Author • Guide • Fellow Traveler
Lee Malcher
You probably haven't heard of me. That's because I'm not an influencer on the guru circuit selling manifestation from a yacht. Maybe that's exactly why you should read this.
I don't have a rags-to-riches story. No rock bottom to mountaintop narrative. I'm just someone who spent a decade stumbling through his own transformation and took notes along the way.
Author of the Modern Hero Series. Training as a facilitator with the Hero's Journey® Foundation. Still very much on the path.
In the Media
Featured On
NPR's Cool Science Radio
Joined physicist Michio Kaku to discuss consciousness, transformation, and the science behind the hero's journey.
Listen to the conversation →The Journey Here
I'm an English lad who left home young and landed in Australian carnival boxing tents — fighting for money, fighting for identity, fighting because I didn't know what else to do with all that restless energy.
From there, a winding path: startup hacker houses to corporate boardrooms, adventures in the jungles of Central America to Fortune 500 strategy consulting. Two decades in business. Direct-to-consumer marketing. Brand building. The whole accelerating ride of modern commerce.
And somewhere in all that acceleration, I hit the wall that many people hit: success that felt hollow, achievement that didn't satisfy, a growing sense that I was climbing a ladder leaning against the wrong building.
"I spent years trying to be the tallest oak in the forest. Then life's first real storm toppled me over. Turns out, height without depth doesn't work."
The Hero's Journey found me when I needed it most — or maybe I finally got desperate enough to find it. Joseph Campbell's mythic structure. Jung's depth psychology. Ancient wisdom traditions. All pointing to the same truth: real transformation isn't about self-improvement. It's about descent, integration, and emergence.
I train as a facilitator under Michael Mervosh at the Hero's Journey® Foundation, learning to hold space for others' crossings. I co-facilitate Hero Circles. I work one-on-one with people navigating their own thresholds. And I wrote three books about the journey — not as a guru with answers, but as a fellow traveler sharing what I've learned so far.
Now I live in Southern California with my wife and two young kids who humble me daily.
Background & Training
Two decades of professional experience. Deep training in transformational work. Still learning every day.
20+ Years in Business
Startups to Fortune 500 strategy. Direct-to-consumer marketing. Brand building and growth.
Hero's Journey® Foundation
Training as a facilitator under Michael Mervosh. Hero Circle guide. Ongoing training through 2026.
Jungian Depth Work
Campbell's mythic structure. Eastern wisdom traditions. Shadow integration. The real inner work.
The Modern Hero Series
Three books for people who want more than quick fixes. Jungian depth meets Campbell's mythic structure — all through the lens of lived experience.
Leeway
The Roots · The Foundation
Becoming a Modern Hero
The Trunk · The Journey
MaskUp
The Leaves · The Application
10% of all book proceeds go directly to the Hero's Journey® Foundation — the organization that helped shape this work and my path as a facilitator.
Why read my books?
This isn't another book promising to fix you in 30 days. It's an honest map through real transformation by someone who's eaten every self-help book on the shelf and finally learned the difference between consuming wisdom and living it.
How to discover your authentic values in an age of algorithmic manipulation
Psychology explained like your mate down the pub would
How to move from inherited expectations to purpose-driven living
Why transformation requires going down before up
Ancient wisdom without the Sanskrit
British humor making the dark bits bearable
Guide not guru approach to growth
Rooted in Tradition. Grounded in Research.
This isn't woo-woo spirituality or dry academic theory. It's both — and more.
Psychology
Jung, shadow work, developmental stages
Mythology
Campbell, the monomyth, universal patterns
Eastern Wisdom
Consciousness traditions, ancient practices
Modern Science
Neuroscience, trauma research, epigenetics
Lived Experience
Memoir, honesty, spectacular failures
Where ancient wisdom meets modern struggle — filtered through two decades of business, men's work, and figuring it out the hard way.
The Approach
What guides the work — and what you won't find here.
Guide, Not Guru
I'm not enlightened. I'm not on the other side. I'm a fellow traveler sharing what I've learned — including all the places I got it wrong.
Depth Over Quick Fixes
No 5 steps. No hacks. No promises of transformation in a weekend. Real change takes time, descent, and integration.
Ancient Wisdom, Modern Application
50,000 years of human pattern meets the challenges of AI, acceleration, and algorithmic life. The old maps still work.
Honest About the Mess
This work surfaces difficult material. It's not always comfortable. I write about that honestly — the struggle is part of the path.
Get in Touch
For media inquiries, speaking requests, or just to say hello.