Eric Himes book targets hidden leadership behaviors behind burnout and culture

Eric Himes, founder of The Inspired Culture, has released The Empty Chair, a leadership book focused on how invisible behaviors shape culture, employee engagement and business performance. The book is now available on Amazon, and Himes will expand the conversation at an Inspired Culture Summit in Naperville, Illinois, on Nov. 16-17, 2026.

Why it matters: - The Empty Chair pushes leaders to look at their own behavior as a driver of burnout, retention, engagement and performance. - The book argues that culture problems are often rooted in leadership blind spots, not just systems or strategy. - The message lands as organizations keep searching for ways to improve results without losing employees to stress and disengagement.

What happened: - Eric Himes, founder and president of The Inspired Culture, released The Empty Chair, a leadership book now available on Amazon. - The book examines hidden behaviors, habits and blind spots that can affect workplace culture, employee relationships and organizational performance. - Himes frames the book around a central question for executives, business owners, HR professionals and emerging leaders: how to keep succeeding without losing people, purpose and personal well-being along the way.

The details: - Himes draws on experience in executive coaching, leadership development, organizational culture and strategic advising. - The book focuses on the gap between a leader’s intentions and the impact of that leader’s behavior. - Himes said most leaders want to do the right thing, but added that people cannot change what they cannot see. - One core theme is behavior visibility, or the idea that leadership behavior should be measured more deliberately. - The Inspired Culture works with organizations on leadership behavior, growth mindset, employee burnout, strategic alignment, organizational culture and individual development. - The organization’s approach links workplace culture, employee engagement, leadership effectiveness and organizational performance. - In one multi-location client engagement, employee turnover fell from about 24% to 13%. - That change represented a reduction of roughly 46%. - The same engagement showed about 88% weekly completion of leadership and growth habits. - The organization also recorded about $4 million in revenue growth during the broader engagement period. - Himes said businesses already track revenue, sales, operations and financial performance, and he argued that leadership behaviors and well-being should be measured with similar rigor. - Inspired OS is a developing leadership and organizational growth platform designed to track leadership development, growth mindset, burnout, strategic alignment, habits, goals and organizational progress. - The Inspired Culture also created the 50 Masks of Leadership, a behavioral assessment meant to help people spot hidden behaviors that can affect communication, trust, accountability, decision-making and how others experience leadership. - The Empty Chair, 50 Masks of Leadership, Inspired OS, executive coaching and The Inspired Culture’s programs are tied to a broader mission of helping people and performance grow together.

Between the lines: - The book reflects a wider shift in leadership thinking toward self-awareness, well-being and measurable human factors. - Himes is positioning culture as a performance issue, not just a morale issue. - The client results cited in the release are meant to show that behavior-focused leadership work can connect to retention and revenue outcomes. - The core argument is that organizations underperform when leaders ignore the visible and invisible effects of their own habits.

What's next: - The Inspired Culture Summit is scheduled for Nov. 16-17, 2026, in Naperville, Illinois. - The event will be built around the theme “Where Leadership Creates Legacy.” - The summit will bring together CEOs, authors, leadership experts and practitioners to discuss leadership development, well-being, relationships, purpose, influence and legacy. - Himes will continue promoting the book alongside the organization’s coaching, assessment and platform work. - More information is available through Eric Himes' LinkedIn profile.