A publisher's interest in a piece about new managers made the speaker realize he didn't need to wait until age 65 to write his book. Writing now, while still fresh from the struggles of first-time management like imposter syndrome and tough feedback, gives him authenticity his future self might lose.
I was thinking of being a 65-year-old retired person to have the accumulated wisdom to write a book. But then when I actually spoke to a publisher and they were reacting to one of the pieces I wrote for new managers, I realized then that was kind of my why now moment. I was like, oh, if I wait until I'm 65, I probably will have forgotten what it's like to be a new manager because so much of being new is the dealing with your emotions of, again, the imposter syndrome, the fact that you're doing this hard thing that's very human for the very first time, like giving hard feedback or telling someone that they have to be let go. These are very, very difficult things and they're not going to get any easier for anyone if that's your first time doing it. Yeah. And so the why now for me was like, oh, if I write, yeah, I can probably write a better management book in some respects when when I'm older and I have more experience, but I may be able to write the best one now for new managers because I'm not so far removed from that experience.
