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Second edition · September 2026

Optimizing Self

Lead yourself, know your worth.

Twenty-five years a priest. One 360 review that told him the truth. What Bill Dickinson learned about himself became a workbook for leaders who have never honestly met the self they lead from.

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Included with the book

The activities, gathered in one place.

A fillable PDF that comes with your copy of Optimizing Self. This is where the reading turns into work you can actually see.

Type your answers in Every exercise from the book, ready to work through on your computer.
Your answers keep What you write stays in the file, so you can return to your first thinking and see how far it moved.
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Cannot find your code? Email [email protected] with your order number.

The Free Facilitator and Discussion Guide

Nine pages written for L&D teams, leadership programs and managers running the book with their own people. It carries the session plan, the questions and the facilitator notes, and you have permission to adapt it.

Nine pages print or screen Six sessions or three other formats Licensed yours to adapt
What is inside
Discussion questions written out for all six sessions Facilitator notes on what goes wrong and how to handle it The two round robins: brand statement, and the sixty second value proposition How to pair the book with EQ-i 2.0 and 360 feedback, and when to run each Three other formats: four sessions, one ninety minute block, or self paced Five timing traps that have derailed a cohort, and the calendar that prevents them
Free. Your name and email, and it lands in your inbox.
On the way

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The guide is on its way to the address you entered. If it is not there in a minute or two, look in promotions or spam.

How it runs

Run it with your team, in six sessions.

Optimizing Self is a workbook. From Chapter 3 on, every chapter carries its own activities, and those activities are the real curriculum. The guide tells you which ones to assign, how much lead time each needs, and what to ask people once they have done the work.

What participants remember will not be a framework. It will be the session where someone said out loud what their feedback told them and the room did not flinch.

Bill Dickinson, from the guide
Session 1 The prism and the wake-up call Introduction, Chapters 1 and 2
Session 2 Self-awareness through the feedback of others Chapter 3
Session 3 Self-awareness through your personal brand Chapter 4
Session 4 Claiming your value proposition and knowing your worth Chapter 5
Session 5 From leading self to leading others, emotional intelligence Chapter 6
Session 6 Best practices, recap and commitments Chapters 7, 8 and 9
Six to twelve people in a cohort
Every two to three weeks not weekly
Ninety minutes per session
One copy each everyone writes in it
Want C3 to design the cohort for you, or handle the assessments and debriefs? Email [email protected].
C3 Leadership

Leadership development and executive coaching. Based in Atlanta, working globally in virtual, in-person and hybrid formats.

© 2026 C3 Leadership, LLC. All rights reserved.