Writers don’t create out of a void. Leininger’s voice mixes Colorado optimism with home-town Chicago toughness. That combination drove his success at the Merc. It helped him start a private equity company that has invested across five separate funds in thirty plus states. It led him to cattle ranching and timberland trading, and the myriad other things he loves, from fly fishing to reading Brothers Karamazov or dodging through trees on a snowboard. And it infuses his discipline of daily writing, shepherding the experiences the Creator has inexplicably blessed him with.

That stewardship was the motivation when Leininger published Lessons from the Pit: A Successful Veteran of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Shows Executives How to Thrive in a Competitive Environment (1999).

“I wrote my first book because the fact that I survived and thrived professionally at the Merc was truly beating the odds. But on a personal and spiritual level, it took a toll. Softening the pain would mean forgetting the miraculous and the resulting humility. Stewardship of all that blood, sweat and tears required me to put it down on paper–first for my kids and then, to a broader audience.”

Stewardship also was the motivation for Leininger’s second book, Dirt Clods and Donkeys: An Experiment in Mentoring that Changed Lives (2021).

“I thought the miraculous mentoring stories should be told, because at their core is the truth that God is at work in the lives of ordinary people like me. I also thought it might encourage others to become mentors as well.”

Joe lives in Colorado with his college sweetheart, Kathy.  They have been married for 36 years and have three wonderfully independent adult children and one completely perfect granddaughter.