When Martha Lawrence, my in-house executive editor and good friend for more than twenty years, told me a few years ago that she was working on my biography, I wasn’t sure what to think. I knew Martha was a fabulous editor as well as an accomplished author, but a biography? Me? I had never even considered that possibility. After all, it’s pretty unusual to have a biography written about you when you’re still alive! But Martha and my wife, Margie, soon convinced me that not only might this book be something interesting for people to read, but I might be able to put in my two cents’ worth here and there. With Martha at the helm, I could tell this would be a fun project!
The biography, titled Catch People Doing Things Right, is full of tales I’ve told (and many I haven’t), with Martha skillfully filling in the details: good friends, good times, and life lessons at Cornell; random events that brought Margie into my world; amazing coincidences that changed the course of my academic and business career (including Spencer Johnson and me finding each other and creating The One Minute Manager); and lots more. To pull together the story of my life, Martha dug into my old journals, letters, and papers. She also interviewed a great many friends, relatives, and colleagues of mine, who were more than happy to share their memories.
Here is an excerpt from the book that’s an excellent example of Martha’s way with words:
On a hot, dry Sunday in October 2007, strong Santa Ana winds blew down a power line in the backcountry east of San Diego. Sparks went flying, carried by gusts of up to a hundred miles per hour. The sparks ignited a fire that expanded rapidly westward, heading directly toward Ken and Margie’s home in Rancho Bernardo.
The Blanchards weren’t home that week. Margie was attending a conference in Orlando, Florida, and Ken was down in Naples, Florida, playing golf with his buddies from Cornell.
On Monday morning, October 22, Ken got up and checked his cell phone messages. He had a voicemail from his son, Scott.
“Mom and Dad, Mad and I just had to evacuate our house because of the fire. We’re down on Pomerado Road looking up. There are flames coming out from our house—and I think yours is gone, too.”
I’ll never forget hearing that message from Scott. Thankfully, all of our family members and pets evacuated and were safe. We did lose our house—but our prayers were answered when we learned that Scott and Mad’s house was spared with only minimal damage.
As I look back on my life, I feel tremendously blessed. I had a happy childhood with parents and a sister who really loved me. I’ve had dozens of great friends over the years, from elementary school to today, that I still keep in touch with. Margie and I have had a wonderful marriage—63 years and counting—and two healthy, terrific kids who now help run our company. Sure, like anyone else, there have been a few bumps in the road here and there, but I don’t have anything to hide or to be embarrassed about. Margie says I live my life “out loud.” So if my life story can be a positive motivator for others, good on it!
You’ll have to forgive me now—but because this is Martha’s book, not mine, and I think she did a fabulous job on it, I need to do a bit of marketing:
Catch People Doing Things Right: How Ken Blanchard Changed the Way the World Leads is available for pre-order now at the link above, with a release date of October 21, 2025.