Stop Leading on Empty
Book 1 in the Lead with Soul series. Archway Publishing / Simon & Schuster, April 2026.
Most leaders were taught how to deliver the work and never taught how to sustain it. Stop Leading on Empty is written for people carrying responsibility on an empty tank, and it lays out what presence, purpose, renewal, and service look like as daily practice rather than as language on a wall.
About the author
About the book
Who wrote Stop Leading on Empty?
Stop Leading on Empty is by Patrick Dunn, who spent thirty years leading global crisis management and operational resilience teams for Broadridge, One Call, Donyati, NNIT and Gilead Sciences, and Cognizant. Before that he was a National Park Service interpretive ranger at six sites. He founded Vianarra, a hospitality storytelling practice, and lives in Sparks, Nevada.
What is Stop Leading on Empty about?
The book is about what happens to people who keep delivering after their capacity is gone. It is part memoir, starting with the layoff that ended the job Patrick had built his identity around, and part field guide. Most leaders are trained to produce results and never trained to sustain the work that produces them. The book sets out the Lead with Soul framework as something to run daily, drawn from three decades of holding teams together during actual crises.
What is the Lead with Soul framework?
Four working principles: presence, purpose, renewal, and service. Presence is attention that is genuinely available to the room. Purpose is knowing which work matters when everything is urgent. Renewal is the maintenance that keeps capacity from running out. Service is why the other three are worth holding. Each one is treated as an operating decision with a cost attached.
Who should read it?
Executives, association leaders, healthcare leaders, and anyone carrying operational responsibility under sustained pressure. It is written for people who are still performing well and know privately that the margin is gone.
How is it different from other books about leadership burnout?
The book treats depletion as a readiness problem. Its language comes from business continuity and crisis operations: triage, redundancy, single points of failure, the decision made at three in the morning. Readers who have worked in operations usually recognize the situations from their own jobs.
Where can I get it?
Published by Archway Publishing, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, in April 2026. Paperback ISBN 978-1665792165. Also available in hardcover and as an ebook. Order it on Amazon or through most retailers.