Jon Berger Leadership

"I don’t read a lot of business books. I’m not even that interested in management or leadership. But ever since I read an early copy of this book I’ve been itching to buy copies to give to the leaders in my company. I think it will make them even better leaders, which can only be good for me!" - Phil Pearl, Principal Software Engineer, Ravelin Technology

"During my career, I was lucky enough to have first-hand experience of Jon Berger's leadership.  As one of the most inspiring leaders I worked for, he helped me get the best out of myself and my team, further my career and enabled me to achieve my goals.    

What Happens When You Are Not In The Room explains the leadership strategies and motivations that Jon instilled into his teams and colleagues, bringing them to everyone.  As I read through, it brought back many of the lessons and discussions we had - for example, I still remember sitting in his office, discussing the concepts of Criminals versus Idiots (chapter 14!) and realising where I (and my colleagues) sat on that spectrum.

This is not just a book for CEOs, VPs and high level managers.  The concepts here are equally applicable to those with leadership aspirations and those whose goal is to get the most out of themselves and their managers." - Ed Harrison, Managing Director, Quilcroft Consulting

"Jon builds models that really click. The kind you find yourself reaching for in conversations, weeks, months, or years later. This book packages a career's worth of them: leading yourself, teams, leading at scale. What makes it rare in the genre is that it's so tightly written without being hard work. I find dense, high-signal leadership books are almost punishing to read, but this one gets the information across and gets out of your way to let the ideas land. Thoroughly useful and a pleasure to read." - Ed Pringle, Chief Product Officer, Tollens.ai

"I wish I worked in a world where everyone had read this book! Leadership is not (only) hierarchical: it is something that everyone can practise - and improve. Jon's book helps to crystallise the concepts that matter, and how to think about them. Every chapter provides at least one lightbulb moment that invites the reader to reflect on how you yourself turn up to work each day. It is testament to the quality of writing that, despite their gravity, these lessons present as obvious and intuitive." - Mike Forster, Head of Engineering, Lean Technologies

"I don't read many management books. But this one grabbed me, partly because of how honest Jon Berger is about his own journey from "clueless first-line manager" to VP, and partly because the writing is so refreshingly light on its feet. Instead of an implausible one-size-fits-all prescription, the book hands you a toolbox which covers an impressive range without ever feeling bloated: agency, psychological safety, micromanagement, strategy, culture, how to tell the difference between a criminal and an idiot on your team. And it's genuinely funny in places. Whether you're a first-time manager or several layers up, there's something here that will make you think differently about what you're doing and why." - Charles Humble, Director, Conissaunce

"What Happens When You Are Not In The Room is about an uncomfortable truth. There is nothing whatsoever that we leaders can do personally to hit that delivery or meet those targets. 99.9% of the work happens when we're not there - out of the room. Jon Berger's excellent, funny, engaging book offers a toolkit of leadership techniques to help us all navigate this reality and lead better." - Jon Rowland, Senior Vice President of Engineering, Alianza 

"You could go out and buy all the management books in the store. Or you could just read Jon Berger’s ‘WHWYANITR’ and have all the key lessons distilled for you, delivered along with relatable anecdotes from Jon’s own three decades of success (along with a healthy dose of failure) in technology management." - Andrew Randall, Principal Product Manager, Microsoft

"A genuinely novel way to think about leadership that works at every level. Jon has created an accessible and inspiring guide for anyone aspiring to be a great leader" - Rich Sugarman, Software Engineering Director, NVIDIA