Books and Publications
The full framework, in your hands, for the price of a paperback. One book makes the case for virtuous leadership and shows how virtue shapes performance. The other hands the microphone to the mentors who practice it.
The Virtue Proposition
Five Virtues That Will Transform Leadership, Team Performance, and You
Sig Berg, Founder and Catalyst in Chief, Severn Leadership Group
Most leadership books argue for one of two things: mastering the rules and rituals of the boardroom, or moving fast and breaking things. Sig Berg makes the case for a third way, and it is the older one. Virtues generate performance. Leaders formed by them build teams that outlast them.
The book lays out the five virtues at the center of SLG’s work, Love, Integrity, Truth, Excellence, and Relationships, and introduces Virtue Intelligence, the practice of applying them under real conditions rather than admiring them in the abstract. It is the fullest statement of the framework every SLG program is built on.
Who it is for
Leaders who have already tried the competency models and found them thin. Executives building a culture rather than a quarter. Anyone who suspects the problem with leadership is not a skills gap.
Inside the book
Fourteen chapters, opening with “Calling All Change-Makers” and closing with “The Calling of Difference-Makers.” Among them: Preconditions of Pilgrimage · The Invisible Core · Difference-Maker Dynamic · The Heart of a Team · The Paradox of Leadership · Components of High Performance · Virtue Intelligence in Practice · Signs of a Healthy Organization · Managing the Tensions of Teamwork
About the author
Sig Berg is the founder of the Severn Leadership Group. He commanded a nuclear submarine in the U.S. Navy, held executive roles in the nuclear industry, and holds a Master of Divinity from Trinity Lutheran Seminary, where he trained as a pastor. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.
Amplify Publishing Group, May 2024. ISBN 979-8-89138-059-2. Available in print and Kindle from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and the publisher, and as an audiobook on Audible.
Mentorship Mastery
A Holistic Guide for Virtuous Leaders
Julie Campbell and Sig Berg, with twenty-four mentor-authors from the Severn Leadership Group
Some of the most consequential leaders you will meet are not on a stage. They are mentors, sitting across a table, asking the question nobody else asked and then waiting through the silence.
This book collects what twenty-four SLG mentors have learned doing that work. It is practical about the things mentoring guides usually leave vague: how trust gets built quickly, how a conversation goes past the presenting problem, and what it means to mentor the whole person rather than the job title. The through-line is holistic mentorship, focused on the person rather than the career, the role, or the immediate problem.
Who it is for
Anyone who has been asked to mentor and was not trained for it. Senior leaders with thirty years of judgment and no structured way to hand it on. Managers, colleagues, parents, and friends, which is roughly the range the book itself claims.
Inside the book
Twenty-five chapters in four parts, closing with “Not a Closing: A New Beginning” by Julie Campbell.
Part One: The Building Blocks of Holistic Mentoring
Whole Person Mentoring (Julie Campbell) · Holistic Mentorship Through Change · The Restorative Power of Unconditional Trust
Part Two: Understanding Yourself as a Mentor
Your “Why” Matters (Rob Shepherd) · Knowing Yourself, Growing Others: Using EQ to Cultivate Self-Awareness · From Leader to Mentor
Part Three: Creating Space for Growth
Building Bridges: The Art of Authentic Connection · Connecting to Your Mentee · Meeting Them Where They Are
Part Four: Advanced Techniques
Going Deeper: Getting Past Platitudes as an Impactful Mentor (CAPT Chuck Hollingsworth, U.S. Navy, Ret.) · Be a Head- and Heart-Based Mentor (Loralei Matisse) · Teamwork, Tone, Tenacity (Rear Admiral Paul Becker, U.S. Navy, Ret.)
About the authors
Julie Campbell is CEO of the Severn Leadership Group. Her career spans twenty years in the U.S. Navy and fifteen in the technology and nonprofit sectors. She is joined by Sig Berg and by twenty-four certified SLG mentors who each contributed their own account of the work.
Available in print and Kindle from Amazon, and as an audiobook on Audible. ISBN 978-1-961493-88-9.
