From Intensity to Authenticity: Tyler Dickerhoof’s Journey on Facing What You Hide
The Story
Tyler Dickerhoof has spent more than two decades helping leaders perform at their best, generating over $700 million in business sales, mentoring executives through his Impact Driven Leader community, and hosting a podcast that draws authors and thinkers from across the country. He’s a Cornell graduate, a sought-after keynote speaker, and someone John Maxwell trusted enough to write the foreword for his debut book.
But there is even more to his story.
When Tyler was 14 years old, he carried a loss for the next 30 years without fully realizing it. The Things We Hide, his leading-with-authenticity book released through Streamline Books, is the result of finally facing it.
“To give my brother’s life purpose,” he said, when asked what made him write it. “That’s ultimately the journey. That’s what it is.”
The Start
Tyler lost his brother when he was 14. The grief he felt went underground and looked differently to an outside eye. It showed up as intensity, a furrowed brow walking into rooms, a relentless drive that pushed him forward in business and, for a long time, pushed people away.
“I would walk into rooms, and I would carry an energy,” he said. “And often it wasn’t for the good.”
He became, by his own admission, the kind of person who made rooms feel tense rather than energized. Not out of arrogance, but out of armor. And he didn’t know it. That’s the part that took years to see.
The Things We Hide isn’t a grief memoir. It’s a leadership guide rooted in what Tyler learned when he stopped hiding the thing that was shaping everything. The book explores four ways insecurity silently controls how people show up: intensity, isolation, inactivity, and insensitivity all the while offering a practical path out.
His framework is grounded in a belief he holds firmly: you can’t overcome your fears and insecurities. You can only learn to recognize them, see when they’re driving you, and choose differently in those moments. That’s not a small distinction.
“I have three kids,” he said. “And I knew what it would take for me to do this. God said, ‘No, no, no, you’re not in a hurry.’ And then now’s the time.”
The Curiosity
For Tyler, there wasn’t a years-long paralysis, no decade of a manuscript sitting in a drawer. When the spark finally became clear, Tyler didn’t hesitate to honor his brother and serve others who carry similar weight.
“There were no real barriers,” he said, “because it came back to my brother’s life.”
What Tyler did sit with, for a long time, was the question of what success even means. He always grew up defining his worth through achievement. However, through John Maxwell’s mentorship and a decade of daily reading in Proverbs, he started asking different questions.
A quote that helped him reframe this thinking came from Maxwell on success: “Those who know and love you, your family, respect you most.”
With that, the book became possible. Once the why wasn’t about proving anything, writing it was almost inevitable.
The Effort
In conversation after conversation, across years of leadership coaching and community building, Tyler says he has never once heard someone name a fear that wasn’t some version of the same thing: Do I have value? Am I enough?
He traces back to a line in Proverbs, “Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man.” A man questioning his worth, written down millennia ago. “As long as humans have existed,” Tyler says, “we have asked that question.”
The early response to The Things We Hide has reflected that. Readers reaching out. Leaders recognizing themselves on the page. People finally have a language for something they’ve been carrying without being able to name it.
The Solution
The ultimate seal for choosing StreamLine Books through ShareYourStory.com was something Tyler recognized immediately: Alex Demczak (CEO), Will Severns (CRO), and Aaron Alba (DOS) actually believed in the book. Not in a performative way, but in the way that mattered to Tyler, someone who has spent years studying what authentic investment looks like versus what it’s mimicking.
“Why did I choose ShareYourStory? Because Alex, Will, and Aaron believed in it. If you guys believe in it, then it’s not me constantly trying to prove myself,” Tyler said.
He’d talked to friends who’d gone through traditional publishers, other hybrid publishing companies, and different routes entirely. The pattern he kept hearing was the same: are the people you’re working with invested in you, or are they invested in the transaction?
“When people are invested, they will go with you,” he said. “When they’re looking for a payday, it’s, if we get paid, great. And the difference between having partners that are invested with them or not is amazing.”
The Journey
The process confirmed what Tyler had hoped. Working with Jamie Smith, his publishing manager, and the broader Streamline Books team, he found the experience matched the first impression: supportive, encouraging, and genuinely collaborative.
He’s honest that there were things he’d do differently as a first-time author, some that fall on him, some that were simply the learning curve of not knowing what to expect. That transparency feels right for someone writing a book about authenticity.
He’s already planning the second book and has the third in mind. “As soon as this release is done, I’m starting on number two,” he said. “I already have it. And three, it’s there.”
What’s Next for Tyler Dickerhoof?
Tyler lives with his wife and their three kids. The season of early mornings at practice and driving to every game is winding down, and in its place is something he’s been building toward for a while: the full expression of what impact-driven leadership looks like in book form, on stage, and inside the communities he hosts.
He’ll continue coaching leaders and speaking because he finds meaning in helping others succeed. That’s the lesson the book taught, or maybe confirmed. The leaders who get asked back into rooms are the ones who walk in to serve. The ones who walk in to prove something, protect something, or hide something find those rooms closing.
For anyone who has ever powered through a hard season with their head down and wondered why the people around them kept their distance, The Things We Hide is Tyler Dickerhoof’s leading with authenticity book, and it starts where most leadership books won’t: with what’s actually driving you.
Find the book and resources at thethingswehidebook.com, and learn more about Tyler at tylerdickerhoof.com. Listen to the podcast on Apple and Spotify.
