04/20/2026
After thirty years of watching capable leaders step on the same hidden mines, I finally wrote the map.
My new book, 101 Leadership Landmines: Mistakes That Sabotage Teams, Derail Strategy, and Erode Trust, launches today on Amazon.
It was written for people sitting in a very specific chair.
Running a company in the 50-to-5,000 employee range is its own particular hell. You have outgrown the informal structure that worked when everyone knew everyone. You have not yet built the mature leadership systems the big corporations run on, assuming you ever want to. And you are making leadership decisions in the narrow window where one wrong call can echo through the whole company for years.
101 Leadership Landmines is the field guide to every mistake I have watched founders, leaders, presidents, vice-presidents, and operators make in that window.
One hundred and one specific mistakes. Ten sections covering every domain of leadership: Vision and Strategy, Communication, Decision-Making, Team Management, Delegation, Culture, Performance, Ethics, Crisis and Change, and Personal Development.
A few of the landmines inside:
→ Strategy whiplash → Paralysis by analysis → Tolerating toxic top performers → Confusing busyness with results → Leading by fear instead of trust → Surrounding yourself with yes-people → Ninety-five more
If you lead anyone, this book was written for you.
If you know someone who just got promoted into leadership and is quietly drowning, this is the book I wish someone had handed me on the day of my first promotion.
Amazon link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GXH7M8FD/
Operator to operator, thank you.
Todd Cotton
Ron Johnson had the résumé of a legend when he walked into JCPenney. Seventeen months later, the company had lost nearly a billion dollars. Marissa Mayer arrived at Yahoo with brilliance, passion, and a mandate. She left behind a company that sold for a fraction of its former value. Capable peo...
