“Chief Inspiration Officer offers a fresh, innovative approach to the workplace and practical strategies on how to raise―and sustain―employee engagement. This book is an absolute must-read for any team leader!”

— Alan Stein Jr., author of Raise Your Game: High-Performance Secrets from the Best of the Best

“Val pulls from her own experiences to inspire us to become better leaders, both for ourselves and for the teams we lead. She’s the business role model we all wish we had, and with Chief Inspiration Officer, everyone now has access to her expertise.”

— Charlene Li, New York Times best-selling author of The Disruption Mindset

“Ries’s lessons are insightful, relatable, and applicable for the leader at any level. The arrival of Chief Inspiration Officer is timelier than ever and should be standard issue for today’s leader.”

— Lee J. Colan, PhD, CEO, advisor, and author of The Power of Positive Coaching

“Ries beautifully demonstrates the value of emotional intelligence in leading teams and maximizing human potential in the workplace. Her honest, authentic, and incredibly relatable experience offers transformative insights for leading, inspiring, and empowering teams of the future. Chief Inspiration Officer is the blueprint for the next evolution of leadership.”

— Stephanie Armstrong, Vice President of Sales, J2 Medical Supply

“Chief Inspiration Officer walks you through the challenges of leadership in a way that’s relatable and easy to implement. I wish I had this tool early on in my career.”

— Mark Crowley, author of Lead from the Heart

“Val does an amazing job laying out a leadership playbook filled with insightful and meaningful firsthand experiences, digestible nuggets of wisdom, and examples of how these tools can be used to better understand yourself and your team. These leadership principles are easily translatable to any business.”

— Kim Driscoll, Editorial Director, Curriculum Associates

“Chief Inspiration Officer is a powerful handbook for leaders seeking to motivate their people and teams to higher levels of engagement and performance. As an experienced executive coach and leader, Val translates real-world examples into practical insights and ad- vice. Seasoned executives and first-time managers alike will gain practical strategies they can begin applying immediately.”

— Brian Symmons, Vice President of Marketing, Natera

“Val opens readers’ eyes to the endless possibilities of developing a high-performing culture through practical approaches and methodologies. Building upon proven foundational elements of trust, honesty, and collaboration, she lays out the framework for us to achieve positive results when applying her principles.”

— Russ Ferguson, Vice President of Sales, Medical Device Industry

“This is a terrific playbook for any manager who knows that true team success comes from the contributions of its members. Val writes in a conversational style and lays out successful methodologies that provide the reader with a clear pathway to engage, align, and inspire members of their team. She also provides fascinating insights about the importance of communication and microcultures.”

— Bob Kelleher, author of Employee Engagement for Dummies

“Val Ries shows that the more we pull down the barrier and get real with our staff, the more we relate to everyone in a human way.”

— Melanie Bikowski, Human Resource Business Partner

“I am impressed by Val’s ability to communicate through the written word. Her writing style is fun, warm, and clear—with terrific, playful analogies and entertaining anecdotes, all of which supported and clarified her ideas. Val’s teachings kept me turning those pages and made me want to dive in and learn more. I’m sure others who pick up her debut read will feel the same way.”

— Karen Salmansohn, Best-selling author of a range of books, including Happy Habits and Think Happy

Executives come to Val looking for her to be their “muse,” building a training and coaching program to teach them or their team how to lead with confidence, communicate effectively and decrease attrition. From small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, Val has been a highly sought-after leadership trainer, previously holding a variety of upper-level management positions that led to both an MBA and a coaching certification in her field. Val resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.

You can learn more about Val’s trainings & coaching company – Executive Muse – at www.executive-muse.com.