Gene Constant

Hon. Lt. Col. | 20 yrs ed. | Hacked in '11. Dignity intact. Still helping others

I have not spent much of my life talking about my past. I removed my name from the front of most of my books on purpose. These books are not about me. It is about you and how you navigate the future.

But if you turn to this page, you deserve to know who is speaking to you.

I am proud of the work it took to earn more than twenty years of formal education. I am proud to have been inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. And I am deeply honored to have received a gubernatorial appointment to an honorary commission as Lieutenant Colonel Aide-de-Camp in the Alabama National Guard. For a man whose career has been one long exercise in negotiation and compromise, that title means more than rank; it means trust.

My path was not easy. There were many challenges and roadblocks, including within my own family. I did not think I would get as far as I did. By grace, I did better than I thought possible.

In 2011, my good life as I knew it was taken from me by cyber criminals. Everything changed. My sole income today is my wife's support and our Social Security. I live with less than I once did.

And yet, here I am.

I am still doing foundation work that I believe is remarkable, especially given present circumstances. I am still looking out for others. I have learned that dignity is not something you have when you have much; it is what you have when you have little and choose to deal with others decently anyway.

That is why I wrote The Dignity of the Deal. Not as philosophy, but as a tool you can carry into the room. A way of being at the table that is more decent and more effective. than domination ever was.

If this book helps you turn a room back on, keep a relationship, or walk away from a hard bargain with your integrity intact, then every roadblock on my way here was worth it