Burn the Script: How Great Coaches Disrupt Mindsets and Transform Practice is a powerful guide for anyone who coaches, leads, or supports people in high-stakes environments—especially when change feels hard and resistance runs deep. It’s not just about getting better at coaching; it’s about understanding why traditional coaching doesn’t work when belief systems stand in the way.

About My Book

My name is Dr. Jo Lein, and I am the author of Burn the Script. I wrote this book because I’ve seen too many coaches (myself included) fall into the trap of focusing on behaviors without understanding the beliefs beneath them. After working with nearly 300 novice educators and dozens of school leaders, I realized that real transformation doesn’t come from telling people what to do—it comes from helping them unlearn what’s holding them back.

My hope is that, in reading this book, you’ll discover how to coach in ways that not only shift actions, but reshape mindsets. I want you to see this book as a toolbox, a mindset reset, and a model for transformation when the stakes are high and the usual strategies fall flat.

In Burn the Script, you’ll learn how to:

• Diagnose resistance not as defiance, but as protection
• Use belief repair to create momentum instead of shame
• Coach identity-level change with empathy, clarity, and precision
  

You’ll walk alongside:

• A second-year ELA teacher who believed that being strict would cost her authenticity—and what happened when she flipped that belief
• A school leader grappling with race and power in a coaching relationship where trust had broken down
• A Fortune 500 manager whose entire team was burned out, and how one mindset shift helped them all move forward
  

You’ll love this book if:

• You’re a coach, leader, or teacher who has hit the wall with traditional coaching
• You care deeply about helping others grow, but feel like you’re repeating yourself without seeing results
• You want to make change stick without triggering shame, fear, or retreat
  

Burn the Script is a nonfiction book for leaders, coaches, and educators who are encountering resistance—and want tools to move through it with empathy, strategy, and impact. It’s for anyone who knows there’s more to coaching than skill-building alone.