In this Leaders Developing Leaders parable, a young businessman is thrust into action, tasked with leading a team of top performers from across his company's departments to solve the organization's greatest problem. Faced with a rapidly approaching deadline and unsure of how to lead his team towards a solution, he seeks guidance from a stranger he meets during a chance encounter. Through a series of time-traveling journeys enabled by a mystical collection of coins in the possession of his new mentor, the young man experiences first-hand some of the greatest leaders and moments in the history of the military, sports, government and business. As he diligently pursues learning the timeless lessons necessary to become the type of leader his team needs before it's too late, he discovers that all of these adventures are a part of something greater; a singular necessity that we all are capable of developing in our own lives, and the driving force behind what it truly means to become a leader worth following.
The Coin provides everything needed by the new leader or seasoned practitioner. Based around the Greek meaning for the word character, which is translated as "the engraving of a coin," the book approaches lessons in leadership and the importance of a foundation of proper moral habits through the use of the "moral exemplar," the practice of looking at other people who have properly habituated certain traits or strengths of character and then deciphering how to act in accordance with those virtues in our own lives.
But beyond the narrative, beyond the stories, and beyond the journey of a young man trying to understand the depths of what it means to actually lead, The Coin is ultimately a calling to all of us to make each other better; to bring each other up to our best selves. The reader need only to approach the book in the way it is intended to be approached. Bring your challenge, a problem-solving mindset, and an openness to applying the lessons of the book.
Everyone deserves a leader that wants to help them earn their own coin, to achieve a life of arete, and to be engraved with the qualities necessary for sustained excellence in life. The work never stops. The journey is never finished. Make the stories your own!
