THE BOOK
The hardest thing you will ever do is not an ultramarathon or a boardroom standoff. It is the decision to stop performing and start living.
Buy on Amazon →Lee Arthur
Building Your Inner Citadel
Root Astro Publishing
PRAISE FOR HARD
“This book put language to something I lived through but never had words for. When I stepped back from day-to-day leadership into succession planning, I had to become what I now think of as the silverback, protecting the business from people driven by ego and greed, and finding the next generation to actually run it. Taking the exit and letting someone else deal with it would have been easier. I wish I'd had this book six years ago.”
Richard Kinnersley
Chair
“The author makes a compelling biological case that nature isn't a luxury - it's the environment our hardware was actually built for. In an AI-first world, where the pace of change is relentless and a different kind of grit and resilience needs to be built as a deliberate muscle, that argument feels urgent rather than optional. Going back to our roots isn't escape. It's rescue.”
Sonia Omar
GTM Director
“I work in tech. The pace doesn't let up, and I've felt my resilience threshold dropping in ways I haven't been able to name. I've also felt a stronger pull back toward nature without quite knowing why. This book gave me the language for both. It's grounded, honest, and doesn't try too hard.”
Tamara Karsten
Chief of Staff
“What struck me most is the idea that hardship, chosen deliberately, doesn't degrade the system, it upgrades it. That's such a different way to think about difficulty. It's also what separates a Quest from a Grind: hardship with a purpose and a finish line builds you, while unstructured, endless pressure just depletes you. … I've since booked my own Quest: four days at a remote hut with no electricity and no distractions, just water and time, timed for my 55th birthday next year.”
Luca Rossi
CFO
“This book made me sign up for the London Marathon, something I hadn't let myself consider in years. I have arthritis, three kids, and a job that eats every hour I have, and it would have been easy to keep finding reasons to wait. What stuck with me wasn't the running - it was the shift from someone who talks about consistency to someone who actually trains for it. I want my kids to see that.”
Laura Keith
CEO
“This book found me right as I was becoming too comfortable - cutting corners in training, at work, in life. It gave me the language for what I already sensed: that ease is not the same as progress. As a CEO, it changed how I show up: phone away in meetings, higher standards without shortcuts, real presence instead of performance. I bought copies for my entire leadership team.”
Pedram Tadayon
CEO
“This is the kind of book you finish quickly but keep thinking about long after. It's built on a mix of real experience and research, which gives it a grounded, honest quality that a lot of leadership books miss. It doesn't feel like someone handing you a framework — it feels like someone who's lived it and done the work to back it up.”
Veita Singh
Marketing Director
CHAPTERS
Hard is being serialized through the Root Astro Journal. Each chapter stands alone. Together, they build the case for a different kind of leadership — one that starts with stopping.
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THE FIELDSTONE LETTER
Subscribe to The Fieldstone Letter and receive each new chapter of Hard as it’s published, along with field notes, reflections, and invitations to upcoming retreats.
Subscribe to The Fieldstone LetterWHERE THE PROCEEDS GO
All proceeds from Hard: Building Your Inner Citadel go to two children’s charities, chosen on a single principle: catch them early, or catch them later, but do not give up.
BabyZone, founded by our partners at Blenheim Chalcot, intervenes at the earliest stage on the belief that the first years of a child’s life have the greatest effect on the rest of it. New Yorkers for Children picks up where early intervention couldn’t, supporting young people aging out of the welfare system into adulthood, the moment most institutions stop caring and the consequences begin.
Early or late, the question stays the same: will an adult show up. These two organizations are our answer.
COLOPHON
FROM PAGE TO PLACE
Hard asks the questions. Root Astro retreats are where you live the answers. Seven acres in upstate New York. Device-free. Nature-immersive. Built on the Astrolabe Methodology. Three experiences, from deep solitude to demanding team expeditions.
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