Meet our Authors

Meet our ‘In the Company of Leaders’ Authors

We are blessed by the wide range of leadership experience and experience provided by our COL faculty. We have pulled from Academia, Sales and Business, Professional Association, Community Service and of course Toastmasters. Each of our authors generously gave of themselves in making this 100th Anniversary edition possible. Here are a few of our authors. We’ll be highlighting a few more along the way to wet your appetite to download COL and read for yourself.

Dr. Marshall Goldsmith is a world authority in helping successful leaders get even better –by achieving positive, lasting change in behavior: for themselves, their people and their teams. Marshall’s newest book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, is a New York Times best seller, Wall Street Journal #1 business book and winner of the Harold Longman award as Best Business Book of 2007. Recently, the American Management Association named Dr. Goldsmith as one of 50 great thinkers and leaders who have influenced the field of management over the past 80 years and Business Week listed him as one of the most influential practitioners in the history of leadership development.  Marshall’s twenty-three books include: The Leader of the Future (a Business Week best-seller), Coaching for Leadership and the upcoming Developing Your Successor (in the Harvard Business Memo to the CEO series). His chapter is entitled: Try Feedforward instead of Feedback. www.marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com

Dr. Dilip Abayasekara, Ph.D., DTM, Past International President, Accredited Speaker, is a semi-retired professional speaker from Sunbury, Pennsylvania. His subject area expertise includes:

Abayasekara delivers inspirational keynotes, seminars, and workshops to a few select clients, conventions, and conferences each year. His audiences include corporations, businesses, associations, and churches. He offers speech coaching for a limited number of individuals.

Abayasekara speaks about public speaking, communication, teamwork, spiritual enrichment, and human behavioral styles. His chapter is entitled ‘A Common Leadership Challenge: Balancing Positional Power and Personal Power’

In his career, Abayasekara worked as an industrial scientist, college administrator, and college professor. He worked as an inspirational speaker, trainer, and coach for 24 years and served as a pastor for the last seven plus years. An Accredited Speaker since 1996, Abayasekara earned his Ph.D. in organic and polymer chemistry from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Master of Divinity degree from Wesley Theological Seminary.

During the 2005-2006 program year, he served as the International President of Toastmasters. He was honored with a Presidential Citation from Toastmasters International and a lifetime achievement award from the Sri Lanka Foundation. He holds three chemical patents, authored the book The Path of the Genie: Your Journey to Your Heart's Desire, and co-authored the book, Public Speaking with Power, Passion, and Purpose. He is also a published poet. For more information, contact him at dabayasekara@susumc.org

Mark Sanborn, CSP, CPAE, Cavett recipient is the president of Sanborn & Associates, Inc., an idea lab for leadership development. He is a member of the prestigious Speakers Roundtable, 20 of the top speakers in the world today. Mark’s book, The Fred Factor: How Passion in Your Work and Life Can Turn the Ordinary into the Extraordinary is an international bestseller and his newest book is You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader: How Anyone, Anywhere Can Make a Positive Difference. Mark is a Past President of the National Speakers Association and winner of The Cavett. His chapter is entitled: Be More than a Manger: Learn to Lead. You can learn more about Mark and how his work can benefit you at www.marksanborn.com  

Visit www.ideaman.net/COL2024.html to download your complimentary copy in either pdf or epub format.  Please share this with anyone who is in leadership who wants to be more effective in their role.