Meet the Wizz - Michael A O'Neill

There are many leadership books written for business professionals that crowd the bookshelves and online libraries of stores today. There are, however, few leadership books that are targeted toward teens and young adults. Michael O'Neill discovered many situations that come up in the daily life of a teen after discussing this with his high school aged daughter. Since Michael had taught leadership development at the world's largest software firm for over seven years, he realized that the lessons he taught about leadership in the business world could be applied to a person of any age, thus helping teens and young adults make smart decisions and take more leadership roles within their school and organizations. Rather than write a 'preachy' instructional book on learning leadership skills, Michael decided to instead write a fictional story about a teenage girl named Maddie who is trying to become a drum major for her high school marching band. What Maddie thinks is leadership turns out to be exactly wrong, and it takes a new friendship with another student she nicknames "The Wizz" to help her understand the concepts behind what makes a great leader. The story is a funny, heartwarming, and educational tale of how understanding the key differences between leadership and management can help students through their toughest situations. Although the story is told through a character in high school band, it is easy to swap out any high school activity where leadership is required. Football players, cheerleaders, chess club, debate club, academic decathlon teams, etc... All of these organizations have opportunities where kids can demonstrate important leadership skills. Even kids who are not a part of an organization can benefit from learning these leadership skills as they explain how to best relate to others and learn to make smart decisions in difficult situations. The skills taught here are the same skills Michael taught in his leadership development program at work. Adults can benefit too from the teachings, however the story is targeted toward teens and young adults. Michael hopes that those reading his book can identify with the characters in this story and hopefully learn some new skills that will last them a lifetime.