The first thing people say when they find out I wrote a book is, “Wow. That must have been a lot of work. I could never do it.”

They’re right. It was. It took two years. (And they’re wrong. Anyone can do it if they have enough drive.)

This is why I did it.

I’ve worked for bad leaders. In fact, I did an inventory recently and this was the score:

2 = Amazing
3 = Adequate
3 = Couldn’t run from them fast enough

I’ve also worked with some very toxic coworkers. (Uh … I think I was one I worked for one of those leaders I couldn’t run from fast enough.)

Why do we have to dread going to work? Why do we have to work for leaders who are terrible? Why do we have to work with people who are toxic (shaking my head at leaders who permit toxic behavior).

I wanted answers to these questions. I wanted to figure out WHY we want to work with some people and not with others. I wanted to know what makes a leader the type of leader we love working for. I wanted to uncover the reasons some people make being at work awesome. I wanted to pin down what gives someone gravitational pull, or G Factor.

I was smart enough to know my ideas alone weren’t enough. I needed to go to the experts – people like you – working professionals. So, I did. I designed a survey. Then I emailed every working person I knew and asked them to complete it. I asked the participants in my training workshops to do the survey. I sent invitations on Facebook. I sent messages on LinkedIn. When I was sipping on a cup of coffee in a coffee shop, I asked complete strangers if they would complete the survey. I asked people I knew who they knew and asked if they would ask the people they knew to take the survey (that’s a tongue twister). I asked and I asked and I asked.

Yes, my book took two years to write. Not because I was slow, but because I wanted to make sure my survey results were solid. I wanted to be able to back up everything in my book with what I call the research behind the research – research that told me everything those 800+ people I surveyed were spot on!

I often joke that I want to rid the world of bad leaders and horrible workplaces, but underneath I really mean it.  That’s why I did it. That’s why I wrote my book.

You can now boost your own G Factor in my digital mini-course. Check it out by clicking here!