“It’s a pleasure to read a book packed with new insights into what truly makes leaders effective, especially one written in such a vivid, engaging style. This is an extremely useful guide for leaders seeking a deeper understanding of who they are and how they can lead successfully in a complex, ever-changing world.”
Thought leadership
With Bill Drath and Joan Kofodimos at the Center for Creative Leadership, Bob Kaplan built a forerunner of executive coaching before the field even had a name — and he and his firm have been innovating in that space ever since. At Kaplan DeVries, thought leadership shows up in two ways: through writing that reframes how people think about leadership, and through tools that give leaders and teams sharper insight into themselves.
Books
- Beyond Ambition: How Driven Managers Can Lead Better and Live Better (1991, with Bill Drath and Joan Kofodimos) Introduced the idea of “character shifts” — balancing mastery with intimacy — and anticipated the rise of executive coaching.
- The Versatile Leader: Make the Most of Your Strengths—Without Overdoing It (2006, with Rob Kaiser) Brought forward the idea that strengths, when overplayed, become liabilities — and showed leaders how to find balance.
- Fear Your Strengths: What You Are Best At Could Be Your Biggest Problem (2013, with Rob Kaiser) Expanded the field’s focus beyond weaknesses to the risks of overplayed strengths.
- GRAPPLING: The Fight Is With Yourself (2023) A collection of stories, based on real people, about the struggles leaders face with themselves — and what they learn in the process.
Essays & Blog Posts
Since 2014, Bob has been writing essays on leadership, posted on the Kaplan DeVries website and LinkedIn. Readers often describe them as thought-provoking and fresh, though Bob writes simply about what captures his interest. Essays that seeded his new book include:
- Between Your Ears: Your Mental Game Is Everything
- The Hidden Danger of Lacking Confidence
- Feedback Done Right
- Feedback Is For Confidence
- Humility — An Unalloyed Blessing
These short, accessible pieces focus on the "inner game" of leadership — confidence, humility, self-doubt, and the power of feedback.
For more visit our blog.
Tools and techniques
Devised by Kaplan DeVries for leveraging change in leaders and teams:
- Leadership Versatility Index® (LVI) — The only 360-degree feedback tool with a U.S. patent, designed to assess not only strengths and weaknesses but also balance and imbalance. Bob Kaplan invented it. He and Rob Kaiser co-developed it. It’s used all over the world.
- Team Versatility Index — A parallel 360 tool for teams.
- Team Checklist — A practical diagnostic that helps teams see where they stand on critical dimensions of effectiveness.
- Inventory of Personal Functioning — An instrument that surfaces patterns in personality, performance, and growth, giving leaders a fuller picture of their "inner game."
- Feedback for Confidence — A distinct approach developed by Bob Kaplan: using appreciation and positive feedback not as "padding" but as fuel. This method helps leaders internalize their strengths and build the confidence to lead with more ease, balance, and effectiveness.