The Work Beneath the Work — Ted Leonhardt
New Book — 2026

You already know
how to survive.

You learned it early — in a household that was difficult, in a childhood that asked more of you than it should have.

You probably don’t think of that as a strength. You may have spent years trying to put it behind you.

This book is an invitation to look again.

The Work Beneath the Work — Ted Leonhardt
About the book

Inner strength comes
from struggle.

Ted Leonhardt built a firm, made millions, lost them, and came back to understand what his childhood had actually given him. Not despite the difficulty. Because of it.

The attunement he developed to survive — reading rooms, sensing fear, holding groups together — became the instrument he used to lead, and to help others lead. He spent decades not knowing he had it. Self-understanding, in his experience, arrives late. But it arrives.

His story is one path. You have your own. The Work Beneath the Work is written so you’ll be thinking about yours as you read his.

From the Introduction

Saturday. I gathered my prized pipe cleaner men along with their plastic horses and weapons and headed out into the morning. I’d been dreaming of this day all week. Sunny. Warm and dry enough to kneel by the rockery and lose myself entirely.

I didn’t know what to call that state then. I know now: it was flow. And I know something else now, too: that in the rockery, with my imaginary group and their plastic horses, I was already practicing the thing I’ve spent my professional life trying to understand. I was learning to hold a group.

What readers are saying

What readers
are saying.

“As part of a creative team, I’ve been witnessing this resistance and couldn’t fully name why. Your insight captured it perfectly.”
— Eve Chomiak, Creative Team Member
“The Work Beneath the Work is as much about Leonhardt's journey as it is about our own. He handles his prose with the care and tenderness he was never shown growing up — and gives us permission to finally talk about the serious subjects he was never allowed to discuss. We need more stories like his that reveal just how much the way we were raised shapes the way we work.”
— Josh Levine, Author, designer, and workplace culture strategist | greatmondays.com
“As a long-time former agency creative and strategy executive, I can tell you that no one enters the industry with a desire to manage people. The attraction is the work. The focus. The obsession. Add talent and tenacity, and one day you wake up in charge. That’s where Ted’s remarkably moving, insightful, and on-the-money book really delivers. His exceptionally well-written half-memoir, half-business-management guide should be required reading for any creative leader who desires sustained success for themself and the people surrounding them.”
— Rob Osler, USA Today Bestselling Author | Decades at leading global creative agencies, working on many of the world's best-known brands. https://robosler.com/
Ted Leonhardt
About the author

Ted Leonhardt

Ted Leonhardt co-founded and grew a corporate communications and branding firm to $10 million in fees with a team of 50 before selling it. Later, as Chief Creative Officer, he led 500 creatives across 27 offices worldwide.

After working as a consultant helping investor groups acquire brand design agencies, he woke up one morning and realized he was serving the wrong people. As an advisor to creatives, he has spent every year since correcting that mistake.

He lives in Bellingham, Washington, with his wife Robin.

Your struggle built
something real.

This book will help you see it. Available now in paperback.