Dr. John A. KingIndigenous Australian. 100% Human. Neo-Noir Novelist. Poet. Speaker. Performance coach. More than a Survivor. Terrible Golfer, Awkward Dancer🕺

I was a top performer… and a time bomb.

27 Mar 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief spoken reflection, Dr. John A. King recounts his past as a globally recognized high‑performer—author of 27 books, international speaker, and corporate trainer—while revealing a hidden, inauthentic inner drive that he likens to a "time bomb." He explains that two decades ago the cultural environment made it impossible to discuss these feelings openly. Looking forward, he observes that similar patterns of acting‑out now surface in modern corporations. King proposes that if organizations foster more authentic, gender‑balanced conversations—especially allowing women to broach difficult subjects with men—relationships and workplace dynamics could improve dramatically.

Chapters

I was phenomenally high performing. I was in the top of my field worldwide, written 27 books, speaking in all the big auditoriums and corporations around the world, boutique elite corporate training and speaking organizations. And yet I had this on the inside that was driving me to a level of inauthentic behavior. And I was a time bomb and there was no way for me to be able to articulate it. Or talk to the people that I'd surrounded myself with, because then again, 20 years ago, it was a different space. So now bring this forward and we see some of the actions and the acting out in corporations. And I just wonder what would happen if we stopped and had different conversations, more authentic conversations, maybe conversations we'd be prepared to have with women now broaching that subject with men, how much better it would be for a turn-on relationship.