The book below was a game-changer for me:

It’s shelved in the business section at the library. I recommend buying a copy and marking it up. Though I have a photographic memory so remembered the key integral points the author talked about.

Be More Pirate is the guide for taking on the world and winning. There’s no other book like it.

At the end of the book, I created my own Pirate’s Code using three of the author’s articles first and four of my own at the end. Each article contains one or two sentences that reinforce the ethic of that article.

My Pirate’s Code has these 7 Articles:

1. Take Happiness Seriously.
2. Embrace Diversity to Raise Your Game.
3. Make the Citizen Shift.
4. Celebrate Individuality.
5. Commit to Truth-Telling.
6. Use Storytelling to Create Empathy.
7. Break Bread Together.

Toward the end of Be More Pirate the author told the story of a Black musician circa 1982 who started to have dinner with Klansmen. The three men gave the musician their white robes. Interacting with the Black man they realized the folly of their hate and no longer wanted to be a part of the Klan.

Whether predictably or not the NAACP castigated the Black musician for breaking bread with the enemy.

The fact is not all of us will have 1Million Instagram followers willing to do our bidding and buy the products we’re selling or the propaganda we’re peddling.

One person who is able to change the lives of only 1,000 individuals or 100 or even only 10 is making a veritable difference in the scheme of things.

I will end here with the 5 rules of How to Be More Pirate to encourage you to buy the book:

Pirates draw strength from standing up to the status quo.

Pirates bend, break, and ultimately rewrite the rules.

Pirates collaborate to achieve scale rather than growth.

Pirates fight for fairness and make enemies of exploitation.

Pirates weaponize stories then tell the hell out of them.