About the Author: Brazenly False - Coach, CTO, Father

The Man Behind the Name

Brazenly False is a pen name, but the experience behind it is entirely genuine. The man behind Brazenly is a father of two teen boys now attending university, a former software developer, and a Chief Technology Officer.

His authority isn't born in a clinical setting, but on the basketball court. He has spent over forty years in competitive team sports—as a captain, MVP, and All-Star. As a long-time coach for competitive boys' teams, he mastered the ins-and-outs of communicating with young men when they are tired, frustrated, and under pressure.

Brazenly played high school varsity basketball, collegiate basketball at University of Toronto, Scarborough, and on countless teams since. He is an Ontario Basketball Association certified coach and taken many teams to the annual Provincial tournaments. Coaching is a rewarding, if humbling, experience.

Brazenly's coaching ethos is stoic in nature: work hard to control the things that are in your control and learn to ignore the things that aren't. If you do the right things long enough, the numbers say you will get there. Practice your three point shot for an hour a day for six months and it will get better. Shoot the right shots in games, but you're still missing? Keep practicing, keep shooting the right shots, and eventually they will start to go in. The coach's role is to keep kids on the right path; to give them the physical and mental drills and encouragement to keep working. The reality of sport is, in the end it falls to the athlete. Either they are able to take on board the advice given and do the work, or they aren't. Most cannot. A coach's real reward is seeing improvement in those who take the path you've given them.

Grit Over Lectures

Educated at the University of Toronto in History and Political Science, the author's background isn't medical—it's analytical. He was compelled to study the "men behind history," reading a firehose of deep thought from humanity's greatest thinkers.

He realized that most parents talk too much. They lecture and pontificate. But when biology and culture conspire against a teenage boy, you cannot yell him into confidence. You cannot roll your eyes into wisdom.

"The most success comes from recognizing that they are changing and accepting that your old tricks don't work like they used to."

Why Quotes Work

As a coach, Brazenly learned that his own grand speeches rarely resonated. What stuck were the adages of "better men"—from Martin Luther King Jr. to Wayne Gretzky. Kids were more interested in Kobe Bryant's practice habits than a father's advice.

This book is the tool he wished he had: a way to float smart ideas to teens without the friction of a lecture. It allows parents to step back and let the world's greatest minds deliver the kick in the pants their sons need.