Ordinary Radical Life

Total Leadership

I always get excited when a new book comes out that I just know I will enjoy reading. I had a sneak peek at one of those books in this month's edition of Harvard Business Review. Total Leadership is a new book by Harvard Business Press that will be hitting bookstores in June. I have already pre-ordered my copy at Amazon.

The purpose of total leadership is to improve performance in all four domains of life - work, home, community and self - by creating mutual value among all of them. The HBR article is brilliant and summarizes the major ideas of the book. Bottom line, total Leadership is a different way of approaching goal setting. It takes on the concept of redefining goals as a series of experiments. In essence, goal setting is a trial and error process and we should not be afraid to make mistakes. The article summarizes some great ideas of how we can design an experiment to improve all domains of our live. These include:

• Tracking and reflecting
• Planning and organizing
• Rejuvenating and restoring
• Appreciating and caring
• Focusing and concentrating
• Revealing and engaging
• Time shifting and "re-placing"
• Delegating and developing
• Exploring and venturing

The website http://www.totalleadership.org/ has some excellent resources as well that are immediately available prior to the book being released. If you are looking to making changes in your life in all areas, this may just be the book you need to move you in the right direction.

Amazon Kindle!

Last month I had my birthday. Before my birthday my mom asked me what I wanted. She said she would go out and buy me some nice clothes. After all, the only time I get new clothes is when my mom or my wife happen to buy them for me. But this year was different. I wanted an Amazon Kindle. This is Amazon's newest electronic reader. When I first heard about this new gadget coming on the market I couldn't wait. I no longer would have to wait for the UPS man (or woman) to deliver my Amazon books. I could instantly download them in the blink of an eye. I thought my mother would freak out at the $400 price tag. But I influenced her telling her that I could recoup some of that money by the lower cost of books. Any type of sales pitch I could toss out in order to win her over. Well it worked. For over a month now I have been using my Kindle and I absolutely love it. I am hooked. My only major disappointment is that not every book in the world is out there yet, but I suspect it will be some day. For a version 1.0 product I think they have done a very good job. It is obvious that others like the Kindle as well as seeing the huge backlog that Amazon has waiting to manufacture and ship these units. If you are a book lover and you have $400 or a mother who has $400 then you should certainly consider the Kindle.

Steve Leveen and The Well Read Life

As an avid reader and lover of books, one of my favorite catalogs and places to browse on the web is Levenger's. http://www.levenger.com If you are a book lover or know somebody who is, then you have to check this out.

Last year I picked up a book by the creator and owner of Levenger, Steve Leveen. I recently got an email stating that he has jumped into the world of blogging as well. You can find his site at http://wellreadlife.typepad.com/. I plan on adding this to my favorites and checking back with Steve often. If you like books then you should add it to your favorites.

Reading the Bible

One of my new year's resolutions is to read the Bible. I have often had this goal and it never failed that about March or April things would get busy and I would miss a few days of reading and then all of a sudden I found that I had lost my motivation. Let's be real, the bible is a big book with lots of great information, but you can't exactly sit down and read it like every other book in the world. So for the new year I ordered Charles Stanley's Life Principles Daily Bible. This Bible breaks down reading into short 15 minute readings for every day of the year. I want to develop this habit and others for the new year. I hope that this year I will have the ability to make it happen. After all, 15 minutes a day with the best selling book of all time will undoubtedly lead to a more ordinary radical life!

Two Weeks to a Breakthrough

Yesterday I started reading a book by Lisa Haneberg, "Two Weeks to a Breakthrough". This book was recommended to me by Dwayne Melancon over at Genuine Curiosity. I have only read the first chapter and I can tell that I am going to enjoy this book. The part I liked the most and what thoroughly motivated me in the book was her discussion about "states of mind" including wonder, inquiry, abundance, exuberance, and courage. In the past I have used the state of mind of "gratitude" to help me snap out of states of depression. I now feel like I have an additional five tools to help me change my thought process. By being alert and aware of negative thoughts developing in my head, I can counter them by focussing on these areas that Lisa has brought to my attention. The other part of her books talks about how small things can lead to big changes. That is a fundamental concept of this blog and one that I constantly think about. I am eager to read more about what she has to say in that area. I am sure you will be able to find more about how this book is changing my life in the next few weeks. I hope to share these ideas and thoughts with you here.

Using Humor

There is no doubt that humor plays a huge role in my life, especially at work. One of the greatest books I have ever read about having fun at work is "Fish". I think the principles embeded in this book are fundamental to having a life full of joy and happiness. I still remember watching the video of the Fish people in Seattle throwing big pieces of fish around in front of the customer. Now how great would that be! This is one area I feel like I have down quite well. You can see it in the emails I send out at work. I think the only challenge is when I don't feel very good about other areas in my life, I tend to not show the humor side of my personality. I sure miss it when it is not there.

People as an Asset

Many companies believe that people and employees are their greatest asset. After all, any service organization is only as good as the employees. What applies in business also applies to life and our personal relationships as well. The key question is what do we do on a daily basis to become a better parent or person? I would challenge you to find an area to improve every day. In order to become a professional at anything, it requires practice. My daughter plays the flute. It has been amazing to see her improve and how much quicker she improves with practice. A simple concept but one that I struggle with sometimes being a parent. It is a fact that kids sometimes don't want to practice. However, if we are not willing to put in the effort along the way we can never get to where we want to go. The Dip by Seth Godin reminds me of this fact. If you can work through the valley of practice when things get tough, you can climb to extraordinary heights in whatever you do.

Lessons Learned from "How Starbucks Saved My Life"

This week I had the joy of finding three hours of uninterrupted reading time on a flight from San Francisco to Dallas. This is rare that I find this much time in one day to dedicate towards reading. During this time I was thoroughly engaged in a story about how Starbucks saved this one gentleman's life, Michael Gates Gill. Being a frequent visitor and patron of Starbucks I found the story both interesting and entertaining. Michael Gill takes the reader into the daily operations of a Starbucks store located on Broadway in N.Y.C.. As I was reading I thought about the message that I wanted to share with my daughter from what I learned in this book and two lessons became evidently clear in my head.

First, the choices you make today have an impact on the where you end up tomorrow. You see Michael made some poor choices which he shares in the book. These choices lead to the destruction of his family unit and had a profound impact on his relationship with his children. The key point here is that you must always stop and think before you act. Consider the long term consequences in your decision making. This applies to so many things in life including drugs, alcohol, sex, and school and every other aspect of life.

Second, never give up and find work you are passionate about. Michael found Starbucks and not only a job, but a place where he was able to make friends and a job that he certainly enjoyed. I have had positions where I found it difficult to work because I did not have the passion and therefore I did not find the joy in life. Work is important and if you don't enjoy it, your life can be miserable.

Can you apply business concepts to becoming a better parent?

Is it possible to take concepts from business books and apply them to becoming a better parent? In many cases I believe so. Just look at how some of the best and most successful business books such as The 7 Habits of Highy Effective People which have been re-written with the focus on teens. My goal with this blog is to explore these concepts found in some of the top business books and see if I can find how I can apply these concepts towards becoming a better parent and teen coach. So hold on for the ride as we begin to dig into business and life.