Bloods, Crips, and Starship: How I Learned to Lead Self in a Black and White Country (Unabridged‪)‬

Suspended between gang boundaries drawn with red and blue rags, young Norman Anthony Coulter Jr. navigated Inglewood and South Central Los Angeles like a Viking unsure of what lay west. Always slow to “throw” punches in the face of provocation, he later found that the world at large was not any different from the ‘hood. People seek safety by assimilating into tribes. But our true selves allow us to align our behaviors with our core beliefs whereas false versions of ourselves take on the identity of the tribe. From racism to threats to public health to blind political loyalty, we cannot resist the temptation to join a “gang” without self-leadership.

In this leadership memoir, Norman illustrates how not being “Black” enough, Christian enough, aggressive enough, or American enough in the eyes of others taught him to concentrate on leading himself. When you don’t belong, most of us at least want to be admired, which can become an obsession. Based on his research in self-leadership theory, Norman depicts how life quickly and unpredictably confronts us all with opportunities to shape our personal and professional environments by leading ourselves first before seeking followers.