Me? Write a book?

I stood at the front of the room as people filed out. My latest presentation just ended in solid applause. I disconnected my laptop and took a last sip of water when I heard a voice behind me say “You should write a book.” Several months later, chatting with family while adding cheese to the burgers I heard it again, a sly “So when’s your book coming out?” from my sister in law. The words came again and again but I only paused to really contemplate the idea when my friend and colleague James Tyer texted me something to the effect of “our principles really could be a book.” And then a new voice spoke, my own. “You don’t have time for that.”, “You don’t know how to write a book.” “You blog. You’re a blogger”, “You’re not an author.” And there it was. The words behind some form of imposter syndrome that was holding it all together and holding me back.

Did I have something to offer? Did I have enough experience, the stories, the studies? If I was to write, this wasn’t going to be a character-driven mystery or horror novel, It was a business book but really positioned as a love story for small companies and startups - built on the memories of all those I had been a part of. It needed to be a thoughtful guide on how to not make the mistakes of all those fortune 500 companies they emulated for their growth and influence. All those fortune 500 companies that now use words like “digital transformation” and try in vain to use technology to retrieve the soul they cast aside.

The book had good intention, it needed to be written but who was I to write this?

I took some time to justify to myself and look across my body of work and experience. I used a tool, ironically one that was quite common in all my jobs from a school teacher, to learning designer, to program manager, speaker and consultant — a Venn Diagram

What I saw was how Social By Design, the book that James and I had to write sat perfectly between all that I had become, and that of James too. It was the convergence now of work experiences within small, growing companies and all their urgent, emotional energy (as well as all the large rigid ones, steeped in process, titles and protocol). It came from my education and it’s emphasis on equity, the humanities, and radically progressive with deep intentions. It was our collective journey from social technology users to understanding what truly fuels the tools; the deeper psychology and sociology of people and groups. And it was our years of work in helping people and companies learn better, faster and easier.

So James and I write. We write with a belief that this matters and will be helpful even if to give someone pause. This process is really a lesson for anyone thinking of doing the same — We each have a story that could help others do better and because of that simple, sincere fact, we should write a book.

If you write, you’re a real writer. “And I think you need to embrace the term ‘being a real writer,’ and call yourself a real writer, and believe in that, because that will give you power on the page. — Grant Faulkner