RUG by Sherry Whitaker Budziak and Kevin G. Ordoñez

RUG: HOW TO MOVE WHAT YOU'RE TRIPPING OVER AND LEAD WITH H.E.A.R.T.

What if the biggest obstacle to your success isn't your team, your competition, or even the economy? What if it’s the invisible rug you keep tripping over?

We all have rugs. Outdated habits trip us up. Silent expectations catch us off guard. Limiting beliefs go unquestioned for years. These hidden barriers sabotage our progress in life and leadership until disruption finally forces us to confront them.

RUG reveals how to uncover the patterns holding you back. You'll discover how to move beyond mere survival and lead with clarity, courage, and purpose.

This book centers around the H.E.A.R.T. Powered Leadership™ framework: Humanize, Empower, Ascend, Reimagine, Transform. It offers both deeply personal insights and practical guidance for leading with empathy, resilience, and vision.

TOPICS OF CONVERSATION

• The "Rug" Concept — What it means to keep stepping over hidden problems, avoided conversations, and outdated systems in leadership and in life, and why leaders resist moving them
• The HEART Framework — A five-step approach to leading through disruption: Humanize, Empower, Ascend, Reimagine, and Transform, and how it applies to both personal growth and organizational change
• Reimagining vs. Defaulting to the Familiar — Why reimagining is the hardest step for most leaders, and how the "10-star experience" exercise helps teams think beyond their comfort zones
• When Leaders Get Out of Their Own Way — What shifts when leaders stop white-knuckling every decision, and how empowering others to lead creates faster movement, smarter risks, and a stronger culture
• Creating Psychological Safety and Taking Micro Moves — How leaders can make it safe for people to tell the truth, and the small, practical actions that create real traction without overwhelming the team

LEARN MORE AT: https://rugthebook.com/ and https://orgsource.com/ 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

SHERRY WHITAKER BUDZIAK is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and visionary strategist who helps organizations 10X their productivity by aligning people, process, technology, and purpose. As the founder and CEO of .orgSource, Sherry has spent two decades guiding more than 350 organizations to reimagine how they work, integrating human potential with the power of AI to unlock growth, innovation, and impact.

Recently honored with the Valparaiso University Alumni Achievement Award and Association Trends Award, Sherry is celebrated for her rare ability to translate bold strategy into measurable results. She’s led digital transformations long before it was a buzzword—launching one of the first association websites, navigating Y2K, leading teams through the dot-com era, and shaping the future of online engagement. Her expertise blends deep technological insight with a human-centered approach that empowers teams to thrive in the age of intelligent automation.

A trailblazer in the association and nonprofit world, Sherry co-founded .orgCommunity, a dynamic network that connects leaders, inspires collaboration, and accelerates innovation across the sector. Her influence extends beyond consulting—she’s a frequent keynote speaker, podcast host, and thought leader whose message inspires leaders to lead with both head and heart.

Sherry is the co-author of RUG: Move What You’re Tripping Over and Lead with HEART, where she shares her transformative H.E.A.R.T. Powered Leadership® Method—Humanize, Empower, Ascend, Reimagine, Transform—helping leaders turn disruption into growth and courage into strategy. She also co-authored the acclaimed Association 4.0® book series, which redefined what it means to lead in an era of rapid change.

With over 30 years at the intersection of technology and leadership, Sherry’s mission is clear: to help organizations move faster, think smarter, and lead with heart in a world where AI and humanity must rise together.

KEVIN G. ORDONEZ has been dedicated to serving the association community as a vendor partner, volunteer, speaker, author and consultant for over two decades. Throughout his career, he has focused on successfully developing and implementing digital strategy as critical for a comprehensive approach to advance the cause of associations.

As .orgSource’s technology lead, Kevin works with clients to envision their digital future and then guides them through the process of achieving the vision. Whether developing a digital strategy, creating a multi-year technology roadmap, focusing on a specific system implementation, or undertaking a performance improvement project, Kevin draws upon insights that can only come from someone who has the hands-on experience of working for an association, as well as the entrepreneurial spirit of a founder of leading association management software companies. In total Kevin has served thousands of associations, providing technology insight, product development, implementation methodologies and strategic planning.

Along with .orgSource founder and CEO Sherry Budziak, Kevin is the co-founder of .orgCommunity, an organization that provides hand-crafted connections, inspiration and solutions to association leaders and industry suppliers through education programs, networking events and a robust online community.

Kevin is an active participant in the association community, having served on the Association Forum of Chicagoland board of directors and on various volunteer committees. He frequently serves as a thought leader, lending his expertise to a variety of organizations. He also serves as an advisor to Work XO which helps companies measure, analyze and activate their organizational culture. Along with his business partner Sherry Budziak, Kevin is the co-author of the books Association 4.0®–An Entrepreneurial Approach to Risk, Courage and Transformation and  Association 4.0®—Positioning for Success in an Era of Disruption.