Kate McCombs, assistant professor of management and MBA faculty program coordinator at Samford University’s Brock School of Business, studies the principles that help individuals become effective leaders. Through research on self-leadership and the gap between knowing what to do and putting that knowledge into practice, she explores why capable people sometimes struggle to lead effectively under pressure. 

Those insights inspired McCombs’ newly released book, The Leader You Are Waiting For: Root. Reset. Rise. A Framework for Modern Leadership. The book offers a practical approach to leadership grounded in self-awareness, intentional habits and the ability to align actions with personal values, emphasizing that leadership begins long before someone earns a title. 

Here, McCombs discusses the inspiration behind her book and the leadership lessons she hopes Samford students and other readers will carry into their everyday lives. 

What inspired you to write The Leader You Are Waiting For, and why did you feel now was the right time to share this message? 

I kept seeing the same thing: capable people who know what good leadership looks like but struggle to act on it when the pressure is on. I wanted to give leaders something practical to close that gap between knowing what to do and actually doing it. With burnout and disengagement as high as they are right now, it felt like the right moment to focus on the internal side of leadership that we so often skip. 

Your book is built around the framework "Root. Reset. Rise." What do those concepts mean, and how can they help individuals become stronger leaders? 

Root is about building your internal foundation—knowing your values, identity and what anchors you. Reset is the practice of noticing when pressure pulls you off course and recalibrating before you react. Rise is leading from that grounded place, turning what you know into consistent action that lifts the people around you. Together, they help leaders become steady and sustainable rather than simply reactive. 

  How did your experiences as a researcher and professor shape the ideas in your book? 

My research on self-leadership and the knowing-doing gap gave the book its backbone, so every concept is grounded in evidence rather than just opinion. Teaching shaped it just as much. Watching students and MBA professionals wrestle with real leadership decisions showed me what helps people change, and I wrote the book to be as practical as a good class discussion. 

What advice from the book would you most like students to carry with them as they prepare for their careers and future leadership roles? 

You don't have to wait for a title to lead. Leadership starts with how you lead yourself, how you handle pressure, how you show up for others and whether your actions match your values. If students build that foundation now, they'll be ready when bigger roles come. 

 If readers remember just one lesson after finishing the book, what do you hope it will be? 

The leader you're waiting for is already in you. Knowing what to do is rarely the problem; the work is building the inner habits that let you act on it when it matters most.