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Foreword

Thomas Power

Co-founded Ecademy in 1998, the world's first online social business network, before LinkedIn and before the phrase "social business" existed. He coined the ORS and CSC distinction that a generation of network thinking rests on. He has known Paul Lange for more than twenty years.

Thomas wrote the foreword to The 20% Leader. Here it is in full.

I’ve known Paul Lange for over two decades, since the early days of Ecademy, when a few of us dared to imagine a future where business was truly personal, community-driven, and led from the heart, not just the head.

Paul stood out back then, and he stands out now. A natural leader with relentless curiosity, commercial acumen, and a deep sense of human potential. Over the years, I’ve watched him move seamlessly across continents, industries, and boardrooms: coaching, investing, advising. Yet always rooted in one mission: to make leadership clear, sharp, and impactful.

This book, The 20% Leader, is not just another addition to the leadership shelf. It’s a field manual for those brave enough to lead with clarity and act with speed. It’s the antidote to the slow, bloated, over-complicated leadership models that so often paralyse progress. Paul writes the way he speaks: direct, intelligent, no fluff. Just the truth, told clean.

What makes Paul’s work exceptional is that it lives in the real world of business. His Total QX methodology isn’t theory. It’s forged in the pressure cooker of venture-backed deals, private equity boardrooms, and real-time operational challenges.

He’s not offering you platitudes. He’s handing you a blade to cut through noise and find focus.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by complexity or stuck in a leadership fog, this book is your signal flare. It will remind you that clarity is leadership, that real execution begins with bold prioritisation, and that teams don’t follow vision. They follow belief.

Paul, my friend, you’ve nailed it. You’ve captured what we all need right now: momentum, not management.

Read this book. Keep it close. Then go lead like you mean it.

Warmest,
Thomas Power
Founder, BIP100
Professional Networker, Advisor, and Friend

Reproduced exactly as printed in The 20% Leader. Nothing added, nothing cut.

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Paul's own foreword, and the note that opens the book, are in the first pages of the paperback and the Kindle edition. The methodology Thomas mentions is Total QX™, which Manolutions runs.

Questions about the foreword

Who is Thomas Power?
He co-founded Ecademy in 1998 with Penny Power OBE, the world's first online social business network, before LinkedIn existed. He is the founder of BIP100.
What is ORS and CSC?
His distinction between Open, Random and Supportive networks and their opposite, Closed, Selective and Controlling. It has become one of the more durable lenses for reading how organisations behave.
How does he know Paul Lange?
More than twenty years, since the early days of Ecademy.
Is this the full foreword?
Yes, exactly as printed in the book, unedited.