Strong CORE Community: From Building to Sharing
As Strong CORE prepares to enter the world, I'm reflecting on what this journey has taught me about leadership, community, and the courage to release the work.
In less than a month, Strong CORE will no longer live primarily within the pages we've been shaping together. It will begin finding its way into the hands of people around the world.
Over the past two years, Strong CORE has lived through every stage of the publishing journey. It has lived in developmental edits, rewrites, copy edits, proofreading, marketing strategy sessions, launch planning, and countless conversations with beta readers who challenged the ideas, affirmed the message, and made the work stronger.
It has lived in notebooks, voice memos, airports, hotel rooms, coffee shops, and early mornings before the rest of the world was awake.
Most importantly, it has lived in people. Every conversation, every coaching session, every keynote, every difficult leadership moment someone trusted me enough to share has shaped these pages.
This book may have my name on the cover, but it has been built by a community that believes the future of leadership begins with the inner work.
As we’ve moved from creating this book to preparing to release it, I’ve noticed something unexpected. Writing required discipline, patience, and persistence.
Launching requires a different kind of courage.
For much of the past two years, there was always another revision to make, another chapter to strengthen, another conversation that helped sharpen the message. Progress was measured by what still needed to be improved.
That has changed.
The manuscript is complete. The cover has been finalized. The marketing plans are in motion. Advance copies will find their way into the hands of readers.
Now comes the part that every creator eventually faces. You have to release the work and trust that it will find the people it was written for.
The more I’ve reflected on that, the more I’ve realized this isn’t just a lesson about publishing. It’s a lesson about leadership. There comes a point when preparation has done its work. Continuing to hold on doesn’t improve the outcome. It simply delays the impact you were meant to make.
Seeing the Book Through Someone Else's Eyes
One of the final decisions before sending Strong CORE to print was selecting the endorsements that would appear on the back cover.
I spent more time with that decision than I expected.
There is a common practice in publishing to lead with titles, credentials, or recognizable names. The thinking is simple. If someone famous endorses the book, people are more likely to pick it up.
I understand the strategy. It just didn’t feel like me.
For many years, I’ve believed leadership is less about the title someone holds and more about the character they carry. It would have felt contradictory to fill the back cover with titles after spending an entire book encouraging leaders not to define themselves by them.
So I made a different choice.
I just wanted you to simply know their names.
Not because titles don’t matter, but because their words mattered more.
As I read through each endorsement, I wasn’t looking for the most recognizable person. I was looking for the comments that most honestly captured what this book is trying to be.
Here are a few:
Trina wrote,
“Strong CORE is not a corporate leadership book. It is something far more important.”
Trina Hurt
Michael reflected,
“Strong CORE stopped me from measuring leadership the way I always had. I walked away wanting to be a leader whose presence strengthens people long after the moment has passed.”
Michael Adams
Tom captured something I have believed for years when he wrote,
“You can deliver results, earn recognition, and still be fundamentally misaligned in how you are leading. Strong CORE challenges a reality most leaders never say out loud.”
Tom Langer
Francisco summarized the heart of the book in a single sentence.
“Christopher Thompson gives language to the unseen work beneath leadership.”
Francisco Fierro
And Ellen wrote something that continues to stay with me.
“Strong CORE gives you words for things you have felt for years but could not say out loud.”
Ellen Watson
As I sat with these endorsements, I realized they weren’t simply describing a book.
They were describing the kind of leadership conversation I’ve hoped to contribute to for years to come.
If these readers are right, then Strong CORE isn’t simply about helping leaders perform better. It’s about helping them become more grounded, more aligned, and more fully themselves in the moments that matter most.
(sample draft of the full cover jacket)
The Inner Work
People often ask me what I mean when I talk about the inner work of leadership. It is a phrase I use often, but one that deserves more than a simple definition.
To me, the inner work is everything that happens beneath the surface. It is the work of learning to regulate yourself before attempting to regulate a room, choosing curiosity before certainty, establishing healthy boundaries before resentment begins to grow, and developing the ability to remain grounded under pressure rather than becoming someone entirely different because of it.
Much of that work goes unnoticed. Organizations tend to celebrate outcomes, promotions, recognition, and visible success. Those things matter, but they are the fruit of something much deeper. What often goes unseen are the roots that sustain them, the daily choices, quiet disciplines, difficult conversations, and moments of honest self reflection that shape the kind of leader you become.
That is why I believe the strength of a leader is determined long before the pressure arrives. The deeper your CORE becomes, the more consistently you are able to navigate uncertainty, disappointment, change, success, and everything in between without losing yourself in the process.
That is the kind of leadership I hope Strong CORE helps cultivate, not simply leaders who achieve more, but leaders whose character is strong enough to sustain whatever they are called to carry.
We’re Almost There
Every month this year, I have seen God’s favor and faithfulness throughout this journey. At every turn, He has provided exactly what was needed, often before I even knew to ask. Looking back, I can see His fingerprints all over this process, from the people He has brought alongside me to the opportunities, encouragement, and unexpected moments that have reminded me this book was never mine alone to carry.
Soon, this message will find its way into places, spaces, organizations, and the hands of people I may never meet. That is both humbling and exciting. While I may never know every story, I trust the work will continue long after the pages are turned.
If you’ve been following this journey, thank you.
If you’re new to the Strong CORE community, welcome. Your presence, your perspective, and your willingness to engage are what give this work life.
If you’ve shared a post, encouraged a friend, prayed for this project, offered feedback, or simply continued reading each time I write, you have been part of this journey. I hope you know how important you have been, how important you are, and how important you will continue to be as we share this message with even more leaders.
Will You Help Me Share Strong CORE?
As we move closer to the digital launch day, I have one final invitation.
If this message has encouraged you, challenged your thinking, or helped strengthen your own leadership, I would be grateful if you would help me share Strong CORE with others. Every conversation, every recommendation, and every review helps this message reach another leader who may need it.
Here are a few simple ways you can help:
Preorder your copy. Every preorder helps build momentum and introduces Strong CORE to more readers.
Share the journey. If a post, article, or reflection has resonated with you, share it with your network. You never know who may need to read it that day.
Invite the conversation. If your organization, leadership team, conference, association, or community is looking for a conversation about strengthening leaders from the inside out, I would love the opportunity to serve.
Leave an honest review. Once you’ve finished the book, a review on Amazon or Goodreads helps other readers discover it and decide whether it might serve them as well.
Thank you for believing in this work, for encouraging me along the way, and for becoming part of the Strong CORE community.
My hope has never been to simply publish a book. My hope has always been to help strengthen leaders.
If Strong CORE finds its way onto your desk, into your leadership team, your organization, or into the hands of someone who needs it, then together we’ll have done something far more meaningful than launching a book.
We’ll have started a conversation that has the potential to change how people lead.
Thank you for walking this journey with me.
Stay Strong,
-Coach Chris