Eric Brown

Taylor Jones

“Agency” is a word often taken for granted. A byline we glance over in an email signature. A word often associated with ego, overwork, and exploitation.

But what does agency really mean? What does it mean for us as individuals, for our work, and for our families? Can we reframe the importance of agency in our hearts and imaginations?

Wrestling with these questions has been a cornerstone to our work for nearly fifteen years. Practicing agency requires balancing tensions of purpose, expertise, advocacy, and ambition. If you’re feeling burned out, ineffective, isolated, or even vain (a common trait in an influencer-driven society)—we’d suggest that your posture of agency may be out of alignment. We know that because we’ve been there, too. More times than we can count. And we finally found our way through.

That’s what this book is all about—finding your way through the tensions of working on behalf of others to a sense of personal fulfillment and flourishing.

In this book, Agency: The Antidote to a Culture Obsessed with Self, we call these tensions the Agency Axis. We demonstrate how the antidote to burnout, ineffectiveness, isolation, and vanity is to practice agency in our lives and work.

From young professionals to seasoned CEOs, from the self-employed to those working in major enterprises, the insights in Agency resonate broadly. We hope you’ll be inspired and empowered as Agency takes you on a journey of self-discovery and transformation.

This book is more than a career guide; it’s a roadmap to living a more balanced, fulfilling life.

If you’re trying to do work that has purpose, help others, be a great at what you do, and accomplish your own goals and dreams—we’d love to share this book with you.

The antidote to a culture obsessed with self

Free Agency

We all have moments we wish we could relive. We'd give anything to skid down the toboggan hills of our youth, to breathe in the smell of our children as babies, or to spend just one more minute with someone we've lost. Dear Photograph provides a way to link these memories from the past to the present, overlapping them to see how the daydreams of our memories collide with our current realities. The idea is simple: hold up a photograph from the past in front of the place where it was originally taken, take a second photograph, and add a sentence of dedication about what the photograph means to you. The results, however, are astounding, which is why millions have flocked to dearphotograph.com and thousands have submitted their own Dear Photographs. This stunning visual compilation includes more than 140 never-before-seen Dear Photographs, as well as a space for you to attach your own cherished photo. By turns nostalgic, charming, and poignant, Dear Photograph evokes childhood memories, laments difficult losses, and, above all, celebrates the universal nature of love.

Dear Photograph

Richard Lacey, former Pittsburgh Steeler turned detective, is contacted by Jeanette Green to resolve the shooting of her deceased, compulsive gambling husband, Syd. Lacey tells her to let sleeping dogs lie, but she insists on an investigation. What seems like a routine investigation turns into a sack of scorpions when both the Mafia and the State of New Jersey take interest. Lacey’s pregnant wife, Marilyn, is kidnapped, pitting Lacey against the mob. Lacey finds that Syd was involved in the construction of a new center in Atlantic City. He works with government authorities to untangle the involvement of the mob in Atlantic City construction. When a hit on Lacey by the mob fails, government agencies make a clandestine move on the mob. Later, Lacey discovers that the mob was not involved in the hit on Syd Green. He finds the solution much closer to home.

In No Way Guilty

When a young Jewish woman turns up missing; Detective Richard Lacey sets out to find her. He suspects her disappearance is linked to a dispute with Brenton Pottery her employer. But it does not explain the other people that are also missing. Lacey searches the old, abandoned Brenton factory on the Susquehanna River, and finds a kiln that he suspects was used to cremate bodies. Or was it? What he learns throws him into a sea of intrigue and danger.

Bone China

A Richard Lacey Detective Mystery

The Sugar Daddy Formula: a Sugar Baby's Ultimate Guide to Finding a Wealthy Sugar Daddy

We all have moments we wish we could relive. We’d give anything to skid down the toboggan hills of our youth, to breathe in the smell of our children as babies or to spend just one more minute with a loved one we’ve lost. Dear Photograph provides a way to link these memories from the past to the present. The idea is simple: hold a photograph from the past up in front of the place where it was originally taken; take a second photograph; add a sentence of dedication about what the photograph means to you. The results, however, are astounding, which is why millions have flocked to the site, and thousands have submitted their own Dear Photographs. This stunning visual compilation includes more than 140 never-before-seen Dear Photographs. By turns nostalgic, charming and poignant, Dear Photograph evokes childhood memories, laments difficult losses and, above all, celebrates the universal nature of love.

Taylor Jones

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