Self-help sections of bookstores seem to have evolved from the generalizations of I’m OK—You’re OK (1967) to the specific—think of all that moving cheese and those multicolored parachutes. People seek answers and affirmations tailor-made to what they can grasp. Latest to throw his hat into the genre: Drake Taylor, an active captain in the U.S. Air Force who calls Mason, Ohio, home base. His debut book is entitled The Four Hats of Leadership: Be Who Your People Need You to Be.
“I really believe that it can apply to everyone,” says Taylor. “For those just starting out in a leadership position or being placed in a role that encompasses a large team, I feel this book is geared toward them. People who are leading a business and want a blueprint on how to create a successful environment…high school students, business majors in college, or the everyday entrepreneur.”
In the guide, which Kirkus calls “invaluably insightful,” Taylor breaks down essential behavior applicable to any squad, group effort, or individual discipline. There is not only the expected “Drill Instructor Hat,” but also a “Farmer’s Hat,” a “Psychologist Hat” and even a career-agnostic “Self-Care Hat.” The self-care hat is “probably the most important, yet most overlooked of the four hats,” says Taylor. “I admit that even I have forgotten to use this hat from time to time.”
No hat is an island. When and whether to doff the tough, unsentimental drill-instructor’s helmet and when to put on the more empathetic chapeau of a counselor or psychologist (“especially guiding them through difficult times and helping them seek the assistance they need”) is a primary topic. The choices of leadership styles are related in clear, no-nonsense language. Also included are a reader questionnaire and motivational quotes from a wide array of sources, like Gen. Omar Bradley and Anne Lamott.
Taylor developed the basis of the Four Hats of Leadership in college during his final year of the ROTC program at the University of Cincinnati, where he earned his Air Force commission while majoring in criminal justice and minoring in military science. “I had to give a lecture on what leadership was, and at the time, I called it ‘The Three Personalities Every Leader Must Have.’ I believe the video is still out there on YouTube somewhere.”
Writing purpose-driven instructional books runs in the family. The captain’s father, Purcell Taylor Jr., a doctor, wrote a book about his methodology for battling addiction, Diagnosis and Treatment of Substance-Related Disorders: The D.E.C.L.A.R.E. Model.
When it came to self-help, Taylor said, “It was always a goal of mine to write one as well. I just always assumed it would be fiction, not nonfiction. Yet I felt I had great information to pass on.” He gave himself a year to complete the book but had to meet a real-life call of duty when the U.S. forces deployed to fight the Islamic State in Africa. Three years passed before The Four Hats of Leadership passed inspection.
In fact, the hats initially numbered fewer: “I originally sent it to my editor, and he liked The Three Hats of Leadership. However, while I was deployed, I was in Niger 2017…I was run ragged as the DFC—Defense Force Commander.” Taylor remembered a superior officer who influenced his thinking, Master Sgt. Seabrooks. “She taught me a lot about taking time for me, which I didn’t realize [I needed]….It wasn’t until I came home after the deployment and began to analyze everything that I realized it was imperative that I add self-care to my book.”
Taylor’s observations of both good and bad decision-making and authority in the armed forces inform his guide. But that should not intimidate a civilian readership, he says. “It’s funny because I use this same approach to being a father. I use all four hats on my daughter—and it seems to work….When I take control of a team, I do consider them family and try to get to know them.”
Earlier genre classics on leadership and success—particularly Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich (1937) and David J. Schwartz’s The Magic of Thinking Big (1965)—arose from an earlier paradigm when successful male Anglo business tycoons were ideals of personal excellence. And Taylor says he has read those titles and does sometimes recommend their contents. But today’s self-improvement seekers are as likely to find military personnel getting published as life coaches.
As a black American who has risen in the modern military—a high calling that consistently requires well-honed team efforts under the greatest duress and instability—Taylor understands why readers might choose COs over CEOs. “Military doesn’t have time to worry about petty things...I do not think that the business sector ever really recovered after Enron—and then the financial crisis of 2007-2009. People are more distrusting of people of business. So they turn to a profession they feel is noble and honorable.”
Capt. Taylor’s next literary deployment? “My next book I’m working on is called The Whitest Black Guy I Know: Search for Identity,” he says. “The book’s focus is, how do we define our identity, and I use some examples from my life to tie into the book. What is the basis of our identity? Is it only race, religion, gender, class, country, or just beliefs? For humans we have some very large challenges facing the world at large in the next years and decades to come.”
Charles Cassady Jr. writes about books, popular culture, folklore, and true crime.
