Story Of My Book

My name is Michael Lukich, and I am the author of The Journey to Phronesis: The Art of Thinking in Systems and Living with Purpose. Phronesis is a word known well to the Ancient Greeks – it means practical wisdom. And in today’s world, we are facing an increasing deficit of it.

We are facing a thinking crisis. We are drowning in complexity while our thinking capabilities are getting worse. We are outsourcing more of our cognitive abilities to technology, which is atrophying our ability to think for ourselves. As we lose practice, our thinking capabilities are deteriorating. We’re losing the ability that helps us to learn, to develop wisdom, and to grow. It is what makes us human and wonderful, and we owe it to ourselves to cherish it. 

I wrote this book to offer a solution to this problem by introducing a practical operating system that pairs modern systems thinking with Stoic practice. In this book, you can expect to learn how to:

• Map problems beyond events and begin to see their underlying patterns, structures, and mental models.
• Spot reinforcing/balancing loops and intervene at leverage points.
• Design habits and environments that compound your desired behaviors.
• Replace brittle life hacks with resilient frameworks that you can reuse.

Who It’s For / Not For

This book is for leaders, professionals, parents, students – anyone who wants to think better to live better.

It is not for people seeking quick-fixes. This is practice, not magic.

What’s Inside

The book is written in three parts:

• In Part One, I explore the fundamentals of systems thinking, laying the groundwork for concepts that help us view the world in a new light.
• In Part Two, I outline tools we can use to give us a better understanding of how to find, synthesize, and interpret information. 
• And finally, in Part Three, I share examples of how you can apply these concepts in your everyday life. 

Throughout the entire book, I connect these ideas to the Stoic principles to which they align. 

The book is filled with stories from my career and personal life; experiences as a consultant and as a poker player; and examples from modern times and from history.

Other Ways to Support Me

If you can’t purchase right now, you can still help:

• Subscribe to my Substack (free) for essays on philosophy, growth, business, technology, and strategy.
• Follow me on LinkedIn, Bluesky, and X. If you see me share or post anything on social media, take a moment to like it and share it with your network.
• Recommend my book to five (5) friends, family members, or co-workers who you think would enjoy it.

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

All the best,
Michael Lukich

About The Author

Michael Lukich is an analytics executive, educator, and strategist. In his debut book, The Journey to Phronesis (2026), he bridges ancient Stoic wisdom with modern systems thinking.

Michael has a gift for translating complexity into clarity – a skill he honed throughout his 20+ year career as a consultant, business leader, and adjunct professor. As a practitioner who has tested these ideas in boardrooms, classrooms, and at the poker table, Michael’s goal is to make the tools of better thinking accessible to everyone. He believes that wisdom isn’t a mystical gift, but instead an emergent property of a well-designed life system.

Michael lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with his wife, two daughters, and their yellow lab. He writes about systems, strategy, and philosophy. You can connect with Michael at his personal website lukich.io or on LinkedIn.

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