The Ordinary Leader by Randy Grieser

Great leaders are always searching for new ideas and approaches to their work because they know they must continue to evolve in order to succeed in an ever-changing world. And, just like a gardener who knows not to blame their lettuce for failing to thrive, great leaders know that it’s the conditions of their workplace that affect how their people perform and grow.

This book explores a variety of leadership insights that will help you meet challenges, respond to opportunities, and nurture a healthy workplace culture in new and innovative ways. In addition to each insight, you’ll find questions for reflection, a practical application idea, and additional resources related to each topic to help spark your own thoughts and discussions among your teams.

The common themes in this book are workplace culture and relationships. Although there are insights about vision, strategy, and innovation, you will learn that you must first focus on people to be productive and thrive as an organization.

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About the Authors

Don’t Blame the Lettuce is written by three members of the ACHIEVE leadership team: Eric Stutzman (CEO), Wendy Loewen (Managing Director), and Randy Grieser (Founder and Chief Vision Officer).

Eric Stutzman, Randy Grieser, Wendy Loewen

Reviews

“The authors of Don’t Blame the Lettuce understand how important relationships are and give practical ways for leaders to improve their workplace culture. This should be required reading for any organization’s leaders!”
- Erica Keswin, Author, Rituals Roadmap: The Human Way to Transform Everyday Routines into Workplace Magic

“This book offers accessible leadership insights with real-world wisdom. The reflection questions, additional resources, and practical applications are valuable for putting what you’ve learned into practice.”
- Curt Coffman, Co-Author, First, Break all The Rules

“Don’t Blame the Lettuce is a charming and inspiring collection of insights from the authors’ own life experiences. They each illustrate important lessons about leadership in a memorable and quotable way. I highly recommended this book.”
- John Zenger, Co-Author, The Inspiring Leader

“In this lighthearted-yet-substantial book, the authors use the analogy of a workplace as a garden, reminding leaders not only of the significant impact we have on whether the garden will flourish or languish, but also providing tools to help us tend the garden.”
- Catherine Schinkel, Director, Human Resources, River East Transcona School Division

“The insights in this book are easily digestible and applicable to a wide variety of contexts. All leaders will grow and be inspired by the author’s heartfelt passion.”
- Jay Sullivan, Author, Simply Said

“Don’t Blame the Lettuce is the perfect book to refer to when dealing with any leadership opportunity. The short stories and resources are easily relatable, and the reflection questions and practical applications do a great job of inspiring next steps.”
- Pamela Kolochuk, CEO, Peak of the Market

“If you’re looking for an opportunity to reflect on your leadership style and actively seek ways to become more influential and effective, this book is for you. I love how Wendy, Eric, and Randy go after every aspect of effective leadership, weaving in examples that demonstrate what works and what doesn’t. ”
- Robert Caslen, Co-Author, The Character Edge