Over the course of my life, I’ve had the incredible privilege of sitting at the feet of world-class teachers. When you spend time with someone who is truly a master of their subject, and they know how to teach and communicate it, you walk away a little bit taller because you’ve been in the presence of greatness.

That’s how I feel every time I get to talk with John David Mann—a master author and storyteller. John is the award-winning coauthor of over 30 books, including 9 New York Times and national bestsellers. His classic, The Go-Giver (written with Bob Burg), won the Living Now Book Award’s Evergreen Medal for its “contribution to positive global change.”

John’s first novel, Steel Fear (written with Brandon Webb) was named one of the “best books of 2021” by Publishers Weekly. His new novel, Blind Fear, comes out next month, and his latest leadership parable, The Vagrant (written with Dan Rockwell), comes out in September. John also leads a training and coaching program called Writing Mastery Mentorship.

You can find out more about John by visiting https://johndavidmann.com, as well as his series with Brandon Webb by visiting https://webbandmann.com.

One more thing before we get to the interview: I am thrilled to be part of an author event for John at the Daniel Boone Branch of the St. Louis County Library on Wednesday, August 9 at 8pm, in partnership with Left Bank books. This is part of John’s national book tour for Bind Fear. If you’re in the St. Louis area, I invite you to come meet us in person and help support John’s new book.

In today’s conversation, recorded a few weeks ago, John talks about a variety of topics related to storytelling, including his process for co-writing with different authors, how he handles transitions and chapter breaks in fiction, how he approaches thrillers and parables differently, and much more.