The Lion Beneath the Fade
The Lion Beneath the Fade is a vivacious memoir–cum–entrepreneur’s guide that models the endless pursuit of business success.
Entrepreneur Sebastian Bastian’s inspirational memoir The Lion Beneath the Fade is about the successful launches of Bahamian gaming, real estate development, logistics, and technology companies.
Bastian started his first business when he was nineteen years old. Across his career, he headed more than twenty companies in the Caribbean. Herein, he shares personal tales about risk-tasking, the recognition of opportunities, strategizing, and decisions to take action. Bastian’s story is also used as a jumping-off point for general advice, with the book suggesting means of pursuing one’s own business ambitions, realizing one’s vision, and unleashing the metaphorical lion within. Tips are proffered for subjects ranging from dealing with failure to team building.
Interest is generated via the book’s vibrant stories about Bahamian culture, including side hustles; a police officer who made and sold conch salads is used as an example, as is Bastian’s father, who leveraged his supermarket job to open a bar and a restaurant, the latter of which became known as the “home of the $6.99 steak.” Bastian himself recalls his early, ill-fated efforts to smuggle fast food into a school cafeteria (“DoorDash ’94”) with good-natured self-deprecation before covering his later successes. Other compelling memories, as of a crisis response following a government shutdown of internet shops, of launching a news agency, and of adapting to COVID-19 restrictions appear too. The book slips toward boastfulness at times, though, undermining its appeal.
While its prose is direct and lively, the book’s shifts between chapters telling Bastian’s stories and those that are more didactic are jarring. Though its advice on time management, financial literacy, ongoing self-education, and the entrepreneurial mindset is practical and insightful, it is also uneven, moving between macro topics like navigating political landscapes to micro concerns like the benefits of signing up for Google Alerts to keep up with industry trends and competitors. There’s step-by-step guidance for building a business, embellished by familiar tips such as to surround oneself with the right people; there are also bullet-point summaries of key ideas, though. Ranging metaphors, as of one’s “North Star” of success (a goal encompassing personal fulfillment, social impact, and legacy), exist alongside overly broad suggestions for planning, executing, and adapting to changing business conditions, too.
An uplifting entrepreneur’s guide, The Lion Beneath the Fade models personal success and encourages hustling one’s way to the top.
Reviewed by
Joseph S. Pete
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
