Just about a month ago, I featured a business fable here on the show. Today, I am pleased to feature another. This one is cowritten by an author who’s appeared here before (John David Mann).
However, my guest today is the other half of that co-author duo. His name is Dan Rockwell. If his name rings a bell, that may be because you’ve heard of his successful Leadership Freak blog.
Dan’s book with John is called The Vagrant: The Inner Journey of Leadership.
The Vagrant is a modern parable for ambitious people on the relationship between success and self-reflection.
The book follows Bob, a bright, up-and-coming leader in the health care business who leads a team of forty at a large city hospital. When he’s called up to the seventh floor one fine spring morning, he fully expects a promotion in line with his C-suite aspirations.
Instead, he’s fired.
Moments after losing his job, Bob has a strange alleyway confrontation with a homeless man rambling about “the four impediments of the Apocalypse.” To Bob, his words are nothing but incoherent ranting, but they soon prove eerily prophetic. In the weeks that follow, Bob loses everything he holds dear—his apartment, possessions, reputation, and health—and ends up living on the street . . . until chance leads him back to that same alley and he crosses paths with the strange man once again.
In this timeless, eye-opening tale of redemption, Bob’s tailspin journey through loss and catastrophic failure invites readers to examine the nature of genuine leadership and embark upon their own story of self-discovery.
I hope you’ll click the play button below to learn more about Dan and his work. For a summary, just keep scrolling.
Join in on our chat below
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS
In today’s episode, I ask Dan:
- Why skills, talents, and drive are not enough to guarantee success
- How the talents and strength you have can deceive you when you lack self-awareness
- How to combat the distorted assumptions we often have about other peoples’ perceptions of us.
- And lots more!
Order Dan’s Book
You can order your copy of The Vagrant: The Inner Journey of Leadership right now!
Consider Ordering My Book Too!
Purchase a copy of my new book (written with Jesse Wisnewski) Read to Lead: The Simple Habit That Expands Your Influence and Boosts Your Career. There, you can also download the introduction and first chapter for free!
Note-Making Mastery Cohort AND the Read to Lead Community
Note-Making Mastery Cohort is now available as a self-paced course! Check it out. Also, consider giving ReadtoLead+ a try free for two weeks!
Dan in Action
Books Dan Recommends
The Leadership Challenge by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
The Midnight Library: A Novel by Matt Haig
Check Out These Additional Resources from Dan
Grab a copy of Dan’s book now.
Check out his website for more from Dan.
Invite Dan to come speak to your group.
Connect with Dan personally on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Comment and Share
Please consider rating the podcast with 5 stars and leaving a one- or two-sentence review in iTunes or on Stitcher. This helps tremendously in bringing the podcast to the attention of others.
We encourage you to join the Read to Lead Nation on Facebook. It’s a community of like-minded leaders and leader-to-be, as well as fans of the Read to Lead Podcast.
You can tell your friends on Twitter about your love of reading and our new podcast by simply clicking this link and sharing the tweet you’ll find at the other end.
And, by all means, if you know someone you think would benefit, please spread the word by using the share buttons on this page.
Finally, thanks for listening and remember, “Leaders read and readers lead.”