What do you think?
Rate this book
Flying Lead Change: 56 Million Years of Wisdom for Leading and Living
For leaders at work, at home, and in our communities―an essential guide to nature-based leadership inspired by the wisdom of indigenous teachings and horses.
Is there a common element to the challenges and crises of our modern age? If so, it must be disconnection ―from each other, our planet, and the sense that our lives have purpose and meaning. Where can we turn for answers? In Flying Lead Change , leadership teacher Kelly Wendorf offers a new approach to leading and living inspired by two profound sources of ancient original peoples and Equus (the horse), grounded in evidence-based principles of neuroscience.
In her groundbreaking EQUUS training program, Wendorf teaches a way of leadership modeled on a 56 million-year-old system of the horse herd––a path that has allowed humans and horses alike to survive the kinds of global and societal threats we now face, such as climate change and mass extinction. Here she takes you step by step through this powerful approach,
• Listening ―the starting point for all leadership, in which we suspend our biases and preferences
• Care ―explore the ancient, indigenous understanding of care that is reciprocal, empathic, and beneficial to all
• Presence ―meeting the here and now with vulnerability, openness, and a stable foundation
• Safety ―how a masterful leader creates a sense of group resilience and strength by “leading from behind” for the welfare of all
• Connection ―ways to move away from coercion and force to promote genuine communication and belonging
• Peace ―creating group harmony right now through the surprising concepts of “congruence” and “tempo”
• Freedom ―returning to our wild nature that is inherently free, unbridled, and unbroken
• Joy ―moving beyond temporary happiness to a state of wholehearted engagement of life, whatever the circumstances
In horsemanship, a “flying lead change” allows a running horse to respond with breathtaking grace to changing conditions. “Collectively, we need a similar physics-defying maneuver,” Wendorf writes. “This book is for the called―thought leaders, visionaries, parents, creatives, and all those who sense we are being asked to participate in humanity’s ‘flying change’ through the way we live, love, and lead.”
Is there a common element to the challenges and crises of our modern age? If so, it must be disconnection ―from each other, our planet, and the sense that our lives have purpose and meaning. Where can we turn for answers? In Flying Lead Change , leadership teacher Kelly Wendorf offers a new approach to leading and living inspired by two profound sources of ancient original peoples and Equus (the horse), grounded in evidence-based principles of neuroscience.
In her groundbreaking EQUUS training program, Wendorf teaches a way of leadership modeled on a 56 million-year-old system of the horse herd––a path that has allowed humans and horses alike to survive the kinds of global and societal threats we now face, such as climate change and mass extinction. Here she takes you step by step through this powerful approach,
• Listening ―the starting point for all leadership, in which we suspend our biases and preferences
• Care ―explore the ancient, indigenous understanding of care that is reciprocal, empathic, and beneficial to all
• Presence ―meeting the here and now with vulnerability, openness, and a stable foundation
• Safety ―how a masterful leader creates a sense of group resilience and strength by “leading from behind” for the welfare of all
• Connection ―ways to move away from coercion and force to promote genuine communication and belonging
• Peace ―creating group harmony right now through the surprising concepts of “congruence” and “tempo”
• Freedom ―returning to our wild nature that is inherently free, unbridled, and unbroken
• Joy ―moving beyond temporary happiness to a state of wholehearted engagement of life, whatever the circumstances
In horsemanship, a “flying lead change” allows a running horse to respond with breathtaking grace to changing conditions. “Collectively, we need a similar physics-defying maneuver,” Wendorf writes. “This book is for the called―thought leaders, visionaries, parents, creatives, and all those who sense we are being asked to participate in humanity’s ‘flying change’ through the way we live, love, and lead.”
272 pages, Paperback
Published October 13, 2020
25 people are currently reading
96 people want to read
About the author
Kelly Wendorf
1 book4 followersKelly Wendorf is a mother, an International Coach Federation Master Certified Coach (MCC) who specializes in transformative change, author, spiritual mentor, and socially responsible entrepreneur. She is the founding partner of EQUUS, an innovative leadership development organization. EQUUS uniquely combines neuroscience, systems theory, contemplative wisdom, attachment theory, somatic processes, indigenous knowledge, and nature-based intelligence in its coaching and experiential leadership development approach. Kelly’s work has been featured in such publications as Forbes, WSJ: The Wall Street Journal Magazine, Vogue, and Huffington Post, and more. She lives on Buffalo Spirit Ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico with her 5 equines, 2 donkeys, 2 cats, and 3 dogs.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 16, 2021
Fascinating...once in a great while I choose a book for no real reason except that the title calls to me. It is an entirely intuitive act. I do it almost unconsciously and in a trancelike frame of mind. It is as though some other force is at work.
I celebrate this this moment because it happens rarely but when it does it gives me a gift that I could not have gotten in any rational way. It is a treasure. There are authors in here I have read, words that I use as special to me, and philosophy that fits my heart and soul to a tee. Yet I learn and grow as well.
I am nearly finished with this marvelous book. It has given me such confidence. The philosophy and recommendations are a perfect fit for me at my age but also for my mindset. I needed to hear someone tell me to rewild. Having been brought up in a repressive environment, I am still learning to let myself be myself. If I were to enter a ring with those horses, I wonder how I would behave. That is the question I ask myself. It is time to find that out. Also, the concept of leading through joy is something to consider for our time especially at this crisis moment in our country's history. It sounds nonsensical until you consider that the only way to reach folks who are somehow unreachable is through the joy Wendorf is suggesting.
This book is remarkable in its outlook and I highly recommend it.
I celebrate this this moment because it happens rarely but when it does it gives me a gift that I could not have gotten in any rational way. It is a treasure. There are authors in here I have read, words that I use as special to me, and philosophy that fits my heart and soul to a tee. Yet I learn and grow as well.
I am nearly finished with this marvelous book. It has given me such confidence. The philosophy and recommendations are a perfect fit for me at my age but also for my mindset. I needed to hear someone tell me to rewild. Having been brought up in a repressive environment, I am still learning to let myself be myself. If I were to enter a ring with those horses, I wonder how I would behave. That is the question I ask myself. It is time to find that out. Also, the concept of leading through joy is something to consider for our time especially at this crisis moment in our country's history. It sounds nonsensical until you consider that the only way to reach folks who are somehow unreachable is through the joy Wendorf is suggesting.
This book is remarkable in its outlook and I highly recommend it.
November 11, 2020
Flying lead Change has the best life lessons that propelled me into an hour long discussion about this book with my 84 year old mother who is a wise queen herself. Thanks for the inspiration, explaining the care vs caretaking concept, and my fave of all the crab story:)!
August 3, 2025
This book is a MUST read for all equestrians! So much valuable and almost lost information. I feel like with the current climate in the equestrian world that this book is a starting place and guide for us to get back to what’s best for our horses and how we should be interacting with them. Flying Lead Change will be at the top of my list for most influential books in my life.
July 20, 2025
(I was given this book to review)
If you loved reading "Eat, Pray, Love", you will enjoy this author's mystical journey of growth. For those who have not practiced leadership theory with horses or have not had the opportunity to work with horses in the past, this will encourage readers to explore new knowledge on the subject as part of their own life journey or leadership growth.
If you loved reading "Eat, Pray, Love", you will enjoy this author's mystical journey of growth. For those who have not practiced leadership theory with horses or have not had the opportunity to work with horses in the past, this will encourage readers to explore new knowledge on the subject as part of their own life journey or leadership growth.
June 12, 2024
Flying Lead Change is at the top of my list for the best self-help and leadership book EVER! The wisdom of the horse culture was new information for me and I am blown away by the simplicity and wisdom. This is a book for our times, focusing on nature-based wisdom, indigenous wisdom and connecting with the more than human world so humanity can connect better with ourselves and understand we are all connected. I think this book will be loved by anyone interested in wisdom, empowerment and self - development. But it's an incredible book for leadership as well. Just buy it, this is a keeper!
December 12, 2020
I have just begun reading this and enjoying does not fully capture the experience. Intrigued feel more like it - and from my Earth Wisdom trainings I appreciate so much that Kelly brings forward. I have been mapping her ideas onto the Medicine Wheel and I can sense into questions of what is yet to be discussed. The referencing of sources really works for me and is taking me to books that I would like to read next.
January 10, 2026
fabulous leadership and human insights
It’s been a few years trying to find the time to read this book, now I have, now was the right time. Thank you, I love horses and working with them to understand myself. This book is rich and diverse and I’m Australian, an indigenous ally, so love the final quote.
It’s been a few years trying to find the time to read this book, now I have, now was the right time. Thank you, I love horses and working with them to understand myself. This book is rich and diverse and I’m Australian, an indigenous ally, so love the final quote.
October 27, 2022
Wonderful life lessons. I loved the book.
February 27, 2025
Profound and full of wisdom, passed through anecdotes. Wow. I loved it!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews