Drew Christensen brings years of firsthand experience inside large organizations to his writing. An entrepreneur and corporate leader, Christensen has spent much of his career observing how confidence, credentials, and presentation frequently outperform competence within modern institutions. His work blends satire with clear-eyed analysis, highlighting the often unspoken contradictions that define professional life.
Christensen’s writing is influenced by the philosophy of “giving rise to mind while abiding nowhere,” favoring independent thought and practical judgment over rigid frameworks and credential-driven authority. He lives in the United States with his wife and a household that includes three dogs, two cats, two in-laws, one dog-in-law, four cats-in-law, and three additional “animals” who insist on being classified as children.
Author Q&A
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is M.B.A.: Discover the Truth About Leadership.
The title is… a slightly cleaned-up version. Let’s just say the original didn’t make it past the marketing filters.
It was inspired by a simple observation:
A lot of people are getting promoted for sounding smart instead of actually being effective.
I’ve spent years in engineering, business, and leadership environments, and the same pattern kept showing up—organizations reward confidence, credentials, and polished language more
than real competence.
This book is what happens when you stop pretending that’s normal.
How did you come up with the title?
The published title is M.B.A.… but that’s not the full story.
The original version says the quiet part out loud—it just doesn’t pass certain “sensitivity filters.”
Every professional has sat in a meeting where someone talks for five minutes and says absolutely nothing—but somehow sounds impressive doing it.
That’s a skill.
The real title just names it more accurately.
Is there a message in your book that you want readers to grasp?
Yes:
Most people aren’t stuck because they lack knowledge. They’re stuck because they avoid responsibility.
The world is full of information. That’s not the bottleneck.
Execution, ownership, and clear thinking are.
The uncomfortable truth is—you already know what you should be doing.
You’re just not doing it.
How much of the book is realistic?
All of it.
The satire just makes it easier to digest.
Every concept—fake leadership, performative hard work, meetings that go nowhere, people avoiding decisions—is pulled directly from real-world patterns.
If anything, the book is less extreme than reality.
What was the hardest part of writing your book?
Resisting the urge to soften it.
It’s very easy to write something polite and forgettable.
It’s much harder to write something honest that makes people uncomfortable—but also makes them think.
I chose uncomfortable.
What authors or ideas have influenced you?
I’m influenced by people who prioritize truth over popularity.
Not necessarily “business authors,” but thinkers who simplify complexity and aren’t afraid to challenge widely accepted ideas.
Most advice today is designed to be liked.
The best advice is designed to be useful.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Stop trying to sound smart.
Write something true.
If people don’t feel anything when they read your work—no disagreement, no recognition, no reaction—it won’t matter how well it’s written.
Also:
Most people don’t fail because they can’t write.
They fail because they don’t finish.
What does being a successful author look like to you?
If someone reads the book and thinks,
“Damn… I’ve been doing that,”
and then changes something—that’s success.
Not vanity metrics. Not rankings.
Impact.
Do you have anything specific you want to say to your readers?
Yeah—
Stop waiting.
You don’t need another book, another course, or another plan.
You need to act on what you already know.
Nothing changes until you do.
M.B.A.: Discover the Truth About Leadership is available for purchase on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/M-B-Discover-truth-about-leadership-ebook/dp/B0GC8HFDPQ/