I went through a really difficult period of my life and emerged a better man for it. I feel as though the foundation of my difficulties was grounded in how expectations for men changed, how I had not connected to new expectations, and how my striving to meet outdated expectations negatively impacted my life. After my divorce, I found myself in a lot of one-on-one conversations helping men through similar difficulties. The conversations I had with some of those men were very impactful for them, and as the dialog continued, a number of them started to encourage me to write this book. They found my lessons and the tools I’d developed as a result to be really impactful in their lives. They believed that a book could help more men positively transform their lives in similar circumstances.
Their encouragement, and an old aspiration of mine to write a book, spurred me to begin the project.

I feel as though the majority of the writing in business, especially, has to do with organizational outcomes. The writing that does have to do with individual outcomes tends to focus a lot more on accumulating wealth and a lot less on successfully navigating the tensions that exist between our person and our profession. Our occupations can be very demanding and very stressful, and how we manage that stress while also showing up well as a husband, and as a father is a topic that I do not feel is adequately addressed. There are a lot of busy professionals with busy households, with clarity and a lot of resources about how to be successful at work, but a lot less clarity about how to be successful where work meets home. I write to help them in the space where these worlds collide.

My articles do not cover a specific topic, but you’ll find some themes. The overarching theme, which covers all the articles, is about reflections, perspectives, and tools that I think might help the reader grow into a better version of themselves. In general, we have a tendency to write for people who are just a few steps behind us in similar transformations. Showing them the footholds to pull themselves out of the quagmire and into the light. As a result, some deal with being a better man and a more progressive lens, generally, on masculinity. Others deal with the intersection of professional and personal stresses. Self-help for the professional who knows how to succeed at work but also needs to
succeed at home. The pathway to success in both areas is unclear for many of us. Still others deal with parenting, substance abuse, goals, or whatever topics are moving me in the time I find to write articles. The truth is that some articles are written to help others, but others are a form of public journaling. Processing my challenges and finding a written result that might help others reflect on the same issues.

People love to say their work is for everyone. That is never true and never possible. While I’m sure there are many people who could benefit from my work, who are not in my target audience, ultimately, we all must write to an audience. So who is mine? My audience is men who are navigating the pressures of leadership, work, and relationships. Also, more generally, men and women who are looking for mental and emotional tools that help their personal growth outpace their professional growth. I promise that
investments in personal growth will always yield professional gains, while the inverse is not universally true.

My work deals mainly with identity. Getting clarity over who you want to be and finding the tools to embody that person. Understanding yourself, and making deliberate changes to shape that person, takes your personal development upstream of the smaller things. Your motivations, goals, and ambitions. When you make clear choices about the kind of person you want to be, the motivation to build the skills and achieve the goals it takes to be that person comes much more naturally.