Misled: Why (Almost) Everything We Learned About Leadership Is Wrong and How to Fix It

by Lawrence Coval

Effective leadership isn’t what you think.

You’ve read the management books, attended the workshops, and sat through the seminars on effective leadership. Still, your people are disengaged. It’s not your fault—you’ve been misled by an industry that offers the same old clichés in new, shinier packages . . . and the results suck. Until now.
Misled isn’t a book of borrowed psychology from so-called armchair experts. Based on Lawrence Coval’s forty years of experience leading people in technology and telecommunications, it reveals how any leader can build a foundation for capable and effective leadership in the real world. Coval has distilled his reflections on working in groups large and small into tangible guidance that anyone can adapt:

• Understand why the most common leadership advice fails the reality test
• Recognize who you are as a leader through analyzing your leadership archetype
• Protect yourself from self-sabotage and mitigate negative behaviors
• Develop practical skills that reinforce how to put your people’s success at the top of your priority list

Everyone deserves to be led well. With Misled, you can finally start.

244 pages, Hardcover

Published September 1, 2026

About the author

Lawrence “Larry” Coval has spent nearly forty years leading people. He has worked as a frontline manager, a corporate officer, and everything in between. After cutting his teeth at AT&T, Coval built winning organizations out of startups and some of the largest companies in the US. Along the way, he received countless awards for his groups’ performances—but his greatest accomplishment is the number and quality of leaders he managed, many of whose careers he played a pivotal role in.

Now retired, he spends his time thinking about leadership and enjoying the beach near his home in Carlsbad, California.