My new book is published today: ‘To the Moon and Back: Leadership Reflections from Apollo’ takes us on a journey through eight stories about the Apollo programme. It explores how we set foot on the moon, then gave it all up and retreated to the earth. And for each of these stories, i draw out my own Leadership Reflections: just sharing the things i take away from this story.
Apollo is a story of overreach: a quest for something impossible by the technology of it’s day, and the subsequent journey to invent that technology. But more than that, it is a story of people: of the individual, the crews, the teams, and broader society, through the lenses of politics, power, and unadulterated bravery.
The story of the Space Race is also a story of scale: as i illustrated the book, i found myself time and again imagining the sheer scale of things: the distances, weights, speeds, temperatures, components, people, and money. Everything was enormous. Until the moment.
The moment when Armstrong placed his foot upon the surface was small: one man, one step, but it changed everything.
I am not sure if this is a Leadership book, but perhaps it is a book for leaders. It’s certainly not a book about learning, but i have found much to learn in the story. And although the story of Apollo is a matter of historical record, i have found it to be a journey of discovery.
When my son is old enough, i will be able to tell him that i wrote a book about the moon, and he will look at me and wonder why. By the time he is old enough, we may have reached Mars. And if we have not, perhaps he can dream us there.
‘To the Moon and Back: Leadership Reflections from Apollo’ is available globally on Amazon, or direct through Sea Salt Publishing.
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