Preface

Homer

This book is not the first nor the last book on leadership. It is probably not the best book on leadership either.

It is, in a very real sense, selfish. I wrote it for myself. I wrote it to document my life. It is my story.

The book began more like a journal. I suppose I started writing a memoir before I knew what a memoir was, and long before they were popular. It turned into a book on leadership when I realized that much of life is about learning, and much of what I have learned in my life is how to teach and how to lead.

At times it will read more like a life-sketch. Other times it may feel like a self-help book about leadership. At times things may seem out of order or out of context, but life is that way.

Some lessons are learned quickly — like don't eat glue, learned in Chapter One. Other lessons take a lifetime and are not realized until the pieces of life are finally set together and the picture becomes clear. Most lessons repeat themselves, sometimes as reminders and sometimes because we finally understand them for the first time.

Many of the things I have learned, I learned the hard way: by making mistakes, learning from those mistakes, and bouncing back. I write honestly about my failings and hope you can learn without having to repeat every one of them.

One of those shortcomings was not publishing this sooner. I have matured immensely since I started drafting these pages. In many instances I cringe at my own naivete, but the principles themselves remain enduring.

You will make mistakes, and I will continue to err and fall short, but learning from your history and the history of others, striving for something better, and leaving a legacy are among the rewards of this life.

I encourage you to write your own story, even if only for yourself. Write it down. You may discover that you've learned more along life's road than you realized. And someone else may benefit, if only to say, "Well, at least I don't have his challenges," or, "At least I didn't do that."

I make no apologies for the writing style, only explanations. Besides, it's my story and I'll tell it however I want.

"If you will not be forgotten after you are dead and rotten, either write things worth the reading or do things worth the writing of."

— Benjamin Franklin

Charlie

This book would have been written much sooner had it not been for some overwhelming imposter syndrome on my part.

When Scott and I first discussed me working on his book with him, I thought of myself more as a research assistant than anything, and even that seemed more than I was qualified for.

Through the years, as I failed to contribute much to the writing, the invitation slowly became something else: an invitation to add my own voice to his in speaking about the leadership principles and ideals that have occupied many of our conversations — conversations I cherish.

What finally got me writing was realizing the part I may be able to play in this story.

I've spent my whole life looking up to my big brother. His time and attention were things I prized as a kid, his adventures were things I lived in awe of all my life, and his wisdom is something I've tried to pass on to my own children as they have grown.

Often, after discussing some principle of leadership or personal development with him, I would go read a book or three on the subject to understand it better and figure out how I could learn from it.

Now I hope I can share what these lessons have meant to me, and how they have shaped my own story. It is my hope, dear reader, that my part of this work will help you learn to lead as I have: from the life of my big brother.