Korn Ferry’s Alan Guarino Releases New Book on Unlocking Personal Greatness

February 3, 2026 – Unlock the qualities of success and reach your full potential using this new guide from leadership and career development expert Alan C. Guarino, vice chairman of Korn Ferry and the founder of Cornell International, Inc.

“For each of us, the definition of success and the journey to achieve it is different,” Mr. Guarino said. “Yet, no matter how talented or driven you are, your ability to achieve greatness is significantly influenced by many factors outside of your control. Leadership sets the tone—defining not just what they think success looks like, but also how you are expected to show up, collaborate, and grow.”

For each of us, the definition of success and the journey to achieve it is different. Yet, no matter how talented or driven you are, your ability to achieve greatness is significantly influenced by many factors outside of your control. Leadership sets the tone—defining not just what they think success looks like, but also how you are expected to show up, collaborate, and grow. Greatness Code: The Formula Behind Unstoppable Success shows how to achieve your personal and career related goals. As vice chairman of Korn Ferry and the founder of Cornell International, Inc., Mr. Guarino devised a formula for success from thousands of data points over decades, helping people achieve their goals. Order now!

Mr. Guarino’s new book, Greatness Code: The Formula Behind Unstoppable Success, shows how to achieve your personal and career related goals. Mr. Guarino devised a formula for success from thousands of data points over decades, helping people achieve their goals. Anyone who achieves their own greatness gets there by applying their social capital and building on five critical qualities:

• Persistence
• Stamina
• Courage
• Resilience
• Passion

Your personally defined goal of greatness is achievable for almost anyone using this formula, Mr. Guarino explained. In addition, Greatness Code provides scientific research and real-life examples that show how to advance at every career stage. “It’s time for you to gain the edge that these tools can give you,” Mr. Guarino said. “It’s time to crack the Greatness Code.”

“With over three decades of insight into what drives leadership and career success across every industry and level, Alan distills what truly works―and what doesn’t,” said Todd Ruppert, former co-president, T. Rowe Price International; former board member, INSEAD Business School; CEO, Ruppert International. “No matter your age or stage, this book delivers a clear roadmap and the practical tools to achieve and sustain personal greatness. The 5Qs + Social Capital framework is a game-changer. This book isn’t just timely―it’s destined to become a classic in the science of maximizing human potential.”

Mr. Guarino recently sat down with Hunt Scanlon Media to discuss the core principles behind his Greatness Code, how leaders can shape the conditions for success, and what it takes to build the persistence, resilience, and social capital needed to achieve lasting career momentum.

Alan, you argue that “greatness” is self-defined—how should people determine their own greatness objective before they start chasing it? 

People have multiple Greatness Objectives at any given time. They may want to be a great parent, and a great community leader, and a great executive. Those objectives are personal and self-defined. The key is to be clear on what they want to achieve and what it will look like when they have succeeded. It’s personal. Others may not even recognize when the goal has been achieved. It’s for the person to strive for – for their own satisfaction. As I teach in the Introduction to the book – it may not be about financial achievement or power – It may be about other goals that resonate with purpose, which the individual actually holds dear.

You say leadership sets the tone for how people are expected to show up, collaborate, and grow—what should leaders do differently if they want to create environments where high performers thrive rather than burn out?

Leaders must understand that leadership is an awesome responsibility. The people they lead are actually someone’s son, daughter, parent, aunt, uncle, cousin, nephew, etc. They are real people with real frailties. And what happens at work has a serious impact on what happens in their lives and the lives of all those people around them. That is an awesome responsibility for the leader. Unfortunately, people often look at managerial roles and leadership roles without the intensity that they require. They don’t realize the impact they truly have on these people’s lives. Unfortunately, very few of them have actually been well trained to be leaders. As a result, they try their best from what they have learned as they have come up through an organization. Hopefully they learned enough, but typically they haven’t. So, we have too many leaders who are amateurs when it comes to leadership; and they don’t even know it.  That’s dangerous. I mean this happens all the way up to the executive committee level and in some cases CEOs. Just because they’re in charge doesn’t mean they’re a qualified leader. We need a more significant investment coming from the top – they must understand that leadership development is needed, and it has to start very early. Because of pace, complexity, and globalization, the work environment is extremely challenging. It’s hard enough to be a great leader when you’ve had training and development. To be a great leader without training and development is almost impossible. It’s like dropping somebody into the Super Bowl, who hasn’t been developed to play the sport at the professional level. Leaders need to focus on empathy and accountability – a difficult combination of behaviors. Empathy so people feel safe and motivated. Accountability so that people know what is expected and what they will be measured against. This is the winning combination to get the person to strive and achieve, while the organization gets what it deserves from the individual.

You built the Greatness Code from thousands of data points over decades—what was the most surprising pattern you discovered about what actually separates unstoppable success from just “high potential”?

Well, I talk about the critical qualities, stamina, courage, resilience, persistence, and passion. Those are the fundamentals inside the formula. So, basically, what you’re asking for is the greatness code formula. In addition to the key qualities, people need social capital around them to complete the formula. That’s the group of people who mentor you, have your back, tell you when you’re stepping out of line, and who promote you and speak well of you when you’re not in the room. Many people have “high potential”. The world is littered with people who have high potential yet never achieve the level of greatness that they as aspire to. “Potential” typically describes an individual’s talents and skills. Their aptitude. But much of that goes unrealized if they don’t apply the greatness code formula. Success doesn’t come easy and it doesn’t happen overnight. And your work doesn’t speak for itself.

As you just noted in responding to my last question, the book highlights social capital as a critical accelerator—how can someone build social capital authentically, especially if they’re early-career or don’t naturally gravitate toward networking?

This is a great question. And social capital is critical. Many people are not inclined to build a network. Many people see this as self-serving. Many people are shy, and therefore lack the desire or the initiative to make outreach and build relationships. So, for them, it’s difficult. Others find it easy to build relationships and so building a network for them is not a lot of work. Regardless of whether they have the aptitude or not, they need to make the investment – put in the time – and it needs to be done throughout the entire length of an individual’s career. They can do it very intentionally. It’s good to have a plan. It’s good to have a set an objective to meet various individuals and be helpful to them so that eventually they may be helpful to you. And yes, a network is a two-way street. If you build a network looking to see what you can get from those people, then you won’t prevail. It’s best if you build a network where you give before you get.

“If you build a network looking to see what you can get from those people, then you won’t prevail. It’s best if you build a network where you give before you get.”

Of the five qualities—persistence, stamina, courage, resilience, and passion—which one is most misunderstood, and which one is the most predictive of long-term success?

The fact is they are all critical. I guess I would have to pick stamina if I were to prioritize one of them. Because if you have all the others, and you don’t have the stamina to stay in the game and push ahead through the whole journey – which is typically a long one, then the other qualities won’t matter. In term of  misunderstood, it’s the difference between persistence and resilience. Persistence means to focus on all the steps continuously, working towards the goal over the long haul. Resilience means to get up off the canvas when you have been knocked down – failed, stumbled – don’t quit.

For someone reading this at a difficult career moment—a layoff, a stalled promotion, or a major setback—what does the Greatness Code suggest they should do first to regain traction and rebuild momentum? 

The fact is that difficult career moments are very common along the journey. Few people are blessed with a ride that isn’t bumpy. Some are more bumpy than others. So the first thing I would say is, don’t take yourself too seriously and realize that there are many things that are important in life and a career is only one of them. Then I would explain that it’s very important to be sure you have a support group around you and don’t be afraid to ask for help. During times like this you need to engage with a lot of positive self-talk. It is easy to go down a rabbit hole of despair. It is easy to think that all you’ve done has been wasted. The reality is that all that you have done is still with you and will be with you forever. You have gained skills. You have gained experiences. You have gained battle scars -all of that doesn’t go away unless you frame it that way in your head. This goes to the key quality of resilience, which is your ability to bounce back when you’ve encountered a setback.

Anything else you would like to add about the book?

I wrote this book largely because I was frustrated with what I saw as a crisis and leadership. As I explained previously, there are too many leaders who are poorly trained amateurs. And sadly, many of them seriously damage people’s lives through their poor leadership. I work with colleagues who train leaders every day. But we can only do so much. I wanted to share the formula for success with individuals so they could apply it in difficult situations and in great situations, so they could continue to strive and ultimately achieve their greatness objectives. I would say to leaders, take your role seriously and lead with empathy. There is no room for amateur leaders – the stakes are too high!

Related: 4 Talent Trends Redefining Leadership Strategy in 2026

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor  – Hunt Scanlon Media