Showing posts with label self-improvemen t. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self-improvemen t. Show all posts

CONNECT: Building Success Through People, Purpose, and Performance (Best Practices) Review

CONNECT: Building Success Through People, Purpose, and Performance (Best Practices)
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CONNECT: Building Success Through People, Purpose, and Performance (Best Practices) ReviewI absolutely love the book CONNECT! Keith has hit another home run. When we think about success we minimize the importance of attitude. It is truly clever how the authors used this powerful acronym to help us think about what we can do to get to the next level. The most beneficial chapter for me was "Open up to Opportunities". It helped me to think of ways that I can connect to opportunities and be resourceful. The metaphor of the pond shed light on the need to constantly update the water in our lives! I love the quick and life changing steps and business examples (IBM and Verizon, etc.) If they can open up to opportunity so can I. Thanks Keith and Hattie for sharing your wealth of knowledge. It is time we learned the power of CONECT!CONNECT: Building Success Through People, Purpose, and Performance (Best Practices) Overview

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Focus Like a Laser Beam: 10 Ways to Do What Matters Most Review

Focus Like a Laser Beam: 10 Ways to Do What Matters Most
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Focus Like a Laser Beam: 10 Ways to Do What Matters Most ReviewI was expecting something different from this book - maybe something more along the Getting Things Done path than what this ended up being. It is definitely a short read - the highlights are outlined in the book description above.
I'd say this is definitely geared more towards management than worker bee's, but there are still a few things anyone can use. Number one being, just say "no" to meetings that don't provide any value. Other than that (which I already try to practice), I just didn't get much out of this book. I'm a little surprised by all of the glowing reviews I read here. Maybe I missed something.Focus Like a Laser Beam: 10 Ways to Do What Matters Most Overview

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Leadership from the Inside Out: Becoming A Leader for Life Review

Leadership from the Inside Out:  Becoming A Leader for Life
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Leadership from the Inside Out: Becoming A Leader for Life Review"While reading this book you may think, 'Is this book about leadership, or is it about personal development?' It's about both". Kevin Cashman writes, "As much as we try to separate the leader from the person, the two are totally inseparable. Unfortunately, many people tend to split off the 'act of leadership' from the person. We tend to view leadership as an external event. We see it only as something people do. The view of this book is different. Leadership is not simply something we do. It comes from somewhere inside us. Leadership is a process, an intimate expression of who we are. It is our being in action. Our being, our personhood, says as much about us a leader as the act of leading itself. Paul Walsh, Chairman and CEO of Pillsbury, recently told me, 'The missing link in leadership development is growing the person to grow the leader'. As we grow, so shall we lead...As we learn to master our growth as a person, we will be on the path to mastery of Leadership from the Inside Out" (pp.18-19).
Within this framework, Kevin Cashman identifies seven pathways to mastery of Leadership from the Inside Out. He says that "These pathways to mastery are not stages of development arranged in a sequential or hierarchical order. Rather, they are an ongoing, interrelated growth process in which the pathways constantly are illuminating one another" (pp.28-29).
1. Personal Mastery / Leading Through Authentic Self-Expession: It is the onging commitment to unfolding and authenticaly expressing who we are.
Principles: Take total responsibility, practice personal mastery with others, bring beliefs to conscious awareness, develop awareness of character and persona, listen to feedback, consider finding a coaching process, and be flexible.
2. Purpose Mastery / Leading by Expressing Our Gifts to Create Value: It is the ongoing discovery of how we express our gifts to add life-enriching value to the world.
Principles: Focus on how to make a difference, get in touch with your values, act "on-purpose", be purposeful in all domains, encourage others to find purpose, seek the goal, learn from "failure", and be flexible.
3. Change Mastery / Leading in the Flow: It involves embracing the purposeful learning contained in the unending, creative flow of life.
Principles: Be open to learning, practice present-moment awareness, integrate immediate focus and broad awareness, trust yourself, develop resiliency through mental-emotional stretching, practice the change mastery shifts, and take the leap.
4. Interpersonal Mastery / Leading Through Synergy: It is the dynamic blending of personal power with synergy power to create value and contribution.
Principles: Build relationship bridges, balance personal power with synergy power and contribution power, build awareness of intention-perception gap, personal mastery and interpersonal mastery are intimately connected, become aware of your structure of interpretation, and practice the five touchstones (know yourself, listen, express, appreciate, serve) to authentic leadership.
5. Being Mastery / Leading Through Being: It is connecting with the silence and peace of the innermost depth of one's character to support more dynamism, effectiveness, and contribution.
Principles: Take your own journey into being, resolve life challenges by going to a deeper level, consider learning to mediate, and integrate more reflection into your life.
6. Balance Mastery / Leading by Centering Our Life: It is the dynamic centering of our life to build resilience and to enhance effectiveness and fulfillment.
Principles: Choose wisely, be on-purpose, rest and reflect more, exercise for enjoyment, simplify your life, and loosen up.
7. Action Mastery / Leading as a Whole Person: It is the ongoing commitment to creating value through enhanced authenticity and self-expression.
Principles: Seek the most essential first, approach growth and development as an integrated, lifelong process, take total responsibility, value consistency over intensity, set aside worry, doubts, and negativity, don't just walk the talk, become the talk, and build awareness through inside out journaling.
Finally, Kevin Cashman argues that "Certainly the principal purpose of Leadership from the Inside Out is to give people tools for personal growth and transformation leading to leadership growth and transformation. But its true potential contribution is more than that. Its purpose is more than just helping a bunch of seperate individuals to grow...Growth is fulfilling as it touches and enriches the lives of others" (p.203).
I highly recommend.Leadership from the Inside Out: Becoming A Leader for Life Overview

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Paradoxical Thinking: How to Profit from Your Contradictions Review

Paradoxical Thinking: How to Profit from Your Contradictions
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Paradoxical Thinking: How to Profit from Your Contradictions ReviewWhen I heard about this book, I did not quite know what to expect. Reading things like 'How to profit from your contradictions' and 'bringing together the paradoxical sides of yourself to achieve outstanding results', I feared it might turn out to be kind of vague and superficial. But I decided to give the book the benefit of the doubt, because I quite liked Jerry Fletcher's previous book "Patterns of High Performance".
How wrong can you be in your expectations...The book turned out to be a downright fascinating read! The book describes with great clarity a very specific step-by-step method by which you can identify seemingly contradictory characteristics of yourself (the authors call this your 'core paradox'). Both of these contradictory characteristics can be expressed either in a negative way or in a positive way.
When these contradictory characteristics are expressed in their most negative way, a nightmare-scenario can follow. When this happens, a person swings back and forth between the two (negative) sides of the paradox, leaving him or her hopeless, without energy and ineffective. However, when these contradictory characteristics are expressed in their most positive way, both (positive) sides of the paradox are simultaneously present.
Because of this, you can produce creative resolutions of dilemma's that previously seemed intractable. Using a tool called 'Fletcher's pendulum', you can figure out how to get from the negative expression of your core paradox to a positive expression. How this exactly works, you should of course read in the book. It has many examples and is packed with practical wisdom. I found it extremely valuable.Paradoxical Thinking: How to Profit from Your Contradictions Overview

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Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time Review

Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time
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Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time ReviewIt seems like much of the efficacy of Ferrazzi's tactics lies in blurring the distinction between the personal and the professional connections. Not even church-going remains sacred.
At what point does a close-knit network become more invaluable than acquaintanceships struck during in-flight snackbreaks? Are 500 people willing to answer your calls (after the umpteenth time you've attempted to ambush them on the phone during their off hours) really an asset? Readers should keep in mind that one will not be able to fool all of the people all of the time with false pretenses of friendship. Ferrazzi's work would be more effective if he differentiated between intensities of friendship and the tactics most appropriate for each.
Further difficulties include:
-Networking Plan of Action (unfortunately acronymed NAP) includes scarcely a page of information about how to construct one.
-The arguments are often internally inconsistent: receiving an invitation to a 15 min coffee break is an affront, while sending one tops the personal arsenal list. Katharine Graham is eulogized as a champion of both "somebodies" and "nobodies." Yet Ferrazzi's lists of "people he'd like to meet" and his incessant extolling of the virtues of name-dropping seems to indicate "nobodies" are nobodies in his book. Finally, the distinction between a "networking jerk" and commendable behavior is, at best, subtle.
-For an individual so concerned with connectedness, it is curious that a bibliography or appendix of suggested reading is entirely absent.
May I suggest:
*How to Win Friends and Influence People: soft skills development
*Big Fish (a novel of "mythic proportions" by Daniel Wallace): a more sympathetic view on spin, for contemplating your own self-marketing plan or why Ferrazzi really left Deloitte.
*The Tipping Point: Chapter 2 is a more rigorous exploration of the roles the uber-connected play in social networks.
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The Seven Minute Difference: Small Steps to Big Changes Review

The Seven Minute Difference: Small Steps to Big Changes
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The Seven Minute Difference: Small Steps to Big Changes ReviewThere are only so many ways to present the same information, but Allyson Lewis seems to have found a new one. The concept of seven minute exercises is GREAT! There are procrastinators and unmotivated people everywhere who can be impacted by this book.
Lots of books tell you you should change this or that, but they fail to make the change appealing or even possible. This book proposes that change can happen in little seven minute increments. That concept alone, will change thousands - even millions - of lives.
I think this would be a great gift book for any procrastinators or unmotivated people in your life.
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How to Play the Game at the Top: The 9 Rules for Consummate Corporate Effectiveness Review

How to Play the Game at the Top: The 9 Rules for Consummate Corporate Effectiveness
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How to Play the Game at the Top: The 9 Rules for Consummate Corporate Effectiveness ReviewThis is a fascinating insight into the often challenging path it takes to get to the very top - not only in Corporate America - but in big business generally!
I couldn't agree more that it's the lessons you learn, and how you feel about who you are and what you're capabale of (my favourite book on this side of self-leadership is Transformational Leadership: 92 Tips For Using The Different Types Of Leadership To Identify Leadership Traits That Uncover Your Leadership Strengths, which is an excellent companion to this book.
It's a credit to Fenorris Pearson that he had the 'balls' to share what it really takes to climb the corporate ladder.How to Play the Game at the Top: The 9 Rules for Consummate Corporate Effectiveness Overview

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StrengthsFinder 2.0 Review

StrengthsFinder 2.0
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StrengthsFinder 2.0 ReviewStrengths Finder 2.0 is the follow up to Gallup's Now, Discover Your Strengths. The book includes a revamped version of the StrengthsFinder test that shows you not just what your top five strengths are, but also how you rank in the rest of the 34 strengths from Clifton's model. The new book is light on content (very light) but the test is a substantial improvement.
Here's how the book is set up:
StrengthsFinder: The Next Generation
(A short introduction explaining the need for the enhanced edition of the test based upon new thinking and research in strengths psychology)
I: Finding Your Strengths
(A 30-page overview of strengths psychology and how the Gallup system works)
II: Applying Your Strengths
(150 pages outlining each of the 34 themes including what people with that strength look like, how to manage them, and ideas for action if you have that strength).
The StrengthsFinder
(If you haven't taken it before, the code to take the test is provided in a packet inside the book. You actually have to buy the book to take the test)
Emotional Intelligence 2.0 is another book I really enjoyed that follows the SF 2.0 format. Obviously, that test measures emotional intelligence (EQ), but Emotional Intelligence 2.0 has a unique format where the test tells you which of the book's 66 strategies will increase your EQ the most.StrengthsFinder 2.0 Overview

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The Intangibles of Leadership: The 10 Qualities of Superior Executive Performance Review

The Intangibles of Leadership: The 10 Qualities of Superior Executive Performance
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The Intangibles of Leadership: The 10 Qualities of Superior Executive Performance ReviewI am a big believer that leadership is mostly about intangibles - this book reinforces that view.
The first intangible is wisdom. Daunting although Davis gives hope that we all have wisdom and that it can be developed:
"Often we think of wisdom as something inborn, an attribute some possess and others do not." "...these conceptions of wisdom miss the mark. First, none of us is born wiser than anyone else...Second, wisdom is not passively obtained, it is the result of conscious reflection, evaluation and decision."
Davis goes on to explain tangible ways to gain wisdom - things like "seek out new ideas", "find a mentor", "designate time for reflection" etc.
"Knowledge is the process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification" Martin Fischer
Makes me think. Perhaps I pursue knowledge too much and do not allow myself enough time to find wisdom.
One of the intangibles is Fortitude. The closing line in that chapter:
"Your leadership destiny will be determined largely by the strength with whcih you confront challenges"
The book continues with other intangibles like integrity (the obvious one), presence, will, self-insight etc.
It is a good book that provokes thought.
Gives me a new list of 10 things I can work towards.
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The Executive and the Elephant: A Leader's Guide for Building Inner Excellence Review

The Executive and the Elephant: A Leader's Guide for Building Inner Excellence
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The Executive and the Elephant: A Leader's Guide for Building Inner Excellence ReviewThis was a fascinating book that I won in a contest on MichaelHyatt.com. Often, when Michael does a book review, he gives away copies of the book to the people who read his blog (another reason to read his blog). The book is a leadership book... but personal leadership, instead of managerial leadership. Leading yourself is the first step to leading others; if you're not good at leading yourself, you won't be good at leading others.
Basically, each person has two "natures" inside of them: one that wants to follow your own base instincts (the inner elephant), and one that makes rationale, reasoned decisions (the inner executive)-see Romans 7:14-25 for a biblical explanation. When we're born, all we do is follow the urges of the inner elephant. As we grow, we can learn to make decisions that will tame the inner elephant, and make us better people. We take hold of the things we should do, and we let our inner executive lead. But what are some concrete things we can do to tame the inner elephant, and let our inner executive take over? Here are a couple of things that I gleaned from this book:
Autosuggestion
We have different voices in our heads telling us different things. For many people, these voices are telling us negative, critical things: "I'm not good enough;" "I'm an inadequate leader;" "I spend too much time on the Internet;" "I'm not good enough for my job;" "I'm a bad father;" "I hate doing this." Richard Daft, the author of the book, suggests that one can replace those pre-suppositions about themselves by using something called autosuggestion. Basically, you intentionally replace those thoughts with what you want to be, and eventually what you say will be your first thought, instead of the negative thoughts. This technique was originally suggested by Emile Coué in his book Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion. Coué suggested that you repeat the phrase "Each day in every way, I am getting better and better" twenty times before you go to sleep and when you get up. Richard Daft makes other suggestions: "I am loving people more;" "I am slowing down my judgments;" "I am more engaged in school;" "I am becoming more intentional;" or, for me, "I am becoming a better father."
The basic thing that this accomplishes is focuses your intentions. When you are thinking about "getting better and better" every night before you go to bed, and when you get up in the morning, you are more likely to be thinking about this during the day, and actually doing things that make you better and better.
Review your day
This was a good suggestion that I think I will begin to implement: take a few minutes at the end of each day to review the day. What were the highlights of your day? What made you feel good? What did you accomplish? What didn't go well? What discouraged you? What could you make better?
When you take time to review the day, and even write things down, you can identify the things that you do that are elephant-like (that you need to do better), and the things that are executive-like (that you need to encourage and hone). You can even do this with a spouse or accountability partner by asking them to ask you five or ten simple questions at the end of the day, to force you to evaluate how you're doing.
Overall, this book has been a great source of ideas on how to improve the way that I lead myself. There were ideas (especially out of his eastern spirituality background) that I disagreed with, but for the most part, it was an excellent read.The Executive and the Elephant: A Leader's Guide for Building Inner Excellence Overview

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