The Story of My Book

What if the life you worked so hard to build no longer feels like your own?

A Sense of Contribution is a nonfiction book about awareness, courage, self-leadership, and reclaiming a life that feels aligned from the inside out. It is for people who have achieved, led, cared for others, and kept going — yet still find themselves quietly asking, Is this really it?

My name is Dr. Erica Kreismann, and I wrote this book because I know what it is like to look successful on paper while feeling disconnected underneath. After more than twenty years in medicine and healthcare leadership, I began to see how many of us, especially women, have been taught to strive, perform, endure, and care for everyone else before ever learning how to truly know ourselves. We are praised for competence, rewarded for self-sacrifice, and conditioned to outsource our worth. Eventually, that way of living catches up with us.

I wrote this book for the leader who is capable, compassionate, driven, and quietly tired. The one who has spent years holding everything together while feeling less and less at home in their own life. I wrote it for leaders who want to build lives and communities rooted not in performance, but in presence. And I wrote it because I believe there is another way. One grounded in courage, curiosity, kindness, and a more honest kind of leadership.

My hope is that, in reading this book, you will discover that awareness is where change begins, that self-compassion is not weakness, and that leadership starts long before a title or position. I hope this book helps you reconnect with yourself, question inherited ideas of success, and live with greater clarity, integrity, and intention.

Ultimately, I want this book to be a tool that helps you stop outsourcing your worth, start listening inward, and lead your life from a place that is actually your own.

In this book, you’ll learn about awareness, self-worth, grace, emotional regulation, boundaries, conflict, values, and the courage it takes to live in alignment. You’ll explore what happens when success looks good from the outside but feels hollow from within — and how to begin rebuilding from the inside out.

Some of what you’ll find inside includes:

• A deeply personal story of reaching a point where everything looked fine from the outside, yet internally felt misaligned, lonely, and unsustainable
• Reflections on inherited success, generational survival, and why so many of us were taught to postpone joy in the name of achievement
• A practical and compassionate framework for self-leadership — awareness, regulation, grace, and values-based living — as the foundation for how we lead others

You will love this book if you are someone who has achieved a great deal and still feels like something essential is missing. You will love it if you are craving more alignment, more honesty, more courage, and a more meaningful way to define success. And you will especially love it if you are tired of leadership advice that focuses only on performance while ignoring the inner life of the person leading.

A Sense of Contribution is a nonfiction book that speaks to high-achieving leaders, healthcare professionals, founders, coaches, and thoughtful humans in seasons of growth or transition — especially those who are questioning old definitions of success, self-worth, and leadership for the first time.

This book is for readers who are ready to move:

• from survival to self-awareness,
• from striving to alignment,
• from performance to presence,
• and from proving to contribution.

Where Does Your Support Go?

My publisher (Manuscripts Press) gave me a publishing team to help me produce and launch my book. I am working with…

• A revisions editor, copy editor, and proofreader this Spring to further hone my book (when you buy a ticket for my launch, you’ll get early excerpts and access to earlier versions of my manuscript!)
• A marketing specialist to coach and support me in marketing efforts, and help me reach new audiences
• A cover artist and layout editor will be designing my book. (The mockups you see currently are a placeholder!)

I am also offering some exclusive rewards for people who buy a ticket to my book launch:

• All tickets include either a physical copy (softcover, paperback) or digital copy (ebook) when I publish and a handwritten thank-you note.
• Your name will appear in the Acknowledgments section of my book (“with Special Thanks to”).
• You will be invited to join my Author Community and get behind-the-scenes sneak peeks into the publishing process.
• You will receive early access to the Introduction and some excerpts from my book, with the opportunity to review it and give me early feedback.
• You will have the opportunity to be involved in finalizing my cover and title.
• And more!

Other Ways You Can Support Me

Some people just can’t contribute financially, but that doesn’t mean they can’t make a huge difference:

• Please share my pre-sale campaign on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn with your friends, family and network.
• Please recommend my book to five (5) friends, family members, or colleagues who you think would enjoy it via text or direct message on social media.

Word of mouth matters deeply, and your support helps this book reach the people who need it most.

Thank you so much for all of your love and support!

Thanks again,

Erica

Author Bio

Dr. Erica Kreismann is an Emergency Medicine specialist, executive leader, and certified executive coach. After more than twenty years working in high-pressure healthcare environments across continents, she founded OneWild Coaching to support leaders navigating growth, transition, and the messy reality of being human.

Erica’s career has taken her from busy emergency departments in New York to becoming the first female physician on Tasmania’s helicopter emergency medical service, and later into executive leadership in healthcare.

Her work explores a simple but powerful idea: leadership begins with understanding yourself. Through courage, curiosity, and connection, she helps others rediscover who they are and how they want to contribute.

She can often be found with a book in front of the fire or by following her oversized laugh.

Get in touch with Erica:

LinkedIn

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Email Erica

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