I've spent the last two years teaching and speaking and writing about doing work that matters, engaging with our lizard brain and finding the ability to dance with uncertainty.

All those interactions have led to: What to Do When It's Your Turn. 

This new book is about leaping and fear and doing work that challenges. It echoes many of the ideas I've been writing about here for the last year or two, but it's completely original work, all illustrated in four-color, in a new format that I haven't seen used to create a book. Mostly, I wrote it to make it easier for my readers to encourage the change they'd like to see in the people around them (and in ourselves). I wrote it for you, and I wrote it for me, too, to help me get straight about what matters in doing work that makes a difference.

I'm trying to capture some of the energy I'm able to bring to a live engagement, and so far, the people who have read it have found it opens doors for them and pushes them to think differently about their work. And everyone has asked if they can have copies for friends. Hence this pre-order opportunity for my most loyal readers and those seeking to make a ruckus.

About the pre-orders: The book comes out in December. My plan is to distribute it horizontally, from reader to reader, from fan to fan, as opposed to top down via retailers and promotion. For that to work, though, I need a few thousand fans who are willing to take a chance on me and order a pre-pack. They'll get the very first copies from the printer and have an easy way to share it with friends and colleagues. After a start like that, the book is on its own.

I'm announcing this now because I'm about to go to print and need to know how many to make…

My hope is that people won't be able to resist sharing it, just as we enjoy sharing digital work online.

For many people, of course, they'll prefer to wait, to see what others say, and to avoid being an early adopter. That's fine. Books last.

But, if you're up for it, I hope you'll check out the video and dive in so I can make an intelligent decision about how many to print. Who knows, if this works, we'll be able to make the change we seek happen even faster. Thanks for sharing.

I wonder if this has always been true: When things start to go awry, we get frustrated at leaders (or employees or co-workers) who seem to be calmly considering the options and doing their best work instead of hyperventilating. 

The amount of hysteria one demonstrates isn't at all related to how much work is being done (or how much we care).

Why is that? Is the world so unfair?

Actually, it might be because the other guys took the time and invested the effort to build a movement. They showed up, every time, again and again. They never contemplated that they might lose, even though they're wrong, sub-par or not as good as you are. Their operating system, corporate structure, political ideas or economic approach won.

Perhaps they told a story that resonated, one that resonated not with the better angels of our nature, but with our urgent desires. And most probably, they built a tribe, not one in their image, but in the image (and dreams) of those that wanted to belong.

But mostly, it's because they were prepared to spend a decade (or two or three) to change the culture of their part of the world in the direction that mattered to them.