I spent 25 years building companies, leading teams across 19 countries, and collecting Inc. 5000 plaques. I was the guy with the answer. The one who held it together. The one that so many counted on.

Then my marriage ended. My health crashed. And in the wreckage, I finally saw that my "indispensability" had actually cost me the very freedom I thought all this effort was for.

The less I performed leadership, the more people actually followed. The less I needed from every room, the more every room gave back. The less I tried to be everyone's hero, the more I showed up as someone worth following.

In 2023 I wrote Papercuts: The Art of Self-Delusion as a reckoning with the invisible patterns that shape our behavior, limit our capacity, and sabotage our growth without us realizing it. It was the most uncomfortable thing I've ever created. And the most honest.

Today I work with leaders who recognize themselves in that story. I interrupt patterns they can't see, reveal blind spots they've normalized, and help rebuild capacity where there's none left. I call it Osmotic Leadership™ — built on a simple premise: your greatest impact at work and at home comes from who you are, not what you do.

What's my secret sauce? I'm one of the kindest men you'll ever meet, and yet I'm not very nice. (IYKYK)