Amol Tripathi

It all started over dinner at a restaurant a few years ago.

My kids emptied my wallet onto the table (cash, cards, and a truly embarrassing number of receipts), dug a couple of coins out of my pockets, and asked a question I couldn't answer simply: what is money, really?

I'm a business advisor to CEOs. I have degrees from Harvard and Wharton. I've spent my career helping companies grow. And I was stumped by my five-and-seven-year-old boys.

Instead of an answer, I tried a story. That story evolved into kids who wanted something badly, a plan that required real thinking, and a neighborhood that showed up. Nobody stops to have a teaching moment, and that's the whole point.

The moment a story starts teaching, kids can feel it coming from a mile away, and they're gone. So I build worlds with one rule: lessons should only come from the stories themselves, with good stuff riding underneath where no one has to point at it.

That kernel of an idea grew into Prosperity Pines, a Pacific Northwest neighborhood where kids like brainstorming, relish getting it done, and always find a way. I write the words. Christian Baldo makes them come to life.

In a past life, I was a stage and voiceover actor. I did commercials for IBM and Emirates, Shakespeare at The Carter Barron Amphitheatre in DC, Bollywood stunt-double work, and one video game I will never be reading aloud to children. Every line in my books gets the read-aloud test in character. Old habits die hard.

These days, when I'm not writing, I advise entrepreneurs, give the occasional keynote, and field questions from my kids, who thankfully never run out of curiosity.