LEADING WITH HEART
IN A WORLD OF CHANGE
Five Books, A Common Thread
Across memoirs, leadership, and a critical look at international development, Yene Assegid returns to the same question: what needs to change inside a person before anything changes around them. The memoirs trace a childhood in Ethiopia, the upheaval that followed, and the grandmother who shaped her. Her leadership books turn that experience into practice, with tools readers can use in their own lives and work.
Leading with Heart
Leading with Heart makes the case for leadership that serves people rather than the leader's own advancement, built on competence, humility, and personal responsibility for creating meaning. Drawing on three decades of practice, Yene Assegid sets out a discipline available to anyone, not a quality reserved for those already in charge.
Butterflies Over Africa
Part memoir, part critique of international development, Butterflies Over Africa draws on Yene Assegid's life and work across the continent to tell the stories many Africans working in the aid industry rarely tell publicly. It makes the case for re-conceiving development as the work of transforming lives rather than delivering programs.
Rebellious and Resilient: A Memoir
Rebellious and Resilient follows an Ethiopian family centered on its matriarch through a country in crisis and the heartbreaking decision to leave for Europe. Told through the eyes of the eldest daughter, it is an account of what people experience when they must leave their homeland.
SHINE : Re-Scripting Your Life in Partnership With The Universe
In SHINE, Yene Assegid draws on her own life to guide readers away from the noise and anxiety of everyday life and toward a clearer sense of purpose. It is a short, practical book about re-scripting the story you are living, in partnership with the universe.
Forget Not The Sparrows
Written as letters to the grandmother who raised her, Forget Not The Sparrows moves between a childhood in Ethiopia before the communist revolution and the years of revolution, exile, and starting again elsewhere. It is a book about love, loss, and the conversation we would finish if we could.
Coming Soon: Repositioning for the Future
In fast-changing times, leaders need courage and agility to stay true to their vision. In Repositioning for the Future, Dr. Yene Assegid shares wisdom from 30+ years of coaching leaders worldwide, offering practical ways to adapt, realign, and thrive. Expected publication: 2026.
The Author
Yene Assegid writes from life experience. Her books move between Ethiopia and the wider world, held together by a conviction that changing anything begins with the person doing it.