. pretending I was conducting a grand orchestra. I aspired to be a virtuoso, even in my youth!

It wasn’t long before I realized that if my virtuoso dream was to become reality, it would not be in music, because, as they say, “you cannot put in what GOD left out.”

Thankfully, being a virtuoso is not limited to the arts. In fact, anyone can be a virtuoso, to be one, you only need to discover: who you are, what you were made to do, and what you’re called to do. Once you’ve answered these three questions, the virtuoso journey begins.

But here is the journey’s first principle: becoming a VIRTUOSO is not a destination, it is, a lifestyle.

A second principle is even more vital: you must be able to lead yourself. Why? Because becoming a virtuoso is an individual sport. No one can do it for you. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t say you have to do it alone, you cannot, it requires a community to help you develop your maturity and your character. Your part is to act.

Leadership is my calling, and business is the field where I answered it. My journey from CAPTIVITY, through a WILDERNESS, into my PROMISED LAND, taught me two things: 1) I didn’t want to retire or stop leading. 2) I wasn’t saved to think small. I THINK BIG and I have a BIG DREAM/VISION. A journey to VIRTUOSO LEADERSHIP requires both.

Do you think BIG? Do you have a BIG VISION?

If you don’t, that’s the first work you’ll need to do. You need to train yourself to think BIG, and to open yourself to a BIG VISION.

I’ve done both, and it’s not easy, but it is simple (more on that later). For now, pause and answer these:

Am I a BIG THINKER? If not, why not? If yes, how did I get here?
What is my vision of my future? Is it bigger than my past? If not, why not?
What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?

My Vision is HUGE. It is way bigger and more than I can ever accomplish alone, but because it is, it gets me out of bed in the morning and fuels my days.

I didn’t say it wasn’t hard, because it is, but I have learned; just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s bad. When I add weight at the gym it is hard, but overtime it makes me stronger, so I keep adding weight and muscle.

The vision of your future must be bigger than your past, or you will stop growing.

Do you desire to grow? Keep reading and let the VIRTUOSO LEADERSHIP philosophy and the 4 CORNERSTONES of a PROSPEROUS BUSINESS system and framework transform your life.

Okay, I told you I have a BIG VISION, now I’m going to share it with you, so that you can see what I mean by BIG VISION: My ambition is to champion, inspire, equip and encourage 25 million leaders annually to live inside out, and have Courageous Trust, to apply, Intentional Focused Agency so they will transform their lives, by changing the way they think, so they experience abundant life and move from striving for success to abiding in significance.

That is a BIG DREAM a HUGE VISION, one that I could never do alone, because I don’t control outcomes, but I do control input and my input is my AGENCY. That is what I am called and responsible to apply.

The same is true for you.

CONTROL focuses on outcomes; AGENCY is all about input. Being focused on outcomes will waste time, cause anxiety, “brain damage”, and stress. I know this is universally true.

That is why being able to balance CONTROL and AGENCY is a central theme of any journey of VIRTUOSO LEADERSHIP.

This is your invitation: join me on the journey of VIRTUOSO LEADERSHIP.

The framework for VIRTUOSO LEADERSHIP which will guide our journey is primarily a business one. I answered my call through business, that is where I learned to lead, add value to people and guide them on their journey.

But what if your call is not to business? The VIRTUOSO LEADERSHIP philosophy applies not only to business but to life. If you learn and metabolize its principles, they will transform your life will adding value to your life wherever you’ve been called.

The VIRTUOSO LEADERSHIP philosophy is built on principles not tactics so it will last and be a ever flowing spring for those who choose to adopt it. Why principles, not tactics? Because tactics are temporary, but principles are permanent.

So, join the Virtuoso Leader community, follow along and enjoy the fruit of the journey. You won’t regret it.

Andy Wyatt

May 28, 2025

The Foundation of Leadership – Leadership from a Place of Strength

“Leadership is about vision and responsibility, not power”. Seth Berkley

Pro Leadership Principle: (My strength) x (My Passion) = My Level of Fulfillment

Leadership from a Place of Strength

It was during this “waiting” period between the end of my time at our company and my “second act” that the idea of AndrewWyatt Leadership emerged. I had been invited to speak to a group of business leaders in Madison, Wisconsin. From my home to Madison is 278 miles—a four-hour drive or a half-hour flight. However, flight schedules being what they were, to fly there would consume not only the day, but most of the evening too. I decided to drive and to use the drive time as an opportunity to fulfill some coaching commitments I had made. I was a leadership coach, but I did not know it. Two CEOs, who were the founding entrepreneurs of their respective companies, had sought me out for mentoring. A long drive, with good cell coverage, was the perfect opportunity for a coaching session or two; one on the way down and one on the way back.

I have to say that speaking to leaders on leadership and coaching leaders juices me like nothing else—it is my passion. I have also come to learn, it is my strength. I learned something poignant about this from John Ramstead, a former Navy fighter pilot and leadership coach; that this the formula for a fulfilled life—the degree to which I am operating in my strength, multiplied by the degree to which I am operating in my passion, equals my level of fulfillment.

(My strength) x (My Passion) = My Level of Fulfilment

It works like this: on a scale of 1-10, to what degree are you operating in your strength? Now, using the same measurement, to what degree are you operating in your passion? I have never seen two “10s”, but I have seen leaders who had numbers that were eight or higher—that is my goal. On a scale of one to 10, I very rarely give a 10, which leaves no room for improvement. But Andrew Wyatt Leadership, LLC has resulted in my being at “81” on the fulfilment scale: nine for strength times nine for passion!

Try this exercise as a proof source: think back to an endeavor in which you did not feel fulfilled and score it for strength and passion. I did it, and found I was less than 64 (8 x 8) in all of the endeavors that ultimately sucked the life out of me. Now, apply the exercise to what you are currently doing. Then answer this question for yourself: if 64 is your bar, where are you now? If you are below the bar, what are you going to do about it?

Build Your Own Skill Set

How do you answer these two questions:
- What are my strengths?
- What am I passionate about?
Do you feel fulfilled in your life; why or why not?
Are you ready to take action?
- Have you excavated before you elevated?
- What type of foundation have you built?

Get the Chapter

Buy the book

PREFACE

A flowing river surrounded by lush green trees under a partly cloudy sky, with overlay text: 'LEADERSHIP FORMED IN THE WILDERNESS THE FORGING OF A VIRTUOSO LEADER PRO LEADERSHIP SERIES BOOK TWO.'

AUTHORS NOTE: Writing this churned up untamed emotions in me. I called my therapist. I wanted to make sure it was emotionally healthy before posting it. I want to encourage readers, not drag them into my past. When my wife read it, she said it stirred in her much of the pain we had experienced during the time in our “wilderness”. My emotional floodgate opened after she said this. I’m grateful it did, because it was the start of a three-day discussion, allowing us to attend, befriend and surrender to those big emotions we felt. It was a hard weekend, but proof of a lesson we’ve learned; just because it’s hard, doesn’t mean it’s bad.

So, on my therapist’s recommendation, the note above is for you, but so is what is written below; be encouraged:

PREFACE

“It has been said that those of us who write books are trying to write ourselves into a better life, that our writing is aspirational—we aspire to live into the truths we write about.”

– Dallas Willard

I was a self-focused leader.

Then, I hit “white-water” and my journey of becoming a virtuoso leader began.

It all started on the corner of 63^rd and Madison in New York City. I walked from my office in mid-town, to my hotel on the upper east side, It was a clear February day in 2016. I was at the top of my game, 54 years old, a founder and CEO of one of the most successful start-up investment management firms in the world. I had accomplished more worldly success than anyone in my family, and I was proud of that fact.

A few weeks earlier I had entertained clients at dinner and, rather than spending the night and taking a flight the next day, I flew private, an expense I justified so I could sleep in my own bed.

Taking off from the Westchester airport the Cessna Citation banked over Manhattan showing off the lights of the greatest city in the world. I gazed out the window and sipped a glass of scotch. “Pretty good for a C-student from Minneapolis – look where I am and what I’ve done!” This was my thought and I now believe it was the tipping point in my life.

There is a story in the Bible about a king named Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who surveyed his kingdom and said a similar thing, and as a result, lost his kingdom. Like him, I was about to have my kingdom taken away from me and be led into a wilderness for a time until I realized, like he did, that GOD is able to humble the proud.

Back on the corner of 63^rd and Madison, I was dressed for New York, in what I used to refer to as, “White House attire,” smoking a $50 cigar. I was thinking about the meeting I had just left, with the NetJets rep. I was going to take a fractional ownership of a Cessna Citation, and sign a sizable check that went with it, but for some reason I hesitated, deciding to sleep on it one more night before committing. As I waited for the light to change, I wondered why I was hesitating. Then, I heard a voice in my head, it shook me. The voice was as clear as if the person next to me at the corner was speaking, the voice said, “this isn’t it”.

I had heard it two other times in my life, the same voice, and each time it was followed by a significant change to my circumstances. Immediately, it triggered the trauma of those two memories. I was shaken.

I didn’t sleep well that night.

The next day I was unexpectedly summoned, to the HQ of our parent and partner by my boss, their CEO. There, she made the first move which led to the end of the company I had started 25 years earlier.

I spent the next eight-months fighting their efforts, but they were bigger, stronger, and more liquid than we were, they wanted what we had built, but not us not me and in the end they had better lawyers. So, on December 31, 2016, we closed our doors and for the next two-months, I did something I never imagined doing; I wound-down my life’s work and my dream.

I walked out of my office for the last time on February 28, 2017, almost one year after hearing that voice say to me, “this isn’t it.”

As I stepped into the parking garage and walked to my car, I heard the voice again; “you are stepping into a wilderness that will last for seven-years.”

This time, alone in the garage I yelled out loud, “No F****** way, I will never accept that!”

I stepped into the ring that day and began to fight back – what did I have to lose? I had already lost everything; or so I thought.

What I now know is what I believed had happened TO me really happened FOR me; what I saw as my greatest defeat was not a defeat but a transition to a new beginning.

I learned an eternal truth: Life is a cycle, from CAPTIVITY into WILDERNESS to our PROMISED LAND. This CYCLE plays out in the life of every human being. Every one of us is unique, formed by our Creator to do a unique and specific work. That work requires an anchored identity, a secure attachment, completed maturity and strong (VIRTUOUS) character.

Lacking any of these attributes results in a type of CAPTIVITY that will keep us from becoming all we were created to be, and it will prevent us from experiencing the abundant life we were created to live.

To anchor our identity, secure our attachment, complete our maturity, and grow virtuous character requires a WILDERNESS. A solo journey; a journey within. There is no other way.

But for those who commit to the journey, in the end, when you step into your promised land, you will understand just as I do now, “the destination was worth the climb.”

My first book, PRO LEADERSHIP, Establishing Credibility, Building Your Following & Leading With Impact. Andrew Wyatt (Morgan James, 2021) was written from my lessons learned from CAPTIVITY. It is a framework, a strategy, and tactics; what a pro-leader does.

These words will be the PREFACE to my second book with a working manuscript title: WISDOM FROM THE WILDERNESS, the Forging of a Virtuoso Leader, PRO LEADERSHIP, BOOK TWO.

Just as a computer requires a software operating system, humans do too. Book one was written from my old operating system, ASW 1.0, It failed under pressure, and could never enter my “promised land”. To go there required an operating system upgrade. I will be forever grateful for the man who said, “Andy, it doesn’t have to be this way. You need a new Operating System; what got you here, won’t get you there.” Mike was a former Tech titan, who had experienced a similar loss and pain I had, so he had credibility with me, he also loved me enough to speak the truth, the last 10%.

So, WISDOM FROM THE WILDERNESS, is from my new perspective, my new operating system, ASW 2.0.

Book one was what a pro leader does, book two is who a pro leader is. My aim is to guide leaders from success to significance; from doing to being.

This lesson is the seed that became my leadership philosophy-VIRTUOSO LEADERSHIP, character driven Level-5 Leadership. It anchors my Flagship Product, System and Framework: Mastering the 4 Cornerstones of a Prosperous Business.

My wilderness experience taught me that who I am is more important than what I do. I believe this is true for you too, and my hope is that reading this will encourage and equip you to live from this truth.

Thanks for joining me on the journey of VIRUTOSO LEADERSHIP.

Andy Wyatt

May 21, 2025