Brixey & Meyer's leadership advisory head Ryan Hawk announces first book

Ryan Hawk, who runs the leadership advisory practice of accounting and consulting firm Brixey & Meyer and hosts the successful podcast “The Learning Leader Show,” will in January release his first book through publisher McGraw-Hill Professional. The book will draw on insights from his podcast interviews with more than 300 leaders, as well as from his experience as a corporate executive, manager, and football quarterback.

Hawk’s leadership-focused podcast, launched in 2015 and with nearly 300 episodes, has a global audience across 153 countries, and has been downloaded more than 2,000,000 times. “The Learning Leader Show” has provided a platform for extraordinary people, including CEOs, bestselling authors, scientists, and professional athletes, talk about leadership issues.

"After earning my MBA, I did a lot of research on furthering my education in the form of a 'leadership PhD' at a university,” Hawk said. “I ultimately did not choose the university route. Instead, I chose to create my own form of a leadership PhD. The best part? I handpicked my 'professors.' As the show has grown on a global scale, I've been able to interview heroes of mine who have sustained excellence in ways that I never dreamed possible. It's an amazing learning tool for me and the millions of people who listen to the podcast.”

Hawk has been the leadership advisory practice leader at Dayton, Ohio–based accounting and consulting firm Brixey & Meyer since 2017. There, he has worked with global clients to help them become more effective leaders, managers, and coaches. The practice’s services include corporate leadership development programs, one-on-one executive coaching, and keynote speeches and workshops.

Hawk also served as vice president of North American sales at multibillion-dollar information and analytics company Elsevier. Prior to that, he spent 11 years at computer-assisted legal research firm LexisNexis, rising from the role of regional sales executive to director and GM of segment management.

Hawk's success isn't just in the business world. He earned the starting quarterback spot on the Ohio University football team, and afterwards spent a season as starting quarterback on the Birmingham Steeldogs, a team in the developmental league of the Arena Football League. 

Hawk’s  book is expected to be especially useful to first-time leaders looking to improve their leadership skills. “Ryan addresses a perennial pain point. First-time managers who were promoted to their positions because they were top performers are often completely unprepared for the myriad of unexpected challenges they face in their new roles,” Casey Ebro, executive editor at McGraw-Hill Professional, said. “This book promises to help new leaders make that transition successfully.”

In other consulting industry publication news, Simon-Kucher founder Hermann Simon has released an English language edition of his book “Price Management,” while Korn Ferry’s RJ Heckman has put out a new HR strategy book entitled “The Talent Manifesto.”