Paul Epstein had a life-changing experience at a San Francisco 49s’ executive retreat some years ago.
As head of sales and business development with the 49ers, Paul went with colleagues on a two-day retreat. He came away from the experience transformed, finally knowing what his personal “Why” was. “I knew my mission, and I now had clarity on my core values,” Paul tells Published Author Podcast host Josh Steimle.
The big change was that Paul realized he had to lead himself before he could lead others. Next, he identified his passion: The leadership, culture, and people side of business, versus hitting the quotas hitting the goals, targeting those KPIs
Not long after the retreat, Paul left at the 49ers after 15 years at the top of his game to join the group that led the off-site executive retreat. This experience, ultimately, inspired Paul to write his book The Power of Playing Offense: A Leader's Playbook for Personal and Team Transformation.
Top Takeaway: You’re Hurting Others By Not Sharing What You Know In A Book
Through his life-changing experience, Paul believes that entrepreneurs and leaders who have an important message to share must write a book.
“I understand the mental barriers about: Who's going to read this book, Who's going to care? Where do I even start? Do I have the time? They're a natural part of the process,” says Paul.
“But on the flip side, why are you inspired to write the book? What is the ‘Why’ behind the book? How is this feeding into your personal mission? How is this going to add to your legacy? And is there something inside of you that if you had a billboard (this is that Tim Ferriss question of if you had a billboard, and you put one thought or one idea on it), what would it be?
“If you have that idea in your head, then my advice would be you're hurting others by not sharing it with them, because others need that boost.”
Working With A Coach
Paul realized in spring of 2020 that the pandemic presented him with a silver lining: He'd now had an opportunity to write a book. So he began. Although it was more difficult than he imagined, he hired a book coach, which turned out to be one of the best decisions he made.
“I'd never written something so extensive, and this process taught me that it's exactly the same level of preparation as you would prepare as a trainer, as a coach, as a consultant, as a speaker, thought leader, frankly, or any business professional,” he emphasizes. “You have to do the work behind the scenes in order to shine when it matters.”
The coach helped Paul with every aspect of the book, including some of the most important parts. Explains Paul: “To be completely candid, I was probably too author-focused when I came into the process, meaning: What does Paul want to say? What's Paul's message? What's the message Paul wants to share with the world?”
Keep The Focus On The Reader
Paul’s coach got him to do a 180-degree shift, so that instead his focus would be on the reader, and he would look at everything through a reader’s lens.
“It helped tremendously, because now that led to the outline of my book. The focus sounded very familiar to me, and I should have realized this on my own but I didn't.
“And when they got me to think it's like in keynote speaking, it's not about the speaker, even though many speakers think it is. It’s audience-focus,” explains Paul. And the best speakers are 100% audience focused, they are servants for the audience. There has to be a ‘What's in it for me?’ to the reader each and every step of the journey.”
Paul says that although the book is written for leaders, almost anyone can get something from it. “My take on leadership is that the principles of what makes a great leader apply to any walk of life.
“This is not written from any other place than the trenches of leadership” and from those trenches come the truths that people are not able to find anywhere else.
Links
PaulEpsteinSpeaks.com
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