{"product_id":"the-path-of-rocks-and-thorns-leadership-lessons-from-a-prison-cell-9798889264712","title":"The Path of Rocks and Thorns: Leadership Lessons from a Prison Cell","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNot all leaders rise. Some are forged in fire.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDoug Smith was a social worker, a policy insider at the Texas Capitol, and a father-until untreated mental illness and addiction led him to rob a bank and land in prison for nearly six years. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Path of Rocks and Thorns isn't a redemption story dressed up for TED. It's a descent. A reckoning. And, ultimately, a resurrection.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStructured like Dante's Inferno, this unflinching memoir follows Smith's journey through the darkest corners of his past-childhood trauma, shame, self-sabotage-and into the brutal clarity of prison. But within the chaos, he found something most leadership books never fully embrace: truth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is not a \"five steps to better leadership\" book. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt's a call to strip away the lies we tell ourselves and lead from a place of radical honesty, humility, and earned wisdom. Smith shares what he learned teaching sexual assault prevention inside prison walls, what it means to rebuild a life from nothing, and how leadership isn't about status-it's about service, integrity, and the ability to rise from your own wreckage.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor those stuck in cycles of failure, fighting to recover, or questioning their worth-this book doesn't offer comfort. It offers something better: permission to lead anyway.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Path of Rocks and Thorns is a raw and necessary read for anyone tired of corporate platitudes and hungry for something real. The truth is ugly. So is growth. But that's where real leadership begins.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Manuscripts LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51966999494930,"sku":"9798889264712","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_31deac10-c2fa-4873-95f6-26d2e455f360.jpg?v=1768919041","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-path-of-rocks-and-thorns-leadership-lessons-from-a-prison-cell-9798889264712","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}