Illustrating Leadership
Project
Black & White Book
Service
Spot Illustrations
A leadership book that couldn’t just tell; it had to show.
Leadership expert, author, founder, and CEO of Showing Up LLC Jen Marr faced a creative problem: her new book, Lifting Up: The Transformative Power of Supportive Leadership, needed to reach people on multiple levels. As a lover of art, Jen knew static black and white text wouldn’t cut it for teaching complex human behaviors.
“I think in our world of so much technology, we want humanness. I wanted to bring something that wasn't so static and not just word, words, words."
Jen Marr, Showing Up LLC
Challenge
Jen Marr needed her leadership book to do more than explain. It had to connect, stick, and translate across training rooms and social feeds.
While Jen’s first book, Showing Up, featured full-color photography, Lifting Up needed to fit the mold for the leadership market. This meant resonating with a data-driven audience who relies on hard research, as well as:
- Visual learners who grasp concepts faster through images
- Time-crunched readers who want core ideas without reading cover to cover
- Her network of 150+ trainers who need consistent teaching materials
- A world hungry for human connection over AI-generated content
As Jen puts it, “I wanted to bring something that wasn’t so static…I just didn’t want words, words, words.” The book couldn’t be one-dimensional. Jen needed illustrations that would bring warmth, humanity, and visual clarity to leadership concepts, turning her transformative ideas into something people could understand, remember, and actually use.
Solution
We collaborated to transform abstract leadership concepts into black and white illustrations that work as training tools, social content, and visual memory anchors.
Creative collaboration, not just execution
Before the project started, Jen originally expected to tell us what to draw and we’d execute. She was in for a twist.
“From the beginning you said, ‘You have to give us artistic room,’” Jen recalled.
The result? A true collaboration where:
We brought unexpected interpretations. How do you show the disconnect that happens when people want to connect, but don’t know how? This “gap” illustration became her favorite. It drives conversations. “My favorite illustration was something I would have never told you to draw,” said Jen. “It opened the door for us to talk about our work in different ways.”
We collaborated back and forth. Collaboration sometimes means push-and-pull. Some pieces, like the culture pyramid, needed precision for training consistency. The back-and-forth communication refined both the art and the message.
We delivered beyond the book. Each illustration became a multi-purpose asset: PowerPoint slides, social media posts, giveaway cards, and training visuals her certified trainers use globally.
We created all the illustrations and lettering for the book using pen and ink on paper, not digitally drawn artwork. This lends a deeper layer of human touch to each illustration.
"The illustrations turned out very different from what I imagined...My favorite illustration was something I would have never told you to draw."
Jen Marr, Showing Up LLC
Result
Jen’s leadership concepts now live beyond pages, in training, conversations, and memories, thanks to drawings that help people think differently.
Illustrations that keep working long after the book closes
The illustrations didn’t just make the book pretty to look at, they made it more effective:
For readers: Flip through the book and see only the illustrations? You’ll get the core message. The art creates visual memory anchors that help concepts stick. “If you do nothing else, page through the book and look at the illustrations,” Jen tells people, “because those are the key concepts I’m trying to get across.”
For trainers: Jen’s 150+ certified trainers now share a consistent visual language. They all reference the same illustrations, creating alignment across her global network.
For marketing: The illustrations became social content, giveaways, and presentation tools, extending the book’s reach and impact far beyond its pages.
For the message: The visuals make people think: Why did the illustrator draw it this way? What do you see and take away from this image? That’s transformative visual communication.
The bottom line? “Something drawn by hand by an artist that you have a collaboration with is something very different,” Jen explains. We delivered on time, under pressure, and exceeded expectations, bringing the human connection her transformative leadership work demanded.
You can grab your own copy of Lifting Up here.
I can tell people: if you do nothing else, page through the book and look at the illustrations, because those are the key concepts I'm trying to get across."
Jen Marr, Showing Up LLC
Meet the TEAM
No, we’re not tattoo artists. We’re really big visual note-taking nerds. The kind of people who get genuinely excited about the perfect marker color and debate the best way to draw a lightbulb. Sure, we take our work seriously—but we refuse to take ourselves too seriously.
Alison Vellas
Artist
Dusty Folwarczny
Founder, Chief Vision Officer
See it for YOURSELF
Finding the next step is harder when your wires are crossed. Drawing can help you get everyone on the same page—without all the sticky notes.
You won’t regret it
