Top 5 books I'd recommend this Christmas

It's best to learn from the best. If you wanted to learn a skillset it would be assumed that you'd ask someone who has mastered the results you want what they would recommend. And it seems every person of influence has read these books at least once. So while there may be thousands of books out there on the topic; I'd recommend begining here, with these.

1. How to win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie
2. How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing with People - Les Giblin
3. How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling - Frank Bettger
4. The Magic of Thinking Big - David J. Schwartz, Ph.D.
5. Personality Plus - Florence Littauer

I don't know about you but after family activities I intend on spending my Christmas curled up on the couch reading.

Huckabee, Women and Servant Leadership

Regardless of your political stand you’ve got to had it to Huckabee; the man stands his ground. It was once said that “To have power and to choose not to exercise it is greater power still.” And Mr. Huckabee, I think, feels he is placing women in this position. A good rebuttal and some history to his stand can be found here.

I think I understand his opponents views about gender based hierarchy. But don’t we all find ourselves in positions of submission by which we have no choice? There are social submission I make daily as a citizen of the United States. Whether or not you agree with gender based hierarchy, it does raise the question; under what circumstances should a hierarchy be based? Submission is a natural part of society and one of the beauties of the human situation, that differentiates itself from the other creatures on the planet, is the ability to lead while submitting to a greater power; even if it is an opposing power.

Leadership Thinking vs. Everyone Else

Below is comparison of how leaders think compared to everyone else. These are learned thought systems, not some genetic accident that happen to some people. Refelct on this list often and bookmark this page. I'll be adding to it and writing an article on each comparison in the near future.

Everyone Else	Leaders
make excuses	no excuses
focuses on the new	focuses on the timeless
impatient	patient
celebrates fame	celebrates ability
emphasizes information	emphasizes knowledge
individualistic	communal
incapable of deep or sustained attention	capable of deep atention
mediocrity	excellence
whatever feels good, do it	whatever it takes
path of least resistance	road less traveled
fit in with the crowd	rise above the crowd
wants convience	will do the inconvient
fntasizes	dreams
helping self	helping others
want to "appear" successful	wants to achieve signifigance
listens to everybody's opinion and advice	seeks a mentor with proven success and results
national media, television, news, etc.	training materials, tapes, books, meetings, mentors
focus on excuses	focu on effort
pamper self	pushes self toward greatness
looks backward	looks foreward
knows it all	want to learn it all
personal cofort	personal influence
what is the LEAST I can do to get what I want?	what MORE can I do?
talk a big game	play a big game
focuses on saving every penny, worried about what they spend	focuses on big residual incomes, and return on investment
makes their spouses carry an exceptional heavy load	takes personal responsibility
escapism	contribution
seeks education	pursues wisdom
pays the price	enjoys the investment
slave to their habits	slave to self discipline
live under the circumstances	it's NOT what happens, it's how you respond
short term focus	long term vision
quit when the going gets tough	push harder when tough
say "can't"	say CAN
say "maybe" or "I'll try"	say WILL, count on it!
hide behind "busyness"	build a business

It Is Almost Here!

I read the first version of this book about a year ago and have read it a few times since. It is definatelty a must have. You reconize a leader by the influence and people they lead. Chris and Orrin are business owners which have 10's of thousands of people who listen to them for advice on developing leaders in their own organizations. The version I read was so good it was picked up bt Time Warner for publication. I have been repeatedly impressed by the work thee two produce and am very axious to get my hands on this book, which is reported to have 15% more content!

For more information please visit Launching a Leadership Revolution: Mastering the Five Levels of Influence

Your Attitude is Everything

I know we have all heard that thousands of times. And if you’re anything like me you will occasionally actually try to change it. But usually not until the problem or whatever caused the negative attitude forces me to make a choice; and this it at best a momentary reaction to the situation. No real attempt is made to change the root issue; how I initially responded to the situation.
I recently had the opportunity to make this choice. I had a client who had some missed expectations about the deliverables of a project I was sponsoring. Things escalated very quickly and before I realized it they were extremely unhappy as was I with the situation. It took me bit, but I eventually picked up the phone, and began to long process of salvaging the relation ship and working things out. By the time the final phases of the project were coming to a close this client sent out a raving claim of satisfaction to all stakeholders and participants in the project. What changed? It wasn’t the facts of the project. It was already well behind schedule and over budget. It was attitude. My team got together, restructured how we communicated with the client to better meet their expectations and set out to convey an attitude of servitude. We wanted the client to understand that their satisfaction of a job well done was extremely important to us.
Today’s application:
Decide what things are in your realm of influence and what is not. Everyday we are faced with situations that are not as we had planned and threaten to derail us from our objective. As we are faced with these challenges each day plan for them. If you are focused on an objective plan for people, innocent people, and circumstances to get in the way. Don’t let them surprise you or affect how you feel. They are probably outside your circle of influence anyway.
As I write this my four year old son is running around the deck asking me if I want to play ball, eat snacks or go play a video game with him. I can either respond harshly to him and let him know that daddy has work to do or I can tell him I’d be happy to play with him is just a second. He runs off because he knows I will keep my word and we will play. This leads me to my next article - integrity. You can’t lead without it.

If You Don't Know Where Your Going You Are Already There.

I think most people don't wake up in the morning and say "Today, I will make the one major decision that will change the course of my life." That is what we do though everyday. We begin the day doing the thousand little habits that we have done every morning that sets the course of our life. A thousand tiny decisions and guide our daily routine, molding it into something we can easily recognize. Naturally, we don't want to pay too much attention to the guidance of each minute anymore than we want to follow each dash in the middle of the road as we drive to work. When we drive our car we are constantly making thousands of subconscious decisions. Everything to keep the automobile between the lines. I know there are times I let my mind drift as time goes by and life just stays neatly tucked between the lines. In order to change the course of my life I need to first decide where is it I want to be. Then steer it there.

Make today different. Today focus on some tangible gain you want to see in the next three months. Then write that goal down on an index card and keep it with you at all times. And if you are anything like me you will need to rewrite it a few times because you've either lost it, spilt something on it or trashed it some how. I know a few of mine have been through the wash. As we continue though you will notice little changes in your daily routine that will guide you to your goal. Just the act of focus or meditation on your goals will have a serious impact on your results. Then as these goals become habits things really start to take off and we can begin to naturally think BIG!

What is Leadership?

Leadership is one of those terms that everyone talks about; everyone seems to know what it is and can recognize it when they see it but most would be hard pressed to truly define it. Is it strength? Is it Honor? Perhaps courage… I'm not going to investigate leadership with some word play or with some deep philosophical ramblings. You can find plenty of that already on the internet. I would much rather discuss how it can be applied to life today; your life and mine. Get the terms and jargon out of the way. Let's get control of life and wrestle it to the ground. Master the direction or your life regardless of the circumstances. It is my hope and aim to provide that help here. Your feedback and involvement is very much appreciated.
(Prov 27:17 [NSB])
Just as iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.