So, What Are You Famous For?

About the Book

I have always been a team player, a good soldier, a strong sergeant, an excellent right-hand person and have excelled in all aspects in every job I have ever had. Being excellent was part of being recognized as a leader in my world. It was only after submitting myself to assisting with supporting others and their goals over and over again that I finally realized that I was denying myself the true fulfillment of leadership. By excelling I was condemning myself to a secondary role. I know now that I deserve more. I have my own dreams—it took some effort but I am on the path to seeking opportunities that are based on a personal strategy to achieve the success I desire. I had to learn to lead myself first and foremost. For me, it is not a question of who did I want to lead or what did I want to lead, it was, HOW did I desire to lead? I spent too much time looking for a place to lead, but what I really did was to look for places to belong, to excel and to be rewarded. I was lured, more than once, to support someone else’s “shiny bright object”. Let’s face it, I have made some poor decisions for my future, lots of them! But, through my experiences I learned to make better decisions for my future well-being. The episodes in this book reflect personal and unedited life events that I hope will be of value to you in achieving the success you desire, or at least they may make you smile and say “me, too”. I am not suggesting that reading this book will be a life event for anyone, but it may make you stop and re-evaluate. I hope that my experiences and lessons learned help you to succeed at achieving your desires.

About the Author

Denise is a well-known executive and leadership development coach. Her deep understanding of business organizations, coupled with an unparalleled ability to coach individuals, has created leaders across multiple industries. Her techniques are based on 30 years of actual experience in identifying and cultivating leaders. Denise held executive, consulting and operational positions at Gartner, Equifax, PWC, and GA-Pacific. In 1999, Denise joined Gartner, quickly becoming a sought after advisor. She founded the Sourcing Practice, and was responsible for business and solution development, and interdepartmental and regional relationships. During 2000-2005 she traveled the world, reaching out to each individual and team to bring a cohesive look and feel to Gartner’s ability to deliver consulting and benchmarking services. Her expertise in gaining results was evidenced in the impressive growth gained under her tenure. Her teams generated an astounding growth record of 30% year over year, growing the practice from $5M to $50M in just 3 years. Many of her experiences are recorded within HBP/Gartner's Multisourcing: Moving Beyond Outsourcing to Achieve Growth and Agility. In 2005, Ms Underwood formed Stratagen GA Inc (SGINC) with a mission to be an advocate for performance. This book provides her unique perspective on personal brand development and the impact it can have on your ability to perform. Today, Denise volunteers as an Advisor for the Women In Technology (WIT) Leadership Programs, mentoring women as they develop leadership skills. She is active in several leadership organizations, including CEO Netweavers, Women's Leadership Exchange (WLE) Founding LEXCI, and WLE Advisory Board.