Coming Spring 2027
Not a highlight reel. The real stories, and what they taught me about leading people.
The Lesser-Known Leader
A leadership book that tells the truth.
Coming Spring 2027 from Michael Burde, Ph.D., founder of Burde Leadership Group and a Michigan educational leader for 25 years. The Lesser-Known Leader is a memoir-style leadership book: eighteen chapters and an epilogue of real stories, told in Mike's own raw voice, with something usable in every chapter. Join the list and you'll hear first when it's ready.
LEADER
Why I wrote this
If This Is You
This isn't a book to make me look impressive. It's the truth about a human being whose experiences might help somebody else live and lead a little better.
Maybe you're a new manager who is afraid to admit you're overwhelmed. Maybe you're a parent who has spent too long proving your worth at work and not enough time looking at the people at home. Maybe you're the person everybody relies on but nobody thinks to thank.
I know people like you. In different seasons, I have been you.
You don't need another guy telling you how successful he is. You need something useful.
I hope you don't finish this book thinking I have life figured out. I don't.
I hope you put the book down and call somebody. Or apologize. Or say thank you. Or ask a better question. Or make one small decision that changes what it feels like to be on your team.
Mike
What you'll find inside
Stories from real places and real people.
Ionia, Belding, Kenowa Hills, Godfrey-Lee, and Wyoming, plus Mike's dad and his family. Told the way Mike tells them, not polished into a hero story.
The same honest path in every chapter.
Story, emotion, meaning, an outside connection, a leadership truth, something usable, and a question that stays with you after you close the book.
Something you can use Monday morning.
Every chapter hands you something usable and a question worth taking back to your team, your district, or your kitchen table.
Join the pre-publication list
Leave your name and email and we'll let you know the moment the book is ready. Only book news. No sales pitch.