Kissing your dragons, building your swarm, and other acts of courage that might just change your life

Kiss Your Dragons isn’t your everyday business book. It lives somewhere between a sermon, a call to action, and a set of life-affirming principles – mindsets and heartsets — worth fighting for. Shawn, the provocateur, Robin, the wrangler of dragons, and Michael, the peacemaker. They are all humans who define what humanity should look like as they take us on a journey to face and engage our dragons – our biggest fears, problems and challenges – with our authentic selves. Sometimes wisdom comes in surprising packages. So it is with Shawn Nason and his ‘swarm’ – talented and spirited co-conspirators who poke and prod, tease and untangle the foibles of humans as they endure or enrich their lives at work.

 

 

We met Shawn through our friend and colleague Julie Anixter who had worked with him when he led innovation at Humana. Over dinner at our favorite restaurant, we began the conversation that would take us, under the patient and thoughtful guidance of Julie and Melissa Wilson, our un/teaching publishing partner, on a journey to explore the ‘secret sauce’ that is Shawn and his company, MOFI – Man on Fire Inc. The name says it all. This team, responsible for leading its clients through breakthrough discovery, coaxing greatness from each and every person they meet, wove the story of their radical approach through a conversation into a book with attitude. The same attitude living and breathing in their “Combustion Chronicles,” more conversations with people who, in the line of fire, have embraced the challenge of breaking new ground by crushing old norms, by “blowing sh*t up” and yes, kissing their dragons.

 

 

The journey was surprising. The outcome, the book we designed – Kiss Your Dragons – is a how-to with heart and an important reminder that the only limit to our ability to live and work and build fulfilling productive lives is our imaginations and the courage to be our authentic selves – fears and all – always and everywhere. That’s how we live our purpose and how we find those we choose to fight alongside us.

 

Book: Kiss Your Dragons
Authors: Shawn Nason with Robin Glasco and Michael Harper
Publisher: Networlding and un/teaching