The Leadership Leap:
Now Without Crash Landings
A 750+ page illustrated guide through courage, empathy, and transformation, helping you increase your impact in every system you belong to.
You were never too much. You were simply told to shrink in the wrong room.
The Leadership Leap is a 750+ page illustrated guide through courage, empathy, and transformation, for anyone in a product organization who wants to increase their impact.
It’s designed for engineers, designers, product managers, data analysts, and leaders who want to lead with purpose, clarity, and human impact.
And truthfully? Every human who works, teaches, raises, or inspires others will find themselves in these pages.
Why This Book Exists
Some storms rage inside us: perfectionism, fear of failure, the need to prove we’re enough.
This book was born from those storms.
For the women in tech breaking ceilings while walking on glass.
For the immigrants rebuilding their lives across borders.
For the neurospicy innovators masking brilliance to survive another meeting.
For the trauma survivors carrying invisible strength into visible roles.
For the creatives, parents, and teachers learning to lead without losing themselves.
Because leadership isn’t about authority, it’s about authenticity.
It’s about expanding your impact beyond yourself, at work, at home, and in the world.
Every human can learn to lead their life, consciously, courageously, and compassionately.
Here’s why any human can benefit from this book:
Facing Inner Dragons
Transform emotional challenges into strengths that empower how you lead, love, and create.
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Learn to navigate fear, perfectionism, and self-doubt, and replace them with integrity, confidence, and clarity.
Self-Leadership
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Boundaries & Courage
Understand where you end and others begin, leading with compassion, not control.
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Empathic Communication
Turn misunderstanding into connection, conflict into growth, and silence into safety.
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See how every small action affects your whole environment, at work or at home.
Systems Thinking
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Leadership begins with you, but it never ends there. Every person who learns to lead themselves contributes to a kinder, braver world.
A Journey Forged in Fire
The Leadership Leap began as Sarah’s story, one of rebuilding after collapse, trauma, and burnout.
It became a movement for engineers, creatives, and reformers who believe leadership is not management, it’s amplified humanity.
Through stories, psychology, and dragon-rich metaphors, this book helps you move from reaction to reflection, from control to connection, and from surviving to leading.
Why Every Company Needs This Book
If you work in any organization with a software team or product, this book is a must.
It bridges the missing gap between management and leadership, between process and people.
Managers who lead make the biggest organizational impact.
They don’t just manage output; they inspire ownership, safety, innovation, and results that scale.
Whether you’re an engineer, a product owner, a people manager, or an executive:
The Leadership Leap will reshape how you see your role and your ripple effect.
Don’t wait for burnout, churn, or crisis to ask what went wrong.
📖 Start with the Prologue today and feel the shift.
Inside the 750+ Page Experience
This is not a book you read once, it’s a companion you grow with.
✨ 56 Dragon Exercises to stretch your growth every year
✨ Illustrated Mazes of Meaning for reflection and calm
✨ Frameworks blending psychology, leadership, and tech
✨ Tools for managers, mentors, and self-leaders alike
✨ Written in Lexend Deca, designed for neurodiverse readers
Each chapter builds awareness, empathy, and action, layer by layer, year by year.
Begin your leap, one wing at a time.
Every journey starts differently.
Some are ready to soar; others want to test the wind first.
That’s why The Leadership Leap comes in three formats, each crafted with care,
accessibility, and purpose.
Whether you dive straight into the full-color illustrated book or begin with the Black & White Learning Editions, you’ll find the same lessons, same depth, and the same invitation to rise as you are.
The Leadership Leap: Full-Color Illustrated
The complete experience: visual, immersive, and transformative.
The original 750+ page edition of The Leadership Leap brings every idea to life through color, art, and reflection.
Written in Lexend Deca for neurodiverse-friendly readability, it combines dragon-rich metaphors, systems thinking, and empathy-driven leadership lessons.
Perfect for anyone ready to take the full leap, exploring leadership as humanity, not hierarchy.
Includes:
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All 20 chapters and 56 Dragon Exercises
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Full-color illustrations and and 20 hand-drawn mazes
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Psychological & business value frameworks
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Tools for personal and organizational growth
Volume I – The Inner Ascent (Chapters 1–11)
From self-awareness to self-leadership.
A black-and-white, text-only edition featuring the first eleven chapters of The Leadership Leap.
Dive into values, emotions, conviction layers, and the dragons of perfectionism and fear.
Ideal for readers beginning their journey or using the material in mentoring or coaching sessions.
Themes:
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Understanding behaviour and conviction layers
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Building self-trust after burnout
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Empathy & emotional regulation
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Facing inner dragons
Volume II – Leading with Fire (Chapters 12–20)
From inner strength to outward impact.
Continue your journey with the second black-and-white, text-only edition of The Leadership Leap.
Explore trust, motivation, courageous boundaries, and leadership impact through the lens of empathy and systems thinking.
Themes:
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Trust, safety & motivation
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Courageous boundaries
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Systems thinking & ethical leadership
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Sustainable team impact
Bundle Offer
From inner strength to outward impact.
Bundle both black-and-white volumes and receive a discount code toward the full-color illustrated book when you’re ready to take the full leap.
However you begin, one chapter or all twenty, every page helps you lead with more courage, clarity, and compassion. When you’re ready to experience the color, art, and full depth of reflection, The Leadership Leap (Full-Color Book) will be waiting to welcome you home.
Stretch Deeper Each Year
Your Leap doesn’t end with the final page.
Grow through the Avagasso Dragon Collection:
100 bite-sized truths for daily inspiration
The Dragon’s Breath
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The Dragon Exercises
all 56 practices from The Leadership Leap, designed to help you grow deeper every year
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The Mazes of Meaning
a meditative coloring & reflection book
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Who It’s For
This isn’t a collection for perfect people.
It’s for those who lead despite fear, and those who want to.
The Leadership Leap is for:
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🧕 Women in Tech
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🌍 Immigrants in Tech
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🧠 Neurodivergent professionals
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💔 Trauma survivors
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🌀 Those navigating personality differences
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🧑🤝🧑 Everyone working with or leading any of the above…
or anyone at all, because every one of us is unique.
Leadership is not management.
It’s expanding your impact beyond yourself.
Parents. Teachers. Teenagers. Engineers. Artists. Leaders.
Anyone ready to stop waiting for permission, and start leading their own life. 🐉
Meet the Author
Sarah Elizabeth Gruneisen is an Engineering Manager, trainer, and founder of Avagasso Coaching.
She turned a lifetime of resilience and reform into a movement for human-centered leadership.
“Leadership isn’t about power. It’s about people and the dragons we learn to face.”
