We’re inundated with messages today––most of them promising to deliver better versions of ourselves if we’ll just hand over some cash. Within that culture, the concept of leadership has fallen into a din of a sales pitch. “Leadership” has been demoted to a buzzword or a magic potion or a pithy quote on a social media feed. Lost in that noise, it’s easy to start thinking of actual leadership not as the powerful force it is, but as pie-in-the-sky aspirational fluff.

That watering down and misappropriation of leadership is truly dangerous. Our businesses and humanity as a whole need leaders, and those leaders need real help.

That’s why I wrote Heretics to Heroes. My book cuts through the crowded marketplace to provide crucial truth and practical guidance by relying on one of humanity’s oldest tools: storytelling.

I have always coached through stories because compelling narratives have always been how we learn best. As human beings, we need to see behavior we’re trying to emulate and experience it through the safety of a finely spun tale. I’ve seen it work for toddlers just as I’ve seen it work for senior executives steering the largest corporations in the world.

So in my book, you won’t find a get-rich plan or a leading-for-dummies checklist. But you will find real solutions and proven strategies, shared through engrossing stories inspired by true events and people that shaped my life, my successful performance coaching practice, and my All-In™Leadership framework.

Heretics to Heroes kicks off in my hometown––Dallas, Texas––on the day Kennedy was shot. I want you to feel the innocent confusion in my small Catholic school’s classroom. I want you to sense the quiet sadness in our home. Then, as the story of those few tragic days unfolds, I want you to experience the leadership of my oldest brother.

In the book, I sum up my brother this way:

As I looked at Greg, I realized what it meant to have a big brother. He modeled the best for us younger siblings, standing up for us when we were unfairly attacked, and stepping in for Mom and Dad in their absence. He was my protector. He has since played that role for me many times in my life, both good and tragic.

Many of Greg’s qualities, I learned as I grew into adulthood, are attributes leaders possess. In that context, Greg was the first leader in my life.

Greg looms large, but he is also just the beginning. I’ve been exceptionally lucky when it comes to the men and women in my life who have modeled leadership. I’ve written about them to share them with you. But I’ve also written these stories about heretics and heroes in homes, chemical plants, deserts, skyscrapers, and offshore rigs because I know there are people and experiences in your own life that are waiting to be modeled and mined, too. I want to jog your memory. From sisters, coaches, and mentors, to close calls and pivotal moments when consequential choices were made, who and what has shown you something about how to lead? What are your stories?

I’ll end with this: If you let a slight groan slip when you saw the news about Heretics to Heroes finally being available––if you thought to yourself, “Oh, no. Not another leadership book,” you were right. Heretics to Heroes is not just another leadership book. It’s unlike any modern leadership book you’ve encountered. Many of the ideas are as counter-cultural as they are effective, and you’ll learn as you’re moved to laughter and tears by stories that play out like short movies, scripted to entertain as they teach.

So join me. Pre-order Heretics to Heroes via Amazon now, and let’s start building something together.