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Leadership isn’t something you achieve.
It’s something you cultivate — season by season, person by person.
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Leif Hemstad
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Leif Hemstad, Coach, Speaker, Advisor, author
Bios
Leif Hemstad has spent three decades leading organizations through growth, disruption, and reinvention—from ground floor at the Great Plains Software IPO, to running a $420M consulting business at Microsoft. But his most powerful leadership lessons didn’t come from only boardrooms and customers.
They came from a North Dakota wheat farm.
Raised by a farmer who understood seasons, patience, and resilience, Leif brings a rare blend of enterprise leadership and grounded wisdom. His work focuses on helping leaders cultivate belief, build durable culture, and lead through constant change, without losing themselves or their people.
Leif is the author of The Leadership Harvest, where he reframes leadership as something you grow, not force. On podcasts, he challenges hustle culture, debunks surface-level leadership advice, and gives leaders language for what they’re actually experiencing when success starts to feel hollow, culture begins to crack, or change won’t slow down.
Expect practical insight, real stories, and a perspective that sticks long after the episode ends.
When growth and change start to strain culture, leaders often push harder, and lose what matters most. Leif Hemstad helps founders, executives, and rising leaders cultivate belief and build durable culture so they can scale without losing themselves or their people.
From ground floor at the successful Great Plains Software IPO to leading a $420M consulting business at Microsoft —and roots on a North Dakota wheat farm—Leif brings a rare blend of enterprise leadership and grounded wisdom. He’s the author of The Leadership Harvest, where he reframes leadership as something you grow, not force. On podcasts, Leif gives leaders language for what they’re really experiencing and practical insight for leading well through uncertain seasons.
From IPOs to wheat fields, Leif Hemstad shows leaders how to grow belief and a durable culture that survives growth, change, and pressure.
OR
Raised on a wheat farm and forged in Microsoft boardrooms, Leif Hemstad shows leaders how to cultivate durable culture, a harvest approach based on 5 elements that cultivate purpose, belief, and connection—so leaders can lead through every season.
Today’s guest is Leif Hemstad. Leif helps founders, executives, and rising leaders build belief and create durable culture—so growth and change don’t cost them their people or themselves. He’s been ground floor across IPOs, acquisitions, and major transitions, including running a $420 million consulting business at Microsoft. But his leadership philosophy didn’t start in a boardroom—it started on a North Dakota wheat farm.
Leif is the author of The Leadership Harvest. And while most leadership coaches teach you how to manage your team, Leif teaches you how to lead from belief, purpose and connection, so that you can cultivate a durable culture to gain the competitive edge and lead through every season.
OR
When growth and change start to strain culture, leaders often push harder—and lose what matters most. Leif Hemstad helps founders, executives, and rising leaders cultivate belief and build durable culture so they can scale without losing themselves or their people.
From ground floor at the successful Great Plains Software IPO to leading a $420M consulting business at Microsoft —and roots on a North Dakota wheat farm—Leif brings a rare blend of enterprise leadership and grounded wisdom. He’s the author of The Leadership Harvest, where he reframes leadership as something you grow, not force. On podcasts, Leif gives leaders language for what they’re really experiencing and practical insight for leading well through uncertain seasons.
Today’s guest is Leif Hemstad. Leif’s been ground floor across IPOs, acquisitions, and major transitions, including running a $420 million consulting business at Microsoft. But his leadership philosophy didn’t start in a boardroom—it started on a North Dakota wheat farm. He’s the author of The Leadership Harvest, and while most leadership coaches teach management, Leif teaches belief-led leadership that builds durable culture.
OR
Today’s guest is Leif Hemstad. From being ground floor across IPOs, acquisitions, and major transitions to leading a $420 million business at Microsoft, Leif knows pressure firsthand. But his leadership philosophy comes from a North Dakota wheat farm. Leif is the author of The Leadership Harvest. And while most leadership coaches focus on how to manage your team, Leif teaches how to cultivate durable culture, a harvest approach based on 5 elements that cultivate purpose, belief, and connection—so you can lead through every season.
ABOUT THE BOOK
POPULAR QUESTIONS
I wrote The Leadership Harvest because I’ve seen too many leaders believe they must choose between results and relationships, strength and human connection, urgency and relationships. The letters my father wrote to me—rooted in gratitude, resilience, and belief—reminded me that leadership is shaped quietly, season by season, through the choices we make every day. This book is my way of honoring that wisdom while offering leaders a grounded, practical reminder: ethical leadership, meaningful relationships, and purpose are not soft skills—they are the foundation of lasting impact. I learned that some of the greatest leadership lessons don’t come from celebrity CEOs or Ivy League professors. They come from ordinary people who lead extraordinarily lives well.
First, I learned that writing a book is difficult, yet satisfying. Second, I was able to reflect back and appreciate my Mom even more, even though I initially started writing the book about my Dad’s letters and life. While the book began about business leadership, the experience reinforced the power of relationships and love. The process provided a more effective time to reflect on my own divorce and how I will approach future relationships. Finally, it reaffirmed that extraordinary leadership can spring from the most unexpected places. The wisdom of a North Dakota wheat farmer rivals that of a Fortune 50 CEO and Harvard Business School professor.
Introducing My New Book “The Leadership Harvest”
Leadership has shaped every season of my life.
I grew up on a wheat farm in North Dakota, where I learned early that growth requires resilience, courage, caring, and the power of community. Those lessons stayed with me—from the fields of the Midwest to the boardrooms and global teams I’ve had the privilege to lead.
Over the last thirty years, I’ve helped organizations navigate growth, disruption, and transformation—scaling global businesses at Microsoft and supporting mission‑critical national security initiatives. And through all of it, one truth has remained constant: Leadership isn’t about titles, control, or having all the answers.
It’s about belief.
It’s about purpose.
It’s about how we show up for people when it matters most.
My leadership philosophy was shaped not just by executives, strategy decks, or global challenges—but by the wisdom of my late father:
Wisdom rooted in gratitude, storytelling, human connection, relationships, and embracing life’s transitions. Wisdom when combined with AI amplifies the potential of all humans.
This book brings those worlds together.
Why I wrote it:
To help leaders grow with intention.
To help teams build cultures anchored in purpose.
To show that some of the greatest leadership lessons don’t come from celebrity CEOs or Ivy League professors. They come from ordinary people who lead extraordinary lives well.
If you’re a leader—at work, at home, or in your community—this book is for you.
Sit back and enjoy how the wisdom of a North Dakota wheat farmer stands shoulder‑to‑shoulder with the insights of the world’s most celebrated business thinkers.
In this conversation, Leif Hemstad explores why so many capable, committed leaders quietly consider quitting—not because they lack talent or drive, but because the culture around them can’t sustain the pressure of growth, scale, and constant change.
Through three common leadership pressure points—burnout and disengagement, chaotic scaling, and reactive leadership—Leif reveals the real issue beneath them all: the absence of a durable culture. Not culture as a slogan or perk, but culture as the operating system that holds belief, trust, and performance together across teams and levels.
Leif introduces his Harvest approach to Cultivating Durable Culture, built on five core elements that help leaders quickly diagnose what’s missing, rebuild belief, strengthen relationships, and lead through disruption without losing themselves or their people. Drawing from real-world stories across IPOs, large-scale transformations, and his decades at Microsoft, this episode gives leaders clarity, language, and a grounded path forward when leadership starts to feel heavier than it should.
- Why most leadership problems aren’t personal failures—but symptoms of a culture that can’t carry the weight of growth and change. (And how to recognize this before burnout or attrition hits.)
- What a durable culture actually looks like in practice—and how it differs from “values on the wall” culture that collapses under pressure.
- How belief functions as a leadership operating system, shaping trust, decision-making, autonomy, and performance across teams and levels.
- A clear, five-element Harvest approach leaders can use to diagnose problems quickly, whether the issue is disengagement, chaos, or reactive leadership.
- Practical ways to strengthen connection and performance at the same time, using simple, human leadership habits that build trust without adding more work.
These questions help guide the conversation, providing the audience with clarity and value.
- What are the three biggest pressure points that make good leaders quietly consider quitting?
- What do you mean by durable culture, and why is it the lynchpin of a company that can scale, adapt, and survive pressure?
- What are the five elements of your Harvest approach to Cultivating Durable Culture?
- How do leaders navigate change—like AI, rapid growth, or restructuring—without chaos, burnout, or losing their people?
- What are the 3 places belief shows up and what happens when they break down?
- How can leaders create teams that feel connected, trusted, and still perform at a high level?
Leadership doesn’t happen by accident. Every season shapes a leader. Every story plants a seed. Every moment cultivates a bountiful life.
What began as a collection of letters from a father to his son became a lifelong lesson in leadership, purpose, and living with intention. In this deeply personal and practical book, Leif Hemstad weaves together stories of family, hardship, transition, and growth—revealing how the wisdom of one man continues to guide the next generation of leaders.
From moments in the fields to pivotal moments in business, The Leadership Harvest explores how leaders develop the resilience, relationships, storytelling, and belief needed to navigate life’s changing seasons.
Readers will find themselves nodding, reflecting, and inspired as they uncover lessons about:
- The power of decency, humility, and doing the small things well
- Enduring adversity, transition, and finding purpose through challenge
- Why time and relationships matter more than ever
- How great leaders show up—even on the hard days
- The art of storytelling as a tool for influence and connection
- What it means to have belief, believe in others, and instill belief across teams
The Leadership Harvest is a beautiful tribute to a father’s influence and a practical guide for anyone seeking to grow as a leader—and as a human being.
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Not Just Another Interview
a Conversation about Leadership that Resonates
Podcast hosts, summit organizers, and media producers—Leif is available for podcasts, summits, interviews, and features. Let’s co-create a powerful conversation your audience won’t forget.
Download Leif’s Media One Sheet, browse suggested topics, and use the form below to request an interview.
dm @leifhemstad