Long before Admiral Sandy Stosz retired from the U.S. Coast Guard in 2018, she knew that she wanted to write a book on leadership. With nearly 40 years of experience to draw on, from her early days as an ensign on polar icebreakers to her final assignment as the first female to serve as deputy commandant for Mission Support, Stosz had gained a wealth of experience worth sharing. Though her career abounded in firsts for her gender — she was, for example, the first woman to lead a U.S. armed forces service academy — Stosz wanted to focus her literary lens not on the trailblazing aspects of her career, but rather on the extensive and varied leadership lessons gleaned from her experiences. The result is Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass: Leading in Uncharted Waters, published this month by Koehler Books. She recently spoke with Governing.com Editor-at-Large Clay Jenkinson