Books by Ruth Pearce

Guides for coaches, leaders, and high-achieving humans who want meaningful, sustainable success.

My books are extensions of my work as a coach, speaker, and facilitator.
They’re written for people who want more than just productivity hacks — they want meaningful progress and sustainable ways of living and leading.
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The newest is Be Hopeful, Be Strong, Be Brave, Be Curious® (Wiley, 2024), a portable coaching companion for your life and work.
The earlier book, Be a Project Motivator (Berrett-Koehler, 2018), is my love letter to project managers who want to lead with strengths instead of stress.
Write your awesome label here.
Write your awesome label here.
Write your awesome label here.
Write your awesome label here.

How this book connects to my speaking and coaching

Much of my work as a leadership keynote speaker and coach flows directly from this book.

  • My Four Mindsets of Sustainable Leadership sessions are built on the Hopeful, Strong, Brave, Curious framework.

  • The book sits alongside my Six Levers of Sustainable Success™ model as a core part of how I help people create success that actually feels sustainable.


If you bring me in to speak, train, or coach, this book can be:

  • A pre-read to set the tone

  • A gift for attendees

  • A shared language for follow-up coaching and programs

FEATURED BOOK

Be Hopeful, Be Strong, Be Brave, Be Curious™

Featured by Wiley, this is your portable coach in a book — an invitation to build four mindsets that help you navigate challenge, change, and growth: Hopeful, Strong, Brave, and Curious.

Be Hopeful, Be Strong, Be Brave, Be Curious® shows you how to bring the core benefits of coaching into your everyday life. Drawing on years of coaching experience, research, and stories from real people, it helps you:

  • Celebrate your wins instead of dismissing them

  • Focus on what’s strong, not just what’s wrong

  • Notice and challenge the beliefs that keep you stuck

  • Bring perspective, curiosity, and courage to the decisions that matter most 

    You’ll see how coaching principles apply at work, at home, and anywhere you face complexity or transition. Whether you’re working with a coach, considering coaching, or simply curious about how to get out of your own way, this book gives you structure, language, and practices to move forward.

This book is for:

  • High-achieving professionals who feel like they’re getting in their own way

  • Coaches who want a practical, story-rich resource for clients

  • Leaders and managers who care about people development, not just performance

  • Anyone who suspects there’s more to their life and wants help finding it


What you’ll find inside


  • Hope: how to define meaningful goals, see multiple pathways, and build agency

  • Strength: using what’s already strong in you, without overusing it to exhaustion

  • Bravery: practical ways to be brave that don’t require you to be reckless

  • Curiosity: learning to ask better questions of yourself, others, and your situation

And woven through it all:

  • Reflection prompts you can journal on or bring to coaching

  • Stories of real people navigating real challenges

  • Tools you can return to whenever you feel stuck, tired, or unsure

Comments from Readers

Why this book still matters

Although published in 2018, the core message is more relevant than ever:
successful projects depend on human motivation, not just Gantt charts.

This book forms the foundation for:

  • My strengths-based project leadership talks and workshops

  • My LinkedIn Learning course about becoming a project motivator


Unlock the secrets of strengths-based Project Management

Be a Project Motivator

A practical guide for project managers who want to go beyond managing tasks — and become true motivators for their teams.


Be a Project Motivator shows project managers how to use character strengths and positive psychology to engage and inspire their teams, not just coordinate their work. It explains how your behavior, language, and attitudes affect engagement — and how you can build stronger relationships, more innovation, and higher-functioning teams.

You’ll learn how to recognize and cultivate key strengths such as bravery, curiosity, fairness, gratitude, and humor in yourself and others — and how those strengths translate into better project outcomes.

Who this book is for

  • Project managers and team leads in any industry

  • PMO leaders who want more engaged teams

  • Organizations exploring strengths-based project management

  • Coaches and trainers working with project professionals


Want to bring these ideas to your organization?
Explore my leadership keynotes and workshops or my hybrid coaching programs to see how we can turn these concepts into lived experience.
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