Lior Arussy is an authority on organizational transformation, having guided over 400 companies—including Mercedes-Benz, FedEx, and Walmart—to new heights of success. As the founder of Strativity Group, his strategies have consistently delivered exceptional customer experiences and fostered profound business growth.
In his latest book, Dare to Author!, Lior challenges individuals to take control of their personal narratives. He argues that without intentional authorship, one’s life story is shaped by external circumstances and societal pressures. The book offers a structured approach to transforming experiences into resilience and growth, empowering readers to transition from feeling like victims to becoming victors.
From our conversation, I took away many key lessons including:
- Recognizing Outdated Narratives: Leaders often hinder progress by clinging to past practices. He explains importance of adopting “next practices” over “best practices” to remain future-ready.
- Challenging Limiting Beliefs: Phrases like “If you want to do it right, do it yourself” can stifle delegation and employee development. He encourages leaders to move beyond such limiting beliefs.
- Embracing Vulnerability: As I have shared before, the idea of the invincible, all-knowing leader is outdated. This is why leaders should share their personal stories, including failures, to build trust.
His insights offer a roadmap for leaders aiming to craft intentional, impactful narratives that drive success. I encourage you to read the interview and learn more by reading his book.
You mention that the biggest obstacle to being future-ready occurs when you are stuck with an old story. Can you elaborate on how a leader can recognize when they are stuck in an outdated narrative?
Change is an inevitable fact of life. In DARE TO AUTHOR!, I point out that leaders often focus on developing best practices that are dependent on past practices. When they only provide examples of how they used to do things, they are “future delayers” not “future ready.” When their actions focus instead on experimenting with innovative technologies, tools, and mindsets, they are on the path to being future ready. Constant usage of best practices reinforces old chapters when creating their stories. Experimenting with next practices helps develop the new chapter for themselves and their teams. Leaders should ask themselves: what is in my toolbox: best practices or next practices?
In your experience with organizational transformation, what are some of the most common old stories that hold leaders and companies back?
“If you want to do it right, do it yourself” is an old story sold to us early in our careers and although it is wrong, many people still believe it. This paradigm is contrarian to empowering and developing new employees. It holds back leaders from furthering and adapting their leadership skills.
The leader as “an invincible person” is another old cliché. The idea that a leader needs to show up as a “know-it-all, never-in-doubt” person is not a leadership style that attracts followers. It leads to blind submission and not to a reflective and learning organization.
The leader as the consummate fire fighter is another story that puts leaders into a position of trying to preserve the past without the ability to look for growth and opportunities. When leaders constantly fight fires, they do not have the time or mindset to develop their businesses. It’s important to author a new story that teaches others to fight the fires and focuses on creative development as opposed to conserving the past.
The idea of “intentional authoring” is fascinating. How did you personally come to realize the importance of authoring your own story? 
The nucleus of the idea started when readers of my earlier books quoted sections and drew different conclusions than my original intentions. It made me pause and think. I recognized the power of personal storytelling based on your life’s background and experiences.
Then when 2008-2009 financial crisis hit and I needed to rebuild my business almost from scratch, I had to deploy new tools and mindset. I had to gather past successes to refuel my dwindling reserves. And that is how my intentional authoring started. I remembered a study that found that 14% of companies that go through a crisis emerge in a better shape than their original state. So I asked myself, what if I try to thrive here and not just survive? There is a small chance for success, but still a chance. That is how DARE TO AUTHOR! evolved – out of my own need to rewrite my story so that my past experiences could lead to new success.
In Dare to Author! you explore the biased lenses through which we view our experiences. What practical steps can someone take to begin identifying and removing these lenses?
Biases such as the denial of gratitude or succumbing to impostor syndrome twist the facts. The best way to counter them is to face the facts without the cynical voices in your head. Examine your success, celebrate it, develop the story of what you learned from it and incorporate it into your future consideration of challenges. When you “dare to author” your story, it becomes a tool for future growth. You silence the cynical voices that undermine those facts and negate their damaging impact on you.
The book discusses overcoming impostor syndrome. What strategies have you found most effective in shifting people’s internal dialogue when it comes to self-doubt?
The intentional authoring process requires people to face the facts, recognize their lessons and impact, and use them to assess future opportunities. The moment an experience, that was once voided by succumbing to impostor syndrome, becomes part of the discussion, the experience gains legitimacy. It therefore becomes a productive tool in a leader’s future growth. In short, reflect and learn from those experiences and use them in future decisions, and the impostor syndrome voices will disappear.
How can leaders effectively translate their personal narratives into powerful stories that inspire and engage their teams?
Before people are leaders, they are humans. Their connections to others are on that level, not on the level of power and invincibility. By reflecting on, processing, and sharing their personal and business stories, they build bridges that make people want to follow them.
People will follow a leader who they relate to and whose story about persevering even when they faced failure reveals their humanity and ability to understand others. The story also serves as a good guide on people’s path to growth.
The old saying is true “people don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care”
You talk about managing the cynical voices in our heads. In a world full of cynicism, what advice do you have for leaders trying to stay positive and optimistic?
Leaders should focus on the impact they are making on the lives of their customers. They touch people in so many ways and are privileged to provide solutions or assistance. This is a highly gratifying experience when leaders pay attention to it and use it to author their stories.
No company is perfect. After over four hundred transformation I can say with confidence that every company has its flaws. Those that emerge as successful are not those who dwell on their flaws in a cynical way but rather see the beauty in what they do manage to achieve!
You have consulted with companies like Mercedes-Benz and FedEx. How do you help these large organizations craft new stories for future success?
Companies are usually started by entrepreneurs with a vision to change the world. Overtime, as the company grows, leadership forgets that initial impulse and focuses instead on revenue and profits. The people in their businesses – their customers and employees – become secondary to that focus.
To author a new chapter for the company, I usually recommend that leaders go back to the business’s original idea to change the world. We reflect on the impact it made and the people it affected.
The new chapter starts by recognizing past successes and the relevant tools used to achieve them. We then explore what tools are required now and in the future by recognizing the changing environment in sales, technology, and competition, As we develop a vision for a better future, we always stay connected to the original vision of why the organization was created.
In your book, you mention the question “good news or bad news first.” What insights did you gain by studying this dynamic in your research?
Good-news-first leaders focus on finding the opportunities in a crisis. Bad-news-first leaders focus on stopping the fire and preserving the current state. The latter are in denial of their current state. In DARE T0 AUTHOR!, I refer to them as creators versus fixers. Fixers do not develop a vision for the future. It is not their mindset or their story.
How can leaders use storytelling to build trust and foster stronger connections within their teams?
I have observed that the majority of leaders are process reinforcers and measurement chasers. They are not storytellers. It is critical that they recognize that storytelling is a new skill they must develop. This is especially important when employees are seeking purpose and empowerment or when they are being asked to achieve new performance standards.
Storytelling creates an emotional connection between leaders and their people and to the matter at hand. It allows people to draw their own conclusions and connect personally to the mission. It removes the invincible leader from the picture and creates an environment of working together. So, sharing success or failures is not about the medals leaders have earned, but rather the lessons they have learned and are willing to share that lead to the gains.
You mention that changing a mindset is not just a decision but something that needs to be practiced. Can you share some real-life exercises or scenarios where leaders can practice new mindsets?
As presentation delivery engines, leaders approach their presentations with confidence and bravado. Their goal is to convince and close the deal. I was guilty of this mindset myself as an entrepreneur who was always selling. But I decided to stop. The practice I adopted was to ask at the end of every presentation “what surprised you?”
That question assumes there was a surprising nugget, and it shifts the focus of the conversation to the listener. I stopped repeating myself and started listening to their experience.
This question has changed my mindset and my approach to business and personal relationships.
You have written about both business and personal transformation. How does the concept of authoring differ when applied in the workplace versus in someone’s personal life?
Both types of authoring require intention, honesty, and the development of resilience and future readiness. However, as I explain in Dare to Author!, personal intentional authoring focuses on developing internal convictions and strength. Business intentional authoring is designed to build buy-in and acceptance by stakeholders, whether customers, employees, investors, or suppliers. As such, business intentional authoring does not require sharing information that is not helpful in the process of building trust and empowerment. It is more focused on a shared vision advancement.
In your experience, what role does failure play in crafting a compelling narrative, and how can leaders embrace failure as part of their story rather than being defeated by it?
When leaders author their stories, failure is equal to success. Both are experiences that should serve as building blocks for future strength and resilience. If leaders do not learn from their failures and convert them into chapters in their life stories, then even the success failed in its purpose. Failures are a defeat when leaders fail to use them to develop themselves.
Therefore, failures are merely milestones of learning. Processing and converting them into lessons is critical for facing the unplanned future and discovering the opportunities in it. It drives future courage and amplifies leadership by getting more people on board to actualize opportunities.
For more information, see Dare to Author!.
Image Credit: aaron burden
