Gus lee biography

Gus Lee is the best-selling author of four novels, non-fiction and two character-based leadership books. He has written for Time and other publications and is a leadership and character-advancement consultant. Married for 38 years with four children and four grandchildren, he has been a corporate COO, EVP, senior executive, deputy attorney general, supervising deputy district attorney, JAG and infantry officer, drill sergeant, paratrooper, university assistant dean, was a four-time whistleblower and West Point’s first Chair of Character Development, served twice on the Korean DMZ, volunteers in community and operates Leaders of Character LLC. Born into a broken and impoverished Chinese immigrant family in an African American ‘hood, he was raised by three YMCA boxing instructors from the age of seven and mentored by H. Norman Schwarzkopf to be part of a hope-filled American story.

Please join me. I train people to overcome fear to become effective, courageous leaders and committed developers of character for the sake of others. I wasn’t taught; I was dynamically trained in courageous behaviors by Warren Bennis, General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, and many other gutsy men and women to beat my fears and be a person who tries to help others in meaningful ways.

I’ve been privileged to work in and across fifty professions and industries, from small businesses to Fortune 100s, government agencies, police and fire departments and the military to non-profits and struggling start-ups. With my wife Diane, I’ve written eight books. The Courage Playbook (Wiley 2022) is the keystone work. Smithsonian Books published With Schwarzkopf: Life Lessons of The Bear (2015), which recounts how a world figure, and the global master of results, mentored me to improve as a family-based leader of character instead of as a self-absorbed seeker of wealth, status, and power.

This blog aims at how to gain courage by practicing — and training others in 

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