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Ted Leonhardt

Goodreads Author

Born

in Centralis, WA, The United States

Website

https://tedleonhardt.com

Genre

Business, Memoir, Psychology

Influences

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
...more

Member Since

October 2020

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Did you learn how to manage chaos, read rooms, and navigate uncertainty long before you ever entered a professional boardroom?

For many high-achieving professionals—especially creatives, agency founders, and leaders—success isn’t just built on talent or drive. It was forged in the fire of an unstable or difficult childhood. You survived by becoming hyper-vigilant, highly attuned, and deeply protective of those around you.

But nobody tells you the hidden cost of using childhood survival mechanisms to run a business.In The Work Beneath the Work, trusted advisor to creatives Ted Leonhardt delivers a remarkably moving, half-memoir, half-business-management guide that names the unspoken exhaustion of the self-made leader. Drawing from his backgr Did you learn how to manage chaos, read rooms, and navigate uncertainty long before you ever entered a professional boardroom?

For many high-achieving professionals—especially creatives, agency founders, and leaders—success isn’t just built on talent or drive. It was forged in the fire of an unstable or difficult childhood. You survived by becoming hyper-vigilant, highly attuned, and deeply protective of those around you.

But nobody tells you the hidden cost of using childhood survival mechanisms to run a business.In The Work Beneath the Work, trusted advisor to creatives Ted Leonhardt delivers a remarkably moving, half-memoir, half-business-management guide that names the unspoken exhaustion of the self-made leader. Drawing from his background as an agency founder who built a $10 million firm, a Chief Creative Officer who led 500 creatives worldwide, and a life spent in deep conversation with his wife, a Jungian psychoanalyst, Leonhardt brings a unique mix of business acumen and raw human insight to the page.

Tracing his own journey through childhood trauma, adoption, and executive leadership, Leonhardt exposes how our earliest ruptures shape the way we work, lead, and create today. Beautifully illustrated with original pen-and-ink drawings by the author, The Work Beneath the Work is an invitation to look back at your past with tenderness so you can step into your leadership with absolute freedom.

If you built your strength from struggle but haven’t quite named it yet, this book is the validation you’ve been waiting for.

Praise for The Work Beneath the Work:

“Anyone who has built their competence out of an early rupture, named or not, will recognize themselves here — and anyone who leads people will read their own team differently after finishing it.”— Dr. Barbara Sumner, Oscar-shortlisted filmmaker & Author, and adopted person.

“Beneath the work is always the work on oneself. His book informs the professional, especially creatives, how to keep in touch with your origins and bring your whole self to the table.”— Dr. Joyce Maguire Pavao, Ed.D., Psychologist & Lecturer in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, and adopted person.

“Required reading for any creative leader who desires sustained success for themself and the people surrounding them.”— Rob Osler, USA Today Bestselling Author & Former Global Creative Agency Executive ...more

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Ted Leonhardt’s books

Average rating: 4.21 · 28 ratings · 3 reviews · 4 distinct works

	Nail It: Stories for Creatives on Negotiating with Confidence by Ted Leonhardt (Goodreads Author), Allison Laurel (Editor) 3.95 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Work Beneath the Work: For People Who Built Their Strength from Struggle -- and Haven't Named it Yet it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 7 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Work Beneath the Work: For people who built their strength from struggle –– and haven't named it yet 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Branding Magazine by Dr Jonathan A.J. Wilson, Ted Leonhardt (Goodreads Author), Len Stein 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Ted Leonhardt's Blog

Try to Resolve. Sit and Stew. Leave.

“He hired me last year to manage the creatives,” he said. “Twenty years in the game. Last job, CCO. I’ve seen it all.”

His boss had built a hundred-person consultancy with $25 million in fees. Now he wanted $50 million. Get billings up! A week later his top creative billers were off to Miami for a week with a filmmaker. Not billing. Just hanging out. Then he hired a contractor to rebuild headqu

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The Work Beneath the Work: For People Who Built Their Strength from Struggle -- and Haven't Named it Yet

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Ted Leonhardt wrote a new blog post Try to Resolve. Sit and Stew. Leave. “He hired me last year to manage the creatives,” he said. “Twenty years in the game. Last job, CCO. I’ve seen it all.”His boss had built a hundred-pe Read more of this blog post »
Oct 17, 2026 06:52AM · like
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Ted Leonhardt is currently reading The Work Beneath the Work: For People Who Built Their Strength from Struggle -- and Haven't Named it Yet by Ted Leonhardt (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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