If you’re a Hollis Hater, just skip this one. I am not here for the drama.
Dave Hollis is back with his second book, Built Through Courage, which is a nautical-themed map of some challenges he’s faced and how he’s worked through them. This includes touching on his decision to leave a successful career with Disney for a start-up and his divorce from Rachel Hollis. Dave breaks down moments in his life and how he handled them then and how he’s grown since them, for better or worse. Built Through Courage also includes a variety of journal prompts and questions to help the reader face their own fear and be courageous.
There’s a lot of criticism about this book, and among the complaints is that Dave is too close to his divorce to be writing about it. Yes, it’s only been a year-ish since their split, but this isn’t a how-to guide to getting over a spouse, so sit down. It’s Dave sharing a sliver of what he felt and how he processed it, both in healthy and un-healthy ways. Moving forward is better than wallowing and being stuck, so let the man enjoy his life. It’s not yours people!
A couple other reasons for the hate go hand in hand: it’s “self-help 101” and “he isn’t qualified to give advice”. I think it’s funny criticism because the self-help basics are things everyone says to each other when someone is going through a hard time. Since when do we need to be qualified to remind people we care about to take care of themselves? It doesn’t take a personal trainer to say moving your body is good for you, or a licensed therapist to recommend journaling. Dave is sharing what worked for him, not gospel, so, again I say sit down.
I got the opportunity to talk to Dave about his new book for my day job, and couldn’t help slipping in a question about the criticism before the book even released. He handled it better than I expected, if I’m honest.
He said to me, “I actually start the book with this recognition that I myself am very much a work in progress. I am going to tell the stories of my experience, and if there is something that in the stories of my experience affords you a breakthrough, fantastic. My work here is done. And if, for whatever reason you don’t end up relating to my experiences or follow the things that I’m ultimately throwing out or think them to be relevant for your life, that’s okay, too. That just means that the book wasn’t written for you. But I think, if you as a creator worry about whether or not you’re going to create something that 100% of people are going to love up front, you’ll never make anything, because there are just inevitably groups of people that will, every single time, have something to say about what you’re doing that isn’t going to make you feel fantastic. But there are a lot of people that this book is going to be for. So, rather than listening to the smaller number of people who want to, frankly, be vocal to try and keep someone from feeling great about what they’ve created, I’m going to just focus my attention on the people that the book was intended for and know that that is me attempting to honor the intention of my creation. I was put here to do this work, and I feel great about the work itself.”
I enjoyed this one a lot more than I did Dave’s first book, Get Out Of Your Own Way. Built Through Courage is a bit more relatable at this particular point in our world because Dave shares about his career pivoting in a time when a lot of people are switching careers amid a pandemic. I am planning to get this one for some people in my life who are going through similar situations, because they might glean some nugget from the pages that could help them move forward in their own lives, and I think that’s worth it. If that’s not you, just move on. You don’t have to rain on everyone else’s parade.
Remember the John Shedd quote Dave has tattooed on his arm: “A ship in harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.”
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