Stephen Mansfield

Stephen Mansfield is a New York Times best-selling author and a popular speaker who coaches leaders worldwide.

He grew up largely in Europe due to his father’s career as an officer in the U. S. Army. After a youth filled with sports, travel and mischief, he attended college in the U.S. and earned a bachelor’s degree in history and philosophy. For the next decade he lived in Texas where he completed two master’s degrees, hosted a radio program and began acquiring a reputation as a speaker of both depth and humor.

In 1991, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to join the leadership team of one of the nation’s top mega-churches. He quickly became the senior leader of that church and continued in this role for eleven years. During that time he earned a doctorate, worked among the Kurds of Kurdistan and advised numerous national leaders.

In these years he also launched the writing career for which he has become internationally known. His first book, on Winston Churchill, was a Gold Medallion Award Finalist. He also wrote widely acclaimed biographies of Booker T. Washington and George Whitefield, as well as a number of other highly regarded books about history and leadership. In 1997, the governor of Tennessee commissioned Mansfield to write the official history of religion in Tennessee for that state’s bicentennial.

In 2002, Stephen decided to give himself fully to writing, speaking and training leaders. Not long after, he wrote The Faith of George W. Bush, which landed on the New York Times best seller list twice and won numerous national awards. The book was a source for Oliver Stone’s acclaimed film, W, which chronicled Bush’s rise to the presidency.

This international best-seller led to a string of influential books over the following decade. Mansfield wrote The Faith of the American Soldier after he was with U.S. troops in Iraq in 2005. He also wrote about the ascent of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to the papacy in Benedict XVI: His Life and Mission. His book The Faith of Barack Obama was another international bestseller and captured broad media attention both in the U.S. and around the world during the presidential race of 2008.

Eager to challenge American corporations to greater social good, Mansfield wrote The Search for God and Guinness in 2009, which instantly placed him in demand as a speaker to business leaders. Since then he has continued his literary success with books about figures as diverse as Abraham Lincoln and Oprah Winfrey. His book, Killing Jesus, is such a gritty, powerfully written retelling of the death of Jesus Christ that Publisher’s Weekly called it “masterful.” In his latest book, The Miracle of the Kurds, he recounts the fascinating story of the Kurds. Having live among them and known them as friends, Mansfield tells of both the greatness and the great sufferings of these amazing people. It’s a remarkable story of hope reborn in Northern Iraq.

In recent years Manfields’s popularity as a speaker has nearly eclipsed his reputation as an author. He speaks widely about leadership, the lessons of history and the forces that shape modern culture. His speeches are rich in history and infused with an endearing brand of humor. He has spoken at schools like Harvard and the United States Military Academy, for many of America’s leading corporations and at gatherings of executive leaders around the world.

Out of Mansfield’s own leadership experience, his research and his many years of advising leaders have come his current commitment to coaching senior executives. He has worked with political leaders, educators, corporate executives, authors and media personalities to draw out their leadership gifts, extend their communication skills and increase their impact upon the world.

Mansfield lives in Nashville and Washington DC with his wife Beverly, an award-winning songwriter and producer.