Over my career, I have learned from a wide range of leaders and mentors—some exceptional, some ineffective, and many in between. I’ve had the privilege of leading teams of every size, from small, nimble groups to large organizations carrying significant responsibility. Through it all, I stayed focused on what leadership should be—done the right way.
This book reflects what I learned by doing. It was shaped in start-ups and large, complex organizations, but its roots go back much further.
The most important leadership lessons I learned didn’t come from classrooms, frameworks, or business books. They came earlier—on a farm, in hard seasons, and through people who never thought of themselves as leaders at all.
I didn’t grow up hearing words like leadership model or strategic operating plan. I grew up hearing, “Get up—let’s go. We’ve got a lot to do today,” and learning that responsibility doesn’t wait for perfect conditions.
I learned early that hard work matters, and character matters more. And when life gets hard—and it will—the choice to stay calm, lean in, and do the right thing is what separates people who lead from people who don’t.
Leadership has been made too complicated.
There is no shortage of books, speakers, articles, seminars, podcasts, and experts ready to tell you how to become a better leader. Most come with frameworks, models, assessments, and polished language. Some of that can be helpful. But much of it leaves people with the same problem they started with: when leadership gets hard, they still are not sure what to actually do.
A friend once said to me, “It is easy to take the complex and make it more complex, but you have an amazing ability to take the complex and make it simple.” I’ve never forgotten that, because it captures exactly what I’ve tried to do in this book.
Leadership matters. Leadership can be difficult. But leadership does not have to be confusing.
The title of this book, Clean Dirt, means something to me. I grew up understanding that some of the most important work in life does not happen in polished places. It happens in the dirt—where the work is real, where effort matters, and where results matter.
Dirt is not glamorous, but there is something honest about it. Something grounding. Something that reminds you that real work still counts.
And when that work is done the right way—with effort, pride, humility, and responsibility—that is what I think of as clean dirt.
That idea carries over into leadership.
Good leadership is not about appearances. It is not about sounding important or having the most complicated system in the room. It is about substance. It is about doing the real work of leadership well. It is about staying close enough to the work, the people, and the truth that your leadership is grounded in reality—not buried in theory.
This is not a book of theory.
It is a set of lessons shaped by real experiences—starting before daybreak, doing real work, owning outcomes, building teams, developing others, and leaving things better than you found them. Some lessons came from success. Many came from failure. All were learned the hard way—by doing it.
If there is one idea that runs through this book, it is this:
Leadership is humble stewardship. You don’t own the role—you borrow it. What matters most is what you pass on when your time is done.
This book is for students building a foundation, for young professionals stepping into responsibility before they feel ready, for managers and executives trying to lead more effectively, and for experienced leaders who want practical reminders of what actually works.
If you feel pressure to have the answers, this book is for you.
If you are trying to build trust, create accountability, develop people, or create momentum on a team, this book is for you.
If you are dealing with pressure, uncertainty, or tough decisions, this book is for you.
The problem usually isn’t effort. Most people are trying hard. They are reading, learning, and searching for answers. But too often, they are chasing complexity when what they really need is clarity and action.
That is what this book is meant to provide.
It is built around a simple idea: if you get a few critical things right, many leadership problems begin to shrink. Not all of them—leadership will never be easy all the time—but many become far more manageable when you understand what matters and act on it consistently.
Good leadership is not about mastering a complicated system. More often, it is about doing a few important things well, over and over again:
- Staying calm when others are not
- Communicating clearly
- Taking ownership
- Setting standards
- Building trust
- Developing people
- Creating momentum
- Facing reality honestly
Those things sound simple. They are simple. But they are not small.
Simple does not mean easy. It means clear. It means practical. It means you can put it to work right away.
Too many leadership books leave people with ideas they can’t use. My goal is the opposite—to give you something you can act on immediately.
At its core, this book is built around ten lessons:
- Start before you feel ready
- Respect the work and stay close to reality
- Stay calm under pressure
- Take ownership and build accountability
- Build culture every day
- Create momentum through action
- Communicate with clarity and honesty
- Develop others intentionally
- Be willing to learn and adapt
- Lead in a way that leaves something worth passing on
Each lesson is designed to be practical—something you can apply immediately.
I still introduce myself the same way today:
I’m a proud farmer’s son from North Carolina—from a little town called Lillington, almost smack in the middle between Raleigh and Fayetteville. A place where faith, character, family, community, hard work, and doing the right thing were taught and lived every day.
Everything I believe about leadership traces back to that.
No oversized frameworks. No unnecessary complexity. Just clear, grounded actions that help you become a real leader.
Because in the end, leadership is not proven by what you say. It is proven by what you do.
That is what Clean Dirt is about.
And my hope for you is simple: that you find a clearer path, a steadier hand, and a better way to lead.
