Right Leader, Wrong Arena

Why Context Matters More Than Talent—And What the Best Leaders Do About It

You were successful. Then you weren't. And nobody could explain why.

You've read the books. Done the assessments. Built the track record. But something stopped working when you moved to that new role, new company, new challenge. The same skills that made you exceptional somewhere suddenly made you struggle.

The problem wasn't you. The problem was the match.

Traditional leadership development focuses on building capabilities. Right Leader, Wrong Arena reveals why capabilities alone fall short. The real question isn't whether you have the skills—it's whether your wiring fits where you're going.

G. Damon Wells spent years studying leaders who thrived in one context and failed in another. What he found challenges everything the leadership industry teaches: the same psychological machinery that produces excellence in stable environments can produce catastrophic failure in chaotic ones. And vice versa. Effectiveness isn't a trait. It's a multiplication.

Athlete × Arena = Alignment.

Inside you'll discover:

• The Six Forces shaping every leadership environment
• Four Arena types that demand radically different psychological wiring
• A diagnostic framework to predict alignment before you accept your next role
• Why the turnaround specialist flounders in peacetime
• What Good to Great and Extreme Ownership left unaddressed

Stop blaming yourself for structural mismatches. Start diagnosing the collision between who you are and where you lead.