Finding Your Groove

Resonant Leadership in a Disconnected World

Barry van Zyl, Chris Dalton

$356.95 $285.90

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Routledge
24 September 2025

Music; Management: leadership & motivation; Personnel & human resources management; Organisational theory & behaviour; Music industry

Finding Your Groove is an inspiring guide that challenges you to rediscover your innate rhythm amid today’s disjointed, fast-paced world. Drawing on the timeless language of music and the universal patterns of nature, this book reframes everyday challenges as opportunities for creative transformation and genuine connection.

Author Barry van Zyl, a veteran drummer and creative thinker from South Africa, and his co-author, UK business school academic Dr Chris Dalton, invite you to explore the profound impact of aligning your personal and professional lives with natural rhythms. Their insights blend personal narrative with practical reflection, offering a fresh perspective on leadership, collaboration, and self-awareness. By embracing the principles of Groove – from the beat of an individual’s heart to the synchrony of a well-led team – you can foster resilience, spark innovation, and build more harmonious relationships at work and beyond. Whether you are seeking to enhance your creative potential or to inspire collective change in your organisation, this book provides a compelling, entertaining, and thought-provoking realignment with the pulse of life.

Finding Your Groove is a call to reclaim the joy of connection, balance, and mindful presence. It invites you to lead with authenticity in an increasingly complex world.

By: Barry van Zyl, Chris Dalton
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781032769691
ISBN 10: 1032769696
Pages: 182
Publication Date: 24 September 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Barry van Zyl is a world-renowned musician with over 30 years of experience in the creative sector, from performance and production to education, strategy, and business development. Having toured the world for 21 years with South Africa’s most famous export, Johnny Clegg, and while working with artists such as Annie Lennox, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Peter Gabriel, and Die Antwoord, Barry completed an Executive MBA at Henley Business School and is now focused on executive education in the areas of personal development, entrepreneurship, and innovation. Chris Dalton is Associate Professor of Management Learning and module convener for Personal Development (PD) at Henley Business School. A creative tutor, he was recognised with a University Teaching Fellowship (2022) from Reading University. His research is focused on the use of reflection in personal development in post-experience management education. Chris has over 29 years of experience in management education and training. He is a certified coach and online tutor and has trained as a systemic constellations facilitator, regularly working with the public and private sector.

Reviews for Finding Your Groove: Resonant Leadership in a Disconnected World

“How do you: · Hack your Flow? · Get into The Zone? · Move with The Force? Written by Barry Van Zyl (my favorite drummer on the planet) and Dr Chris Dalton, FINDING YOUR GROOVE explains how.” NINJA (Die Antwoord), Multi-platinum international recording artist, South Africa. “Barry van Zyl is one of those rare individuals who has managed to balance the magic of the heart with the logic of the head. By merging his deep musical experience gained from years of touring as an internationally acclaimed drummer, with his and Chris Dalton’s combined passion for the harmonic development of human beings within a volatile and uncertain corporate world, they have found a unique insight into how leaders and teams can find their groove. Pepe Marais, Co-Founder and Group Chief Creative Officer at Joe Public. “In Finding Your Groove, celebrated rock/jazz drummer Barry van Zyl and business educator/scholar Chris Dalton explore the power of rhythm in leadership and life. Part memoir, part jam session, this inspirational yet practical book introduces the notion of groove as a metaphor for the practice of effective leadership. The roles that discipline, narrative-building and resonance play – combined with the aptitudes of reflection and adaptability – are central themes that drive this joyful, innovative book. It is all about leadership with swing, soul, and – at the risk of sounding playful – the art of not missing a beat!” Anant K. Sundaram, Clinical Professor of Business Administration, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth “Finding Your Groove is a riff session between a world-class musician and a world-class business mind, the two of them jamming on notes universal to music and organizational theory. It’s an improvisation—their minds leaping across keys and chords to explore the connecting patterns within us, between us, and all around us. Contrary to the popular idea that the world is disconnected, Van Zyl and Dalton illuminate a world that is whole; a world from which we have fallen out of relationship. We find our way back to connection by finding our own, unique pulsating groove that resonates in harmony with others and that world. Like the conversations that make up this book, we discover ourselves in the back-and-forth of dialogue.” Jim Ferrell, bestselling author of You and We: A Relational Rethinking of Work, Life, and Leadership