Michael Goodman has spent over 15 years helping professionals navigate the messy parts of leadership that don’t make it into most business books: imposter syndrome, the inability to say no, and the persistent voice that questions whether you’re qualified to be in the room at all.
His approach has resonated. Both of his recent books—The Year of No and Reframe: How to Stop Listening to Fear and Start Leading from Within—hit number one on Amazon in their respective categories. The former tackles boundary-setting and focus reclamation, while the latter addresses the internal critic that undermines confident leadership.
What distinguishes Goodman’s work is his refusal to package leadership development into tidy formulas. His leadership and career coaching practice draws from emotional intelligence and behavioral psychology, but the tone stays conversational and grounded. He works with clients ranging from CEOs to high-performing individual contributors, focusing on alignment between career trajectory and personal values.
The 30 Days to Great Series
Beyond his bestselling books, Goodman created the 30 Days to Great series, a collection of practical guides designed to build specific professional competencies: leadership presence, emotional intelligence, and relationship management. The series reflects his belief that sustainable change happens through incremental habit formation rather than dramatic overhauls.
His writing extends to two newsletters. BRAVO on LinkedIn and Workforce of Joy on Substack both explore the human dimensions of professional success—the parts that involve managing energy, not just time; understanding motivation, not just metrics.
A Different Kind of Business Book
The Year of No became an Amazon bestseller by addressing a problem many professionals face but few admit: the inability to protect their own priorities. The book’s premise is straightforward—strategic refusal as a tool for reclaiming focus and purpose. But the execution avoids the self-help platitudes that often accompany such topics. This page-a-day book features 366 daily practices to build boundaries that encourage mindfulness, clarity, and self-compassion.
Reframe takes on the internal barriers that prevent people from leading effectively. It’s about quieting self-doubt and reconnecting with confidence, framed through coaching methods that integrate emotional awareness with practical application.
Goodman’s approach to both writing and coaching centers on what he calls building a “workforce of joy”—not through forced positivity, but through helping people understand themselves better and lead accordingly.
What’s Next
With two bestsellers established and a coaching practice serving hundreds of leaders, Goodman is focused on expanding both his readership and client base. His target audience remains professionals at every career level who struggle with boundaries and internal doubt—challenges that, despite their prevalence, often go unaddressed in traditional leadership development.
The combination of accessible writing, a background spanning 15 years in coaching, and a willingness to address uncomfortable topics has created momentum. For professionals tired of leadership advice that sounds good but feels impossible to implement, Goodman’s human-centered coaching methodology offers an alternative that acknowledges the complexity of actual workplace experience.
