The Right Altitude

12 chapters. 48 tools. Built from 7,000+ hours of executive coaching with more than 1,000 leaders. You got promoted because you were the one who always came through. Now you're working harder than you've ever worked and somehow producing less. Your calendar is full of work that belongs 2 levels below you. The conversation you need to have has been sitting in your drafts for 3 months. And the higher you climb, the louder the voice gets that says someone is about to figure you out. Nobody prepared you for this part. Every promotion is an expert-to-beginner transition. The skills that built your career are not always the ones that will sustain it, and nobody tells you when they stop working. So you retreat to the work you know, the altitude where you felt competent, and wonder why the role feels so heavy. The Right Altitude is the book for the role nobody prepared you for. Don Eash names the patterns that keep leaders stuck and hands you the tools to move through them. Every chapter follows the same structure: the pattern, the reframe, the tools, and the experiment, followed by The Mirror, questions to sit with and answer in writing. The book moves from the inside out, in 4 parts: The Inner Game. The altitude problem, the imposter in the room, the stories you're telling yourself, and the Dentist Trap. Tools include the Altitude Dial, the Capacity Thermometer, the Identity Update, the 80% Rule, and the Facts / Assumptions / Emotions Audit. Leading Others. The conversation you're avoiding, and why you need to stop catching every ball. Sort hard conversations with Red / Yellow / Green (most reds turn out to be yellows), schedule them with the 48-Hour Rule, and shift from listening to fix to listening to develop with the Listen-to-Develop Switch and the Vampire Rule. The Organizational Game. Managing up without selling out, what executive presence really is, and how to survive the reorg. Tools include the Friday Update, the Sponsor Map, the Thermostat Practice, the Bookend Strategy, and the Three Circles of Control. The Long Game. When to stay and when to go, the burnout you don't see coming, and defining your own good enough. Tools include the Spring Fling, the Two-Year Test, the Monster Audit, the Body Scorecard, and the Non-Negotiables Exercise across work, family, and self. Underneath all 12 chapters sits the Influence Framework: 7 dimensions (Self-Management, Executive Presence, Results, Communication, Credibility, Relationships, and Visibility) arranged in a circle, not a hierarchy. Once you see it, you'll see it everywhere. The stories are composites drawn from coaching conversations. This isn't theory. It's field-tested, and it's direct. It will help you stop being the old version of yourself in a role that's asking for the next one. Read straight through or go to the chapter that describes where you're stuck right now. Each one stands on its own, and a full index of tools sits at the back. Find the right altitude. Lead from there. And define good on your own terms. By executive coach Don Eash, MCC, ACTC, who spent 30 years in executive leadership and has coached more than 1,000 leaders.