Explore the story, reflections, and practical insights inside Falling Into Leadership?
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Meet Sally, the Heart of Falling Into Leadership
At the centre of the story is Sally, a composite of hundreds of real leaders Steve has coached and mentored, many who found themselves leading almost by accident. If you have worked with Steve before, you may even see a little of yourself in Sally!
Through her journey, readers see their own challenges mirrored: the tension between confidence and doubt, clarity and chaos, purpose and pressure.
Sally is not a real person, but she is very real in the way that matters most. She is shaped from the collective stories, questions, doubts, frustrations, and breakthroughs shared by hundreds of leaders Steve has coached over the years. Sally represents the human side of leadership, where people often step into responsibility before they feel ready and must learn, adapt, and grow while others look to them for clarity and confidence.
Through Sally, readers recognise parts of themselves, their teams, and their own leadership journey. Her experiences mirror the real challenges modern leaders face: balancing confidence with doubt, navigating ambiguity, managing relationships, and discovering who they need to become in order to lead with authenticity and purpose.
Structured across coaching-style conversations, Sally’s story brings leadership to life in an honest and relatable way. Her journey helps translate reflection into insight, and insight into intentional action, grounding each chapter in both humanity and practical growth.
Purchase Falling Into Leadership
Choose your preferred format below. Signed editions are fulfilled directly by CoachStation.
The paperback format ordered through Amazon will generally arrive around 1 week after ordering.
The Kindle edition is available immediately.
Paperback: FIL
(Amazon)
AUD $32.99*
Printed and fulfilled by Amazon.
Unsigned edition.
Kindle Edition: FIL
(Amazon)
AUD $11.99
Instant digital download via Amazon Kindle Store.
Signed Paperback: FIL
(CoachStation)
AUD $34.99
Signed by Steve and dispatched directly from CoachStation.
Signed Hardcover: FIL
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AUD $49.99
Premium signed hardcover, dispatched directly from CoachStation.
Digital Edition and Gifting
The Falling Into Leadership digital edition is available exclusively through Amazon Kindle, using the link above.
Kindle allows you to read on any device and also provides a simple gifting option, enabling you to send a copy to a colleague, friend, or family member directly through Amazon.
If the Kindle edition appears unavailable, this is usually related to your Amazon account region settings rather than the book itself.
Please note that Amazon paperback and hardcover orders may also include postage costs, which can vary depending on your location and account type.
How Falling Into Leadership Fits Into CoachStation
Falling Into Leadership is more than a book. It is an extension of the real coaching conversations Steve has had with hundreds of leaders across Australia, and it reflects the same principles that underpin the CoachStation approach to leadership, culture, and development.
At the heart of CoachStation is the belief that leadership growth is personal, relational, and shaped by clarity, self awareness, accountability, and emotional intelligence. These same ideas come to life in the book through Sally’s journey, echoing the real challenges and breakthroughs leaders experience in coaching sessions and development programs.
Readers gain the benefit of both lived coaching experience and practical tools designed to support sustainable, meaningful change.
Whether you are exploring leadership for the first time or strengthening years of experience, Falling Into Leadership provides a relatable pathway into the same ideas, principles, and approaches used throughout CoachStation’s coaching, CSLDP, workshops, and programs. It reflects what real leadership development looks like when clarity, purpose, and humanity sit at the centre.
Falling Into Leadership: Concept & Background
Falling Into Leadership is a journey through real stories, reflective practice, and the moments that shape how leaders grow. Written by Steve and Kath Riddle, it blends lived experience, empathy, and evidence to support authentic, intentional leadership.
8 Chapters, Coaching Conversations
Structured around eight coaching-style sessions, each chapter reflects a distinct stage of leadership development.
The journey mirrors the real questions leaders face as responsibility increases, confidence wavers, and expectations shift.
Rather than presenting theory, each chapter follows the lived tension between knowing what to do and learning how to do it well.
Reflect & Act Framework
Each chapter concludes with a Reflect & Act guide that turns insight into deliberate action.
These prompts encourage leaders to pause, challenge assumptions, and apply learning in their own context.
Reflection is linked directly to behaviour, helping ideas move from awareness into everyday leadership practice.
Where Human Meets Practical
The book sits at the intersection of emotional intelligence and everyday leadership reality.
It acknowledges the human experience of leadership, doubt, pressure, uncertainty, and growth.
Practical tools are grounded in real moments, supporting leaders to act with clarity rather than striving for perfection.
About the Authors
Written by mother and son, Kath and Steve Riddle, the book blends lived experience with decades of professional insight.
Their combined perspectives bring both personal reflection and structured leadership understanding.
This dual lens reinforces the belief that leadership development is relational, learned, and shaped over time.
The Essence of Falling Into Leadership
Structured around eight leadership sessions, each chapter in Falling Into Leadership mirrors a real coaching journey, revealing the insights, challenges, and growth that emerge through lived experience. Each chapter represents a stage of Sally’s development, allowing you to experience coaching, reflection, and leadership growth through her story.
1. Coaching the Coachee - the Gravity of Leadership
Explores the gravity of leadership and the moment Sally realises it is not a title, but a mindset. This first session grounds her in purpose, accountability, and the awareness that leadership begins with self-understanding.
2. Quiet Authority – Power Without Position
Explores how true leadership emerges before a title is given. Sally learns that authority is not granted but developed, through trust, clarity, and the confidence to influence without control. She discovers that quiet strength often speaks louder than rank.
3. Holding the Mirror, Owning the Reflection
Invites leaders to look inward with honesty and curiosity. This chapter explores how genuine growth begins with self-awareness, seeing ourselves clearly and owning the influence our words, choices, and behaviours have on others and the culture we help shape.
4. The Shadow and the Spark - How Emotional Intelligence Lights the Way
Explores how emotional intelligence brings light to leadership. Sally learns to recognise her patterns and to balance confidence with vulnerability, turning awareness into authentic connection.
5. Speak Less, Lead More - When Questions Reveal More Than Answers
Explores how influence often emerges through curiosity and silence. This chapter highlights the discipline of listening deeply, asking powerful questions, and creating space for others to think, contribute, and grow..
6. The Power of Connections - Wired to Lead, Called to Influence
Focuses on relationships as the foundation of leadership. This chapter explores the shift from managing people to truly leading them, building trust, empathy, and influence through genuine connection that strengthens both individuals and teams.
7. The Edge of Certainty - Anchored Leadership
Explores resilience and composure amid change. Sally learns to lead through uncertainty with clarity and steadiness, finding confidence not in control, but in purpose and adaptability.
8. The Outcome Is Not the End - The Legacy You Leave Behind
Concludes with reflection on legacy and intention. This chapter explores how leadership continues through others, shaped by our values, impact, and the example we set long after our direct influence fades.
Explore the Falling Into Leadership Companion Hub
The Companion Hub is a practical extension of Falling Into Leadership, it lets you revisit each session, reflect on key ideas, and turn insight from the book into real leadership conversations and action.
Use it at your own pace, return to it between chapters, or come back when you need to reset clarity and direction.
