by Mattress industry veteran and co-owner of Garder’s Mattress & More Jeff Giagnocavo has authored a new book titled “The Space For Leadership,” which focuses on the vulnerability of leaders and the hardships Giagnocavo faced in the past.
“It was time to share my story,” he says. “And I just felt this nudge, this calling, to talk to people who have suffered a lot of abuse and trauma as leaders. I’m one of those leaders that had childhood sexual abuse frame who I became as an adult and a leader, and it wasn’t great. Over the last five years, taken stock of that and looked to shift gears and change the way I interact with everybody in my life from a leadership role.”
As the book’s synopsis says, “some choose to let it dictate the leader they become. Others choose to ignore their past and it eats them alive. But leaders should use these experiences, even traumatic ones, to better themselves through this lived experience and convert this traumatic stress into growth as a focal point to improve themselves and become stronger leaders who provide a light and a space for others to gather around them. Through this effective leadership, leaders will heal those around them and within this space, they also heal themselves.”
Giagnocavo says even leaders need time to heal, and they need to understand they are not along. There’s a great likelihood that others around you are suffering in some way, he says, but there are conversations and interactions you can have that can help.
“Some choose to let it dictate the leader they become, but others choose to ignore their past and it eats them alive,” Giagnocavo says. “Leaders should use these experiences, even traumatic ones, to better themselves through this lived experience and convert this traumatic stress into growth as a focal point to improve themselves and become stronger leaders who provide a light and a space for others to gather around them. Through this effective leadership, leaders will heal those around them and within this space, they also heal themselves.”
The book is available now at thejeffg.com/book.
