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Books I Recommend Part 2

My last post focused on business, leadership and personal development. In this post I’ll share my favorites on public speaking and writing. My next post will look at my favorite books in the categories of Christianity and fiction.

Public Speaking

Made to Stick by Dan and Chip Heath

Wake Me Up When the Data is Over: How Organizations Use Storytelling to Drive Results by Lori Silverman

Let Me Tell You a Story by Tony Campolo What’s Your Story?

Using Stories to Ignite Performance and Be More Successful by Craig Wortmann

The Million Dollar Toolbox: A Blueprint for Transforming Your Life & Your Career with Powerful Communication Skills by Ty Boyd

Writing

On Writing by Stephen King

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

On Writing Well by William Zinsser

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Books I Recommend Part 1

I am often asked what books I recommend. I’ve recently updated my recommended reading list and am posting it in two parts. This list covers personal development and leadership and business. You’ll find a mix of old and new, some classics and some picks that are a bit offbeat. Feel free to add your favorite books.

Personal Development

Mojo by Marshall Goldsmith

You and Your Network by Fred Smith

The Greatest Miracle in the World by Og Mandino

The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Light from Many Lamps by Lilian Watson

Today Matters by John Maxwell

It’s Called Work for a Reason! by Larry Winget

The Intellectual Devotional (series) David Kidder and Noah Oppenheim 

Leadership/Business

Axiom by Bill Hybels

On Leadership by John Gardner

Good to Great by Jim Collins

Ronald Reagan: How and Ordinary Man became an Extraordinary Leader by Dinesh D’Souza

The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner

Bringing Out the Leader Within by John Maxwell

Next Generation Leadership by Andy Stanley

Survival is not Enough: Why Smart Companies Abandon Worry and Embrace Change by Seth Godin

The Experience Economy by Jim Gilmore and Joe Pine

Competing for the Future by Prahalad and Hamel

Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith

Love is the Killer App by Tim Sanders

Innovation is Everybody’s Business by Robert Tucker

The One Minute Entrepreneur by Don Hutson and Ken Blanchard

A Category of One by Joe Calloway

All Business is Show Business by Scott Mckain

Getting Them to Give a Damn: How to Get Your Front Line to Care about Your Bottom Line by Eric Chester

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On Growth: Be a River

I’ve been listening to a CD of a panel presentation from a conference I recently attended. The participants were all long-time friends and colleagues in the speaking business. They are all highly successful in their respective fields and I’ve seen great growth in them and their careers over the years.

The insights and perspectives they shared were very valuable and I have benefited from their collective wisdom.

In listening, I was reminded of something very important about highly successful people.

First, they invest regularly and significantly in their own growth.

I know each of these individuals and they have spent serious time and money in seeking out the best resources, whether professional associations, coaches or educational experiences.

Second, they become conduits of what they’ve learned.

Each freely shares what they’ve learned with colleagues and clients. Their exceptional expertise has created great demand for their services. Not only have they profited from their skills and abilities, but they have been willing to help others who desire to do the same.

They have become rivers.

Highly successful people are more concerned with their growth than their comfort; they are more committed to learning than leisure. That means they invest in learning and development.

But they don’t stop there. Not only do they share; they increase their expertise and abilities in the sharing. A wonderful synergy takes place when they help others. People learn from the successful, but the successful learn not just from the people they teach but from the teaching process itself.

The lesson, if you aspire to become and stay successful: be a river.

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Are You a Robust Leader?

You may not wonder if your software is robust but you notice when it isn’t. Programmers know that robust software is, among other things, simple and transparent. That means they can understand and address the underlying code. You know you have robust software when it works consistently and crashes rarely. If you’re like most, you aren’t concerned with the underlying code until it doesn’t work.

Leaders need to be robust. It is easy to do well when circumstances are favorable, but in these challenging times a leader’s robustness is tested. He or she needs to consider their code–their mental models, values and behaviors–to perform consistently and avoid crashing.

On February 23 I’ll be doing a one hour webinar called The 3R’s of Robust Leadership. For more information and to register go here. I’ll talk about three simple and transparent strategies you can use to lead well despite the challenges you and your organization face.

One of the topics I’ll cover is about how you can change your business or life by changing the questions you ask. The webinar description says I’ll cover 10 mental model changing questions, but I’ve decided to include two extra “bonus questions.”

Here’s an example: most leaders ask, “Are we making our numbers?” or “Are we achieving our goals?” While those are important questions (they create accountability and measure progress or regress) they tend to not only ignore but undermine a more important question which is “Are we pursuing our potential?” Unfortunately the security of an achieved goal can prevent us from pushing to discover what we are truly capable of doing.

Before I open the webinar to an interactive question and answer session, I’ll discuss six things you can do to maintain and increase your mental and physical energy. Not all of the concepts will be new but the application I suggest will be different and make it easier to benefit from the things you know you should do but often don’t.

If your motivation is ebbing and you find it hard to stay motivated yourself much less motivate others, join me on February 23 for a mental rejuvenation.

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Everything is Exclamations!

While editing a promotional piece for a friend’s new book, I was reminded of how hard it is to get attention. The copy had a liberal sprinkling of words like “secrets,” “inspirational” and “profound” and phrases like “life-changing” and “don’t miss.” It also used many exclamation points.

I empathize with the difficulty of writing things that get read. Unfortunately having something worthwhile to say isn’t enough if you can’t cut through the clutter and get the reader’s or listener’s attention.

Here’s the problem: we add to the clutter trying to cut through the clutter.

When you emphasize everything you emphasize nothing. Exclamation points lose their impact!

We live in the age of hyperbole. As someone once said, everything squared equals nothing squared.

We are deluged with so much information that we tend to pay attention only to the perceived exception. Another sales book? Ho hum. Secret Persuaders: How to Morally Use the Immoral Techniques of Bernie Madoff to Get What You Want. Wow–I’ve got to check that out!

Or consider endorsements. “This is a truly thought provoking book and beautifully written.” So? “This book contains information previously hidden from mankind. Reading it will change your life, raise your IQ,  improve your health, help you lose weight and make you infinitely desirable to members of the opposite sex.” Now that might be worth reading…

Regrettably only the exceptions get noted. That means that marketers, advertisers, writers, et al are attempting to make everything an exception, whether or not it truly is.

I have a new guideline I use. I offer it for your consideration: take exception to the exceptions.

While I think most of us are increasingly skeptical of over-the-top claims, we might forget that the hot copy or enticing wording is often nothing more than repackaged sameness. We have to work harder than ever before to do our due diligence. When something seems hyperobolic, it probably is. Let the exclamation points direct you to more closely scrutinize the claims being made.

I just read (or more acurately skimmed) a bestselling business book that was purported to be truly ground breaking. Sorry. The ground had been plowed many times before by many others and plowed better, but this author had the advantage of a huge social media network and a few hyperbolic endorsers. (I’m getting fewer requests to endorse since I actually want to see the book in question and am unwilling to say anything about a book I couldn’t defend to a purchaser.)

Taking exception to the exception challenges me not only as a consumer but as a creator. How do I balance intellectual honesty against marketplace demands? Writing a book, staging an event, giving a speech or rallying a cause are relatively easy compared to getting noticed. What claims are we willing to make in the pursuit of getting attention?

I don’t know. I’m asking more questions than I’m providing answers.

Hyperbole has always been a communication pitfall, but our networked world and interconnected social networks have leveraged the amount and audacity of hyperbole exponentially.

Everything is exclamations! Really! It’s true!

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