A Stoic Playbook to Lead With Clarity, Conviction, and Confidence
Lead Above the Chaos
You make high-stakes calls all day and you don't always have all the answers. This Stoic playbook is built for leading with clarity, conviction, and confidence when the pressure feels overwhelming.
Get the full eBook and the 64-page companion workbook free when you join the list.
You Built a Company, Now It's Running You.
The first Slack ping hits before coffee. A big customer might churn. By the time your cup is poured, nine more messages have landed and none of them can wait.
You raised the round. You shipped the product. The thing you bet everything on is working. By every metric a board cares about, you're winning.
So why does it feel like you're holding the whole thing together with both hands while the ground keeps moving?
The company outgrew its infrastructure, and the infrastructure became you. You're the routing layer, the escalation path, the final say on everything. You became the bottleneck, not because you're bad at this, but because you're good enough at it that letting go feels reckless.
A bad day would almost be a relief, because a bad day ends. This is all day, every day.
You can out-grind it for a while. You cannot out-grind it forever.
This book lays out a complete Stoic Leadership Operating System that will help you rise above the chaos. The book builds a foundation on these eight Stoic principles:
- Principle 1: Focus on What You Can Control
- Principle 2: Cultivate Virtue and Integrity
- Principle 3: Maintain Emotional Equilibrium
- Principle 4: Embrace Obstacles as Opportunities
- Principle 5: Practice Mindfulness and Self-Reflection
- Principle 6: Understand the Impermanence of Outcomes
- Principle 7: Foster a Strong Team Culture
- Principle 8: Lead by Example
Finally, the book ties it all together into a complete Stoic Leadership Canvas that you can use to lead your business with clarity, conviction, and confidence.
Get the eBook and Workbook, Free
The full eBook plus the 64-page companion workbook, free when you join the list. The change happens when you write, not when you read, so the workbook lays out all nine exercises one step per page with room to work each one by hand.
What's inside:
- The complete Above the Chaos eBook
- All nine exercises from each chapter in a fillable workbook
- The Control and Influence Map
- The Four-Virtue Alignment Assessment
- The Emotional-Trigger Audit
- The Obstacle-to-Opportunity Transform
- The Mindful Leadership Journal
- The Success-Failure Distortion Diagnostic
- The Team Culture Audit
- The Lead-by-Example Behavior Map
- The Leadership Philosophy Canvas
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About the Author: Eric Weiss
I coach SaaS and AI founders through the messy middle between product-market fit and scale. Before coaching I filled nearly every seat myself, from software engineer to data scientist to CTO, so I write from inside the role.
I've worked alongside more than seventy-five technical founders and teams, including OpenAI, where I helped operationalize GPT-3 during its rapid expansion, along with Heap, Sendlane, Tealium, and Sempre Health. Earlier I led the data science and engineering team behind Qualcomm's $7.8 billion IP business and helped build and launch Sony's PlayStation Network.
I found Stoicism the hard way. Above the Chaos grew out of that turnaround and the years of coaching that followed.
What Founders Are Saying
"Having Eric as my executive coach has been more valuable than my Harvard MBA."
Justin Wieland
Founder and CEO, Reach Technologies
"Eric got me more energized with less stress, which means more value for my company and our customers."
James McKernan
SVP Technology, Pathpoint
"Eric connects technical excellence to leadership effectiveness in a way that makes immediate sense to engineering and product minds."
James Heath
Technical Director, OneUp Sales
"Eric is an absolutely incredible mentor, coach, and friend. If you get the chance to work with him, do it. I truly cannot recommend him enough."
Jack Burlinson
CEO, Stageglass
Eric has coached and built alongside teams at OpenAI, Qualcomm, Sony PlayStation, Heap, Sendlane, and Tealium.
Become the Leader Your Company Needs
The chaos isn't going anywhere. The question is whether you meet next quarter the way you met this one, or with a system built for the pressure.
FAQ
Is this book only for tech founders?
It's written for founders and CEOs leading under pressure, with examples drawn from SaaS and AI. The principles apply to anyone making high-stakes calls with a team watching.
Do I need to know anything about Stoicism?
No. Every principle is explained in plain terms and turned into an exercise you can run immediately.
What's the difference between the book and the workbook?
The book teaches the framework and the thinking behind it. In the workbook you run the nine exercises yourself, with prompts and the Leadership Philosophy Canvas laid out one step per page. They're built to be used together.
How do I get the eBook and workbook?
Enter your name and email above. The eBook and workbook arrive in your inbox within a couple of minutes, free. Prefer a print copy? Grab the paperback on Amazon.
Is the eBook really free?
Yes. The full eBook is free when you join the list. The paperback is available on Amazon if you’d like a print copy or want to leave a review.
Is there a deeper way to work with Eric?
Yes. Eric coaches founders one on one. Book a free strategy call here.
Get the free eBook and workbook
The full eBook, nine exercises, and your leadership canvas. Free.