This is the introduction from Subtraction, my latest book. Coming out this fall, I’ll be sharing individual chapters with paid subscribers ahead of the launch. I’m excited for this one!
It’s Saturday morning in October, at a soccer field on the edge of town.
The leader in the third row of the bleachers has his eyes on the field and his thumb on his phone. It buzzed during warm-ups. It buzzed through the first quarter. It’s buzzing now, while his son lines up for the kick he’s been practicing in the backyard for three weeks.
He answers it. Of course, he answers it. It might be important.
The coffee cup beside him went empty an hour ago. He’s still holding it. Tonight at eleven, he’ll be answering Slack from the couch, because somewhere along the way, he decided that’s what leaders do. Stay available. Stay on. Outwork whatever comes.
Ask him how things are going, and he’ll smile and say it’s a busy season.
It’s not a season. Seasons end.
No one is doing this to him. The company is growing. The numbers are good. He got here by working hard, and every time the weight on his shoulders got heavier, he did the only thing he’d ever been taught to do: he pushed harder. Added a new initiative. Added a meeting to fix the other meetings. Added a book, a conference, a strategic plan, and a goal. More effort going in. Less of him coming back.
If he’s honest with himself, he’s drowning. He’d never use that word. But his wife would. His team would. The kid on the field just took the biggest kick of his season, and his dad missed it because he was looking at his phone.
You know this leader. Maybe you report to him. Maybe you built him.
Maybe he’s holding this book.
