Lori McDowell

Authors

Lori Mazer is a strategist and leader whose work centers on helping individuals and organizations clarify their voice, sharpen their reputation, and expand their impact.

Before writing her book, Lori brought years of real-world experience to coaching and consulting, yet she — like many high-performing professionals — understood that having ideas isn’t the same as naming and claiming them publicly.

Her book wasn’t just a milestone to check off — it became a tool she still uses to rethink, refine, and reinvent her own thinking. It helped her not only strengthen her authority, but also deepen her confidence about the value she brings.

Modern Author Program

“ ”
“If you can write a book, you can pretty much do anything.”

—Lori McDowell

What Changed?

Writing the book forced Lori to confront the gap between what she knows and what she believes she deserves to say publicly.
The process moved her from tentative and self-editing (“I hope this measures up”) to a grounded authorial voice that carries her thinking forward with purpose.

Outcome signals:
• The book became a credibility engine in her professional ecosystem
• It supports her business growth and platform expansion
• It sharpened her internal clarity, not just external messaging

Goal

Build authority or thought leadership
Clarify and organize my ideas
Publish a legacy or mission-driven book
Use a book as a business asset

Constraints

First-time author
Needed structure and accountability
Wanted editorial guidance, not ghostwriting

Role

Founder / entrepreneur
Consultant / advisor

Dr. Ardeshir Mehran

Authors

Dr. Ardeshir Mehran is a psychiatrist and public thinker whose work sits at the intersection of mental health, identity, and personal agency. Trained to diagnose and treat, he increasingly felt constrained by systems that prioritize comfort over truth.

Rather than dilute his ideas for safety or scale, he chose clarity.

His book emerged not as a marketing asset, but as a declaration of values—an articulation of beliefs he was no longer willing to keep private.

Modern Author Program

“ ”
“I didn’t write this book to sell. I wrote it because not writing it felt like a betrayal.”

—Dr. Ardeshir Mehran

What Changed?

The writing process forced Ardeshir to confront a central tension:
Was the book meant to be accepted, or meant to be honest?

Through drafting, revision, and editorial pressure-testing, the book clarified his role—not just as a clinician, but as a voice willing to challenge prevailing narratives around mental health, identity, and responsibility.

The result wasn’t just a manuscript.
It was alignment.

Goal

Build authority or thought leadership
Clarify and organize my ideas
Publish a legacy or mission-driven book
Use a book as a business asset

Constraints

First-time author
Needed structure and accountability
Wanted editorial guidance, not ghostwriting

Role

Founder / entrepreneur
Consultant / advisor

→ Read the full case study

https://ardeshirmehran.com/

Bob Jones

Authors

Bob Jones is a veteran entrepreneur, executive, and innovation leader with decades of experience building consumer products, scaling businesses, and turning around underperforming public companies. His work spans early-stage ideation, customer discovery, product-market fit, and retail distribution, long before “Lean Startup” became a movement.

Deeply embedded in the MIT innovation ecosystem, Bob has spent years studying why most innovations fail, and what consistently separates the few that succeed.

This book was not written to inspire startups.
It was written to prevent avoidable failure.

Modern Author Program

“ ”
“A year ago, I didn’t have a book. Today, I have a book. The results speak for themselves.”

—Bob Jones

What Changed?

For Bob, writing The Start-Up Starter Kit wasn’t about personal branding or visibility. It was about distillation.

The process forced him to:
• Articulate patterns he had internalized over decades
• Separate signal from startup mythology
• Turn tacit knowledge into a practical, teachable framework

What emerged was not a memoir or manifesto, but a field guide, grounded in real-world decision-making, tradeoffs, and consequences.

Goal

Build authority or thought leadership
Clarify and organize my ideas
Use a book as a business asset

Constraints

First-time author
Needed structure and accountability

Role

Founder / entrepreneur
Consultant / advisor
Academic / educator

Watch Deep Dive

Henna Pryor

Authors

Henna Pryor is an award-winning author, keynote speaker, and executive coach who helps leaders navigate moments of social risk, visibility, and uncertainty.

As a professional speaker, Henna built her career standing in front of rooms full of people, yet privately experienced the same hesitation, self-doubt, and internal friction she now studies. Her work focuses on awkwardness not as a flaw to eliminate, but as a data-rich signal pointing to growth, identity, and belonging.

Her writing sits at the intersection of behavioral insight, leadership psychology, and lived experience, without collapsing into performance or platitudes.

Modern Author Program

“ ”
“I had the words, but I was frozen. I didn’t know if they were any good anymore, or even if this was still the book I wanted to write.”

—Henna Pryor

What Changed?

During the writing of Good Awkward, Henna encountered a stall familiar to many high performers: progress followed by interruption, then paralysis.

Rather than forcing productivity, she reframed the pause as diagnostic. With editorial guidance, she re-entered the work not to add more words, but to clarify what the book was truly about.

The result was not just a finished manuscript, but a sharper argument:
awkwardness isn’t something to fix, it’s something to interpret.

Goal

Build authority or thought leadership
Clarify and organize my ideas
Establish a category or methodology
Support a consulting or speaking business

Constraints

Limited time / full-time job
Needed structure and accountability
Balancing book with business or leadership role

Role

Consultant / advisor
Executive / C-suite

Michael Dumlao

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Authors

Michael Dumlao is an award-winning Vice President of Marketing & Communications with 15+ years of experience leading brand transformations across Fortune 500, federal, academic, and nonprofit organizations.

He has received top industry honors including the PRSA Silver Anvil and Gartner Brand Award.

Known for high-stakes messaging, crisis communications, and AI-enabled marketing modernization, Michael operates at the intersection of narrative, culture, and reputation.

His book began as a stylish, witty coffee-table concept. It evolved into something far more substantive: a platform for rare stories from perspectives that are rarely centered or celebrated.

Modern Author Program

“ ”
“It became something far more meaningful than what I originally intended.”

—Michael Dumlao

What Changed?

Michael originally pitched a playful, sassy coffee-table book. Chic illustrations. Clever lines. A single-point-of-view perspective.

It could have worked.

But through deep editorial collaboration, the project shifted.

Instead of being about his voice, it became about voices.

Instead of surface charm, it became substance.

He leaned into:
• Rare stories
• Rare perspectives
• Broader cultural resonance

The editors didn’t dilute his idea. They expanded it.

They helped him protect the integrity of underrepresented stories while shaping them in a way that made them universal and accessible.

That’s brand strategy applied to authorship.

Goal

Build authority or thought leadership
Establish a category or methodology
Publish a legacy or mission-driven book

Constraints

Limited time / full-time job
Wanted editorial guidance, not ghostwriting
Balancing book with business or leadership role

Role

Executive / C-suite

Jim Young

Authors

Former corporate leader turned executive coach who spent 25 years inside the systems that reward stoicism, status, and self-sacrifice. Despite professional success, Jim experienced severe burnout driven not by workload alone, but by the isolation and emotional suppression baked into traditional definitions of masculinity and leadership.

Rather than optimizing performance, he chose to dismantle the assumptions underneath it.

Modern Author Program

“ ”
“I thought burnout was about working too hard. What I discovered is that it was about being disconnected from myself and everyone else.”

—Jim Young

What Changed?

Writing the book forced Jim to confront the central tension in his work: the very behaviors that earn men respect in corporate culture often quietly erode their well-being and relationships.

Through the writing process, “expansive intimacy” emerged not as a personal philosophy, but as a named framework, one that connects burnout recovery, emotional literacy, and sustainable leadership.

Goal

Publish a legacy or mission-driven book

Constraints

Limited time / full-time job
First-time author
Not a confident writer
Wanted editorial guidance, not ghostwriting

Role

Memoir & Fiction Project

Watch Deep Dive

Jinny Uppal

Authors

Technology and business strategist with a 20+ year career leading transformation across Fortune 500 telecom, ecommerce, and retail organizations, most recently as Vice President of Strategy at a $12B North American retailer.

Her work has always lived at the intersection of strategy, execution, and results, which made her particularly sensitive to a pattern she kept seeing: leaders defaulting to action even when it wasn’t the smartest move.

Modern Author Program

“ ”
“My big discovery was realizing I could write and publish a book in a year. And if I could do it, anybody can.”

—Jinny Uppal

What Changed?

The book became a way to name and challenge a deeply ingrained bias toward constant action. Through interviews, reflection, and editorial pressure-testing, Jinny translated years of executive intuition into a clear argument for strategic inaction as a legitimate path to results.

What emerged wasn’t just a book, but a counterintuitive leadership lens that helps people achieve more with less stress, burnout, and wasted motion.

Goal

Build authority or thought leadership
Clarify and organize my ideas
Use a book as a business asset
Establish a category or methodology

Constraints

Limited time / full-time job
Not a confident writer
Needed structure and accountability
Wanted editorial guidance, not ghostwriting

Role

Executive / C-suite
Consultant / advisor

Watch Deep Dive

Captain John Savage

Authors

Commercial fisherman, charter captain, and safety professional whose life was permanently altered after surviving a catastrophic accident at sea in 1998. With decades of experience fishing the U.S. East Coast, the Bahamas, Mexico, and Bermuda, John’s life has always existed at the intersection of risk, responsibility, and faith.

His survival story has been featured multiple times on The 700 Club and adapted into a documentary, but the book became the most complete and personal telling of what happened, and why it mattered.

Modern Author Program

“ ”
“I didn’t write this book to relive the story. I wrote it because I knew it wasn’t just mine anymore.”

—Captain John Savage

What Changed?

For years, John carried the story internally, shared in fragments through interviews, sermons, and media appearances. Writing the book forced him to slow down and reconstruct the experience with clarity, honesty, and perspective.

What emerged wasn’t just a survival story, but a reflection on faith, resilience, and the thin line between life and loss.

Goal

Publish a legacy or mission-driven book

Constraints

Limited time / full-time job
First-time author
Not a confident writer
Wanted editorial guidance, not ghostwriting

Role

Memoir & Fiction Project

Watch Deep Dive

https://lostinthestreambook.com/

Stacey Kulongowski

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Authors

Stacey Kulongowski is a former Senior Sales Director at Google turned executive coach, keynote speaker, and founder of The BND Group.

After 25 years leading large-scale teams and driving global strategy, she saw too many talented professionals playing small.

Her book, Bring Your Big Energy, became a call to action for leaders ready to step into their power with authenticity and courage.

This wasn’t a memoir.
It was a movement.

Modern Author Program

“ ”
“I realized I wasn’t just writing a book. I was building a platform for how I want to lead and serve.”

— Stacey Kulongowski

What Changed?

Writing the book forced Stacey to do what she coaches others to do:

• Clarify her message
• Claim her voice
• Move from internal conviction to public leadership

The result?

• 300 pre-launch backers
• A bestselling launch
• A 10-city tour
• Corporate workshops nationwide

The book became proof of concept for the platform.

Goal

Build authority or thought leadership
Support a consulting or speaking business,
Establish a category or methodology
Use a book as a business asset

Constraints

Limited time / full-time job
Needed structure and accountability
Balancing book with business or leadership role

Role

Consultant / advisor
Founder / entrepreneur

Matt Poepsel

Authors

Matt Poepsel is a leadership scholar, executive practitioner, and former U.S. Marine Corps officer whose career spans military service, software product leadership, organizational psychology, and executive education. He holds a PhD in Psychology, an MBA, and has taught leadership and human flourishing at Boston College. Across boardrooms, classrooms, and combat units, he observed the same pattern: stress and complexity push people toward self-interest and fragmentation.

Modern Author Program

“ ”
“It was humbling to realize how many specialists it takes to create a great book — and how much better the work becomes because of it.”

—Matt Poepsel

What Changed?

Writing Expand the Circle forced Matt to consolidate decades of observation, research, and leadership practice into a single, coherent framework. What had lived across roles, industries, and conversations became The Commitment Cycle™, a system explaining how commitment functions as a form of human energy that counteracts organizational entropy.

The book didn’t just express ideas.
It crystallized a methodology leaders can apply.

Goal

Build authority or thought leadership
Establish a category or methodology
Use a book as a business asset

Constraints

Balancing book with business or leadership role
Wanted editorial guidance, not ghostwriting
Needed structure and accountability

Role

Executive / C-suite
Consultant / advisor
Academic / educator

Watch Deep Dive