Make It, Don't Fake It – Leading with Authenticity for Real Business Success
Faking it till you make it doesn't work—at least, not long enough to build a sustainable business. This book by a CEO and public relations expert shows how authentic leadership eliminates the need for short-cuts that sabotage success.
Self-doubt and the intense pressure of facing the unknown are real problems for entrepreneurs and leaders. But there's a difference between feigning confidence and running a con game; Elizabeth Holmes and Billy McFarland thrived on faking it for a short while, but their businesses were all aspiration, no foundation, and so collapsed disastrously. This book revisits the core of leadership, defines authentic, reality-based business integrity, and shows readers how to attain and maintain it.
Through the double lens of running her own PR firm in Silicon Valley and advising hundreds of other executives, award-winning CEO Sabrina Horn shows leaders how to attend to the fundamentals and gain the clarity of thought necessary to make sound business decisions. She delivers real, workable strategies and best practices with firsthand accounts of painful lessons. Horn's fake-free advice will empower leaders to disarm fear and organize risk, manage setbacks, plan for the unexpected, and create a company culture designed for long-term, sustainable growth.
About Sabrina Horn (New York, New York Author)
Sabrina Horn is an award-winning CEO, communications expert, advisor, and author. She founded Horn Group, a public relations firm, with $500 and five years’ job experience, becoming one of few female CEOs in Silicon Valley in the early 1990s. Over a quarter century, her firm advised thousands of executives and their companies—from the hottest startups to the Fortune 500—doing so with a special focus on authenticity.
As a young executive, Horn learned about leadership on the job through two lenses: one, as CEO growing and running her firm, the other, as strategic advisor guiding her clients through their own unique business challenges. Facing countless difficult situations, crises, even failure, she came to understand that leadership is about making the right decisions at the right time based on the often very harsh, realities of the truth. Through her journey, she learned that there are no short cuts to achieving long term business success. Still, she confesses to having made many mistakes, and now in her first book, she shares what she learned about how to make it without faking it. Horn Group became one of the most enduring, iconic brands in the tech world, with multiple offices in the US and global reach. It received national acclaim as best US employer, best US Tech agency, and as a Top 10 US Independent Tech PR Firm, among many other accolades for excellence in service and creativity. In 2015, Horn oversaw her firm’s successful acquisition by Finn Partners, a global marketing company. Today, Horn is CEO of HORN Strategy, LLC, a consultancy focused on helping entrepreneurs and CEOs navigate the early stages of their businesses. She serves as an advisor and board member for a number of organizations and is a frequent speaker at industry forums and leadership conferences.
Born in 1961, Horn is the only child of German immigrants, both survivors of the infamous fire bombings of Dresden in WWII. She has a BA in American Studies from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and an MS in Public Relations from Boston University. She has two daughters, Grace and Christina, two extremely large golden doodles, and splits her time between New York and San Francisco.