Lead with Both

March 2020. Bill Maggio was staring at a spreadsheet that made his stomach turn, revenue collapsing, thousands of livelihoods on the line, and a leadership team waiting for an answer he didnt have.

He was facing a choice every leader eventually meets: protect people from the truth, or trust them with it. Lead with Both is the story of that choice, and more than three decades of hard-won lessons behind it.

This book is for the leader who lies awake at 3 a.m. wondering if theyre doing this right, the newly promoted manager finding their footing, the executive whose performance and people are out of alignment: every target hit, the team on fumes, and anyone navigating a crisis right now.

Drawing on a career that spans founding and scaling a tech startup to $80 million before an exit, rebuilding after a failed vending machine manufacturing company, and a tenure as co-CEO through a private equity take private transaction and an award-winning AI product launch, Maggio argues leadership was never a trade-off between people and performance. Its the integration of both.

Through candid stories, he distills five principles that turn good managers into great leaders: Integrity First, Empathy in Action, Strategic Vision with Operational Clarity, Innovation That Empowers, and Mentorship as Legacy.