My father used to call me a "weirdo magnet." He said every odd duck would find its way into my sphere, and we would connect. I always laughed and said, "Gee, I wonder who I learned that behavior from?!"
The truth is, I watched my father, a misfit himself, hug, love, and build up anyone who felt like they weren't fitting in. He had a gift for seeing the gold in people others had written off.
As a child, I read Pilgrim's Progress over and over. John Bunyan's allegory of transformation shaped how I understood that struggles often represent something more profound. I watched Rudolph every Christmas, and the Island of Misfit Toys always broke my heart because I knew those creatures were just as valuable as the other toys. And I loved The Wizard of Oz because Dorothy found her tribe with the outcasts—the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion.
That became the inspiration for what I've just written.
The Island of Misfit Leaders is my modern pilgrim's journey for leaders who've been told they don't belong.
In teaching and coaching leaders over the years, I kept seeing the same pattern: phenomenal leaders pushed out, sidelined, or forced to shrink themselves to "fit in." Leaders told they were too direct, too passionate, too intense. Leaders pushed out for the very qualities that healthy cultures should have been developing and nurturing.
This book is about eight leaders—Unity, Truth, Logic, Passion, Industry, Candor, Merit, and Conscience—who get cast out and wash up on a desolate island, convinced they're misfits. But here's what they discover: They weren't misfits. They were mis-fitted. Wrong organization. Wrong culture. Wrong values alignment.
Will these leaders find their way off the island? Or are they forever carrying their misfit label?
I've been through this too—pushed out, written up, told I didn't fit. And I hope that, by reading this book, you can find peace, healing, self-reflection, and awareness of exactly which type of culture you'll fit into and flourish in. The book includes a Values Congruence Assessment to help you figure out where you actually fit.
The first 50 copies are signed. I'm personally autographing them this week so they get to you in time for Christmas gifts!
Or grab one from our website: www.tremendousleadership.com
If you know a leader who needs to hear this, someone who's been called "difficult," "not a team player," or "too much," forward this to them. They need to know they're not alone.
Thanks for being part of this community. You belong here.
Always remember: fitting and flourishing are two very different things.
Tracey (aka Weirdo Magnet)
