Books Frameworks & Assessments Keynotes Authors Resources Book a Keynote
✦ WSJ Bestselling Authors

Unleash Brilliance.
Help Your Team Shine.

Leadership frameworks, fables, and field-tested tools from Katie P. Desiderio and Michael G. Frino, PhD — helping leaders and teams grow through curiosity, connection, and meaningful work.

WSJ Bestselling Authors PhD Organizational Leadership @beproximal

Three books. One journey.

Each book is a leadership fable — a story-driven framework that transforms how leaders and teams think, connect, and grow together.

The Diver, The Beekeeper, and The Stargazer — Leadership Fables trilogy
WSJ Bestseller
The Beekeeper
Pollinating Your Organization for Transformative Growth

A Wall Street Journal bestselling leadership fable that takes readers on a journey to uncover how pollination can be a catalyst for transformative growth — guiding you to cultivate a thriving hive for your team and organization.

Get your copy →
National Bestseller
The Stargazer
Unleashing the Brilliance of Building Brighter Teams

A national bestseller following Jack, a retired teacher and vintner in Yountville, California, as he transforms his struggling vineyard through the COMPASS Framework — a story of personal and professional growth deeply rooted in the natural world.

Get your copy →
Coming March 2027
The Diver
Navigating the Depths of Curiosity and Connection to Build Organizational Flow

Dive deep into what fuels organizational growth. The Diver invites readers to submerge beneath the surface of routine operations and discover the hidden currents of curiosity and authentic connection that unlock team flow.

Learn more →

Ready to shine brighter?

Start with a free assessment, explore the books, or bring the Leadership Fables frameworks to your next event.

Discover how you're showing up.

Two free, research-grounded assessments that give you a personalized map of your leadership — and a clear place to start growing today.

Story-driven talks that transform.

Four keynote experiences drawn from the Leadership Fables trilogy — each one grounded in research, brought to life through story, and built to create lasting change in leaders and teams.

🐝 The Beekeeper
Pollinating Your Organization for Transformative Growth

Embrace the art of Being Proximal — keeping learning and unlearning at the heart of personal and collective growth. Through the lens of The Beekeeper, we explore how leadership begins with intentionally choosing your Be Mindset. Participants leave with a renewed commitment to authoring their leadership story and practical tools to nurture transformative growth.

✦ The Stargazer
Unleashing the Brilliance of Building Brighter Teams

Explore the power of building a star system — a leadership model where we shine brighter, better, richer, and stronger together. Drawing from The Stargazer, we dive into how leaders can choose their lens to illuminate brilliance within themselves and others. Using the COMPASS Framework, participants gain the tools to navigate leadership and teamwork with precision and respect.

⚓ The Diver
Navigating the Depths of Curiosity and Connection

In this high-impact, story-driven keynote inspired by The Diver, audiences are invited to submerge beneath the surface of routine operations and explore the hidden forces that propel organizational growth. Through compelling storytelling and practical frameworks, participants discover how to think like a diver — embracing ambiguity with courage and uncovering the undercurrents that make teams stronger and more innovative.

🐝 ✦ ⚓ Combined Keynote
The Flow Factor: How Intentional Leadership Unlocks Everything

Depth, Light & Hive brings together a powerful trifecta from The Beekeeper, The Stargazer, and The Diver. Leaders explore three interconnected dimensions of human-centered leadership: The Hive (Be Mindset & intentional leadership), The Light (the COMPASS Framework & collective brilliance), and The Depth (curiosity, connection & organizational flow). An immersive experience for teams ready to transform.

Book a Keynote

Research meets story.

Two researchers and storytellers whose work spans organizational development, flow theory, sales performance, and meaningful work.

KD
Katie P. Desiderio, PhD
Organizational Development · Higher Education · Leadership

Dr. Katie P. Desiderio is a professor at Moravian University whose research focuses on organizational development, leadership, and meaningful work. Her collaborative research with Dr. Frino has produced foundational work on flow theory, team performance, and the conditions that allow individuals and organizations to thrive. She brings both academic rigor and practical wisdom to every book and keynote.

MF
Michael G. Frino, PhD
Organizational Development · Sales Training · Leadership

Michael holds a PhD in Organizational Learning & Leadership from Barry University and an MBA from Nova Southeastern University. He served as Global Director of Sales Training & OD at Boston Scientific, leading 45 direct reports and an $8M+ budget. His research spans flow theory, meaningful work, and sales performance — and has been published across numerous peer-reviewed journals. He is certified in Everything DiSC and LPI 360.

Go deeper with every book.

Free growth guides, playbooks, and tools for individuals, teams, organizations, and schools — all hosted on leadershipfables.com.

🐝 The Beekeeper Resources
Guide for Individuals → Guide for Teams → Guide for Organizations → Guide for Schools → Guides by Chapter → BeMindset Quotes → 🐝 Take the Beekeeper Assessment →
✦ The Stargazer Resources
Individual Growth Guide → Team Growth Guide → Organization Growth Guide → Star System Playbook → School Growth Guides → ✦ Take the COMPASS Framework →

Subscribe to Be Proximal.

Leadership insights, new resources, and framework tools delivered straight to your inbox — from Desiderio & Frino.

Subscribe on LeadershipFables.com →

You'll be taken to leadershipfables.com to complete your subscription.