Dr Vikash Agarwal Talks About His Book “The Man in the Glass Office”

About the Author:

Dr. Vikash Agarwal is an author and leadership expert who turns toxic cultures into winning teams. A Chartered Accountant turned Doctor of Business Administration (SSBM Geneva), he combines financial discipline with human-centric coaching. As a UCF Certified Leadership Coach, he helps leaders move beyond the spreadsheet to master the psychology of high performance.

Exclusive interview with the author

Q: What Inspired You To Write This Book?

A: I wrote this book because I realized we are facing a silent epidemic in the corporate world. As a Chartered Accountant and a Doctor of Business, I have spent decades analyzing what makes companies succeed. We spend billions auditing financial balance sheets, but we spend almost zero time auditing the ‘Anxiety Tax’, the hidden cost of fear, burnout, and isolation that kills high performance.

I saw too many brilliant leaders like Ben, my protagonist, who had ‘won’ the game on the outside but were losing the game on the inside. They were operating in what I call the ‘Glass Office’, perfectly visible to everyone, but completely untouchable. I wrote this book to shatter that glass and give leaders a practical roadmap to not just succeed, but to survive the climb.

Q: Can You Tell Us About The Book?

A: It is a business fable about a man named Ben Harris who has everything, the corner office, the partnership, the view from the 41st floor. But while everyone can see him through the glass walls, no one can actually reach him.

Inside that office, Ben is crumbling. He is tormented by what I call ‘The Roommate’, a relentless inner voice of anxiety that replays the past and fears the future. The book is the story of how he breaks that glass. It’s about his journey from being a ‘Cloud’, floating above his team in detached perfection, to getting in ‘The Mud’ of real, messy, authentic leadership. It’s a story about finding out that vulnerability isn’t a weakness; it’s the only way to truly lead.

Q: What Does The Title Mean?

A: The title refers to the paradox of modern success. We aspire to the corner office with the glass walls because it represents transparency and power. But for my protagonist, Ben, and for many leaders I’ve worked with, those walls become a trap.

The ‘Glass Office’ represents a state where you are perfectly visible to everyone, yet completely untouchable. Your team sees you, your board sees you, but no one can hear you scream. You are on display, performing the role of ‘The Perfect Leader,’ while internally you are suffocating from anxiety. The book is about shattering that glass so you can finally touch the people you are supposed to be leading.

Q: What Did You Learn When Writing The Book?

A: I learned that I am not immune to the ‘Roommate’ just because I have a Doctorate. As I was writing Ben’s internal monologue, that constant, frantic voice telling him he needs to do more, be more, and hide his flaws, I realized I was transcribing my own thoughts.

Even with my background as a Chartered Accountant and a DBA, I found myself trying to ‘perform’ the book rather than just write it. I had to use the very tools I put in the book, The Anchor and The Two-Word Label, to get through the drafting process. I learned that you never truly graduate from the work of being present; you just get better at catching yourself when you drift away.

Q: Was The Character Inspired By A Real Person?

A: To be completely honest? Ben is me.

When I wrote about Ben’s internal struggle, the way he masked his panic with spreadsheets, or the way he was physically present with his family but mentally miles away in a ‘Cloud’, I wasn’t researching. I was remembering.
I gave Ben my own background in finance and my own struggle with the ‘Glass Office’ of perfectionism. I realized that I couldn’t write authentically about a man finding his way home unless I was willing to walk that same path myself. Ben is the part of me that had to learn that vulnerability isn’t the opposite of strength; it’s the source of it.

Q: How Long Does It Take You To Write A Book?

A: The writing itself? It should have taken three months. But I had a ‘Roommate’ in my head the whole time.

Just like Ben, I had a voice telling me it wasn’t good enough, that I was an imposter, that I should just stick to spreadsheets. I had to use the very tools I write about, The Anchor and The Umbrella, to get through the drafts. The book is a victory over my own distraction.

Q:Where Do You Get Your Information Or Ideas For Your Books?

A: My ideas come from the collision of two worlds. On one side, I have the hard data from my doctoral research at the Swiss School of Business Management, where I studied the mechanics of international leadership. On the other side, I have the human reality of my coaching practice.

I realized there was a massive gap in the market. We have plenty of books on how to lead a company (the strategy). We have almost no books on how to survive leading it (the psychology). Ben’s story came from that gap. I wanted to write the manual for the human being inside the suit.

Q: When Did You Write Your First Book And How Old Were You?

A: Technically, I’ve been a ‘writer’ my whole career, but I was writing in the language of numbers. As a Chartered Accountant, I told stories with data. But I realized that numbers can only describe the result of a problem; they can’t describe the cause.

The cause is always human.

So, at this stage in my life, I decided to switch languages. I moved from the binary language of profit-and-loss to the messy, analog language of human emotion. This book is my first attempt to balance that different kind of ledger, the one that tracks our Anxiety Tax instead of our revenue.

This book is published by OrangeBooks Publication. All rights are reserved with the author & the publisher.