My Book

Courageous Leadership

The Missing Link to Creating a Lean Culture of Excellence

A practical guide for leaders seeking to build sustainable organizational excellence and lead meaningful transformation.

Published by Productivity Press | ISBN: 978-1138104389

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Courageous Leadership book cover by Sumeet Kumar

Meet the Author

Inside Courageous Leadership

Hear Sumeet Kumar explain the core concepts from the book and how courageous leadership helps build a Lean culture of excellence.

Video: Sumeet Kumar on Courageous Leadership

~ 3 min Author introduction - Courageous Leadership

What You'll Learn

Practical capabilities to lead transformation

Equips leaders with practical capabilities to lead transformation with clarity, discipline, and impact.

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Make the Right Change Decisions

Understand the critical differences between incremental, transitional, and transformational change.

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Lead with Courage in Complex Situations

Develop the leadership behaviours required to navigate resistance and sustain momentum during transformation.

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Translate Strategy into Execution

Learn how to deploy strategy from the boardroom to the frontline and embed it into daily operations.

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Drive Sustainable Culture Transformation

Apply structured approaches to assess culture, define the desired state, and shift behaviours across the organization.

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Build Performance Systems That Deliver Results

Implement integrated performance management systems, including Balanced Scorecard, Hoshin Kanri, and visual management.

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Strengthen Organisational Problem-Solving Capability

Build continuous improvement capability and embed disciplined problem-solving across teams and functions.

Key Topics Covered

Creating a shared and compelling need for change
Defining guiding principles and management system elements
Translating strategy into execution through structured planning
Building communication systems using visual management
Strengthening leadership behaviours and courage in practice
Driving employee engagement and accountability
Building organizational problem-solving capability
Recognizing teams and reinforcing a culture of continuous improvement

Who This Book Is For

This book is written for leaders responsible for delivering results in complex environments where strategy, culture, and execution must align.

Senior Executives and Board Leaders - CEOs, COOs, Vice Presidents, and Board members accountable for organizational performance, strategy execution, and long-term sustainability
Healthcare and Public Sector Leaders - executives responsible for quality, safety, access, and system-level transformation in complex, publicly funded environments
Operational and Transformation Leaders - leaders tasked with translating strategy into execution, aligning teams, and driving measurable performance improvement
Quality and Continuous Improvement Professionals - Lean leaders, Six Sigma Black Belts, and operational excellence practitioners building capability and embedding continuous improvement across the organization

About the Author

Sumeet Kumar

Sumeet Kumar is the Chief Executive Partner at Kumar Friends Inc. and a senior executive advisor specializing in strategy execution, organizational excellence, and culture transformation.

Drawing on leadership experience across healthcare, manufacturing, education, and other complex environments, he helps organizations align strategy, leadership, and operations to deliver sustainable results.

He is the author of Courageous Leadership: The Missing Link to Creating a Lean Culture of Excellence, a practical guide focused on building the systems, leadership behaviours, and operational discipline required to sustain transformation and organizational excellence.

MBA CHE PMP Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Prosci Certified Change Practitioner

What Leaders Are Saying

Trusted by executives across sectors

A brilliant interplay of Lean Management and Leadership Courage. A required reading for all leaders.

Marc Gauthier

Director of Education, CSPGNO

A management-excellence playbook for business leaders to be successful in this world of constant change.

Corina Moore

President & CEO, Ontario Northland

A practical and insightful guide to quality transformation. Sumeet explains the theoretical and practical considerations of leading large scale change.

Paul Heinrich

President & CEO, North Bay Regional Health Centre

An excellent resource for leaders embarking on a culture transformation journey.

Nancy H. Jacko

Vice President & Chief Nursing Executive, NBRHC

Sumeet takes a principles based approach to leading sustainable change.

Dr. Susan J. Adams

Chief of Psychiatry, NBRHC

Excellent book! Highly recommended for healthcare leaders.

Kelli O'Brien

Chief Governance and Risk Officer, Health PEI

In today's lightning fast paced global economy, those that strive for advantages long before most recognize a challenge, will be the leaders of today and the future.

Mayor Al McDonald

City of North Bay

A thought-provoking book that provides leaders a structure to subjective nuances of creating an organizational culture.

Stephane Giguère

CEO, Ottawa Community Hospital

This book is a valuable resource explaining the various types of change along with key strategies to ensure success.

Joanne Bezzubetz

President & CEO, The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre

Titles reflect roles at the time of endorsement

Leadership Shapes Sustainable Performance

Strengthen strategy execution, organizational excellence, and transformational leadership.

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