This fiction story is about a Leadership Consultant named Steve and an unexpected stranger giving him leadership advice. Steve was at the beach one day when he met a stereotypical surfer named Edg. Steve did not expect to learn anything from this surfer, but Edg started to talk about the acronym LEAP. Over the course of several days, Edg taught Steve the acronym LEAP (Love, Energy, Audacity, and Proof), and the meaning behind each word.
https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Leap-Personal-Extreme-Leadership/dp/0989300218
Although this book is primarily about the LEAP mindset, the story includes themes of identity. Steve loves his job as a Leadership Consultant, but he has been losing his passion and motivation for it over time. Edg is the opposite of Steve because he is content and sure with his life choices.
From the beginning of the story, the audience knows that Steve is losing his identity. Edg is the first one to start talking to Steve, and Edg starts to talk about the LEAP mindset. Steve becomes interested in what this “beach bum” surfer has to say about leadership. As Edg is teaching Steve about LEAP, Steve starts to realize that Edg has a solid identity of himself. Each day they talk, Steve sees more and more of how confident Edg is in himself, despite looking like someone who does not have their life together.
Not only does Steve recognize Edg and his strong identity, but he also regains his own identity and strengthens it. Through Edg and the leadership mindset he is teaching, Steve begins to find motivation and passion for his job again. Steve is not only implementing the mindset that Edg taught him, but he his excited and motivated to help and teach others to take the radical LEAP.
Through this story of mindset and unlikely friends, the author is showing the audience how people can realize or strengthen their own identity by building relationships with people, helping people, and creating a more positive way to think.