My first book almost had a coffee-shop barista as its main character. Dylan McNaughton. Thank goodness someone smart stopped me.
In 2011, after a keynote in Toronto, an editor from a large publishing house came up to me and asked whether I had ever thought about writing a book. I was stunned and humbled. I was also, it turns out, smitten with Pat Lencioni.
His fab book, “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” had sold well over two million copies at that time. So off I went to cook up my own leadership fable. I even had the title: “The Coffee Shop Leader: A Story about Corporate Culture and Employee Engagement.”
In the spring of 2012, I sent a revised proposal and the opening draft chapters to my editor, Don.
His feedback was gentle yet insightful, just like him.
"You are an excellent writer, Dan, but have you considered writing the book in your voice and not that of the characters from a coffee shop?"
No, I had not.
That one question became “Flat Army.”
It also became a rule I have carried through five more books: learn from the craft of the people you admire. The reader can tell when you are wearing someone else's jacket or writing style.
The fable is still on my Dropbox. It will stay there. (And big thanks to Don Loney, a class act.)
But for my next book, I did manage to weave in three fantastic characters to illustrate different vantage points of leadership. Stay tuned… 👀
