Bone #9: Crown of Horns by Jeff Smith

Published January 2009 by Scholastic

ISBN: 978-0439706322

The Recommend:

This is the 9th and final installment of the Bone graphic novels (not counting the ‘prequel,’ Rose, which also appeared this year but which is kind of forgettable).

My son James and I read the whole series all last year, and EAGERLY awaited the release of #9 early in 2009. The ninth book brings the whole epic story to its conclusion, and we were not disappointed.

Not only does Smith tie up all the plotlines, but he also is able to do such wonderful things with the characters, developed so thoroughly after so many books that they become real people. The story and the characters lingered with us for months after we finished the ninth book.

This series is serious literature, accessible enough to kids, but with enormous depth and dynamics.

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About John Maxwell

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John Maxwell has been involved in the Internet and new media since the early 1990s, in web design, content management, electronic publishing, learning technologies, and virtual communities.

After working on educational technology at the Open Learning Agency in the late 1990s, he completed a PhD in education at UBC, focusing on the cultural trajectories of “personal computing” over the past four decades.

An alumnus of the first year of the MPub program (1995/96), Maxwell is now an assistant professor in the Master of Publishing Program at SFU, where his focus is on the impact of digital technologies in the cultural sector, the history of computing and new media, and contemporary myth-making in the face of digital media.

Name: Audrey Van Noort

Position: Clinic Manager

 Grad Year: As a student of life I bring those cumulative experiences to our office. It has been my journey through college, university, motherhood, sisterhood, as a daughter, as a wife and as a student that adds to my work in such amazing ways.

Other Languages Spoken: I am fluent in American Sign Language. My oldest son was the first Deaf person I had ever met. He was my inspiration to learning this amazing language.

 Favourite Quote: “You can’t be a smart cookie if you have a crummy attitude.” – John Maxwell and “If you think you can do it, you can.  If you believe you can do it, you will.  If you trust you can do it, you will make a difference.” - Catherine Ellis

 Family: I have 4 wonderful children and an amazing man in my life. Twins were my introduction to motherhood followed 4 years later by a daughter and 5 years after that, a son. I finally understood that God really has a sense of humour when he allowed me to begin menopause as my son goes through puberty. I thank Charlie for helping me through it all!

 Favourite Movie: Does anyone remember “Old Yeller”?

 Favourite Sports Team: Am I supposed to have one?

Favourite Musical Group: My kids would say Abba but I love listening to Susan Aglukark and Natalie Cole

 Favourite Book: Your Best Life Now by Joel Osteen

 Hobbies and Interests: I enjoy gathering with friends and family, playing cards and socializing over a pot luck dinner – you get the best of everything!

I’m reading a great new book by John Wooden regarding mentoring. John Wooden has won the most national college basketball men’s championships in the history of the sport. He’s had the longest winning streak in the history of the game and also had the privilege of coaching a couple of undefeated teams. But one of his greatest gifts he’s given to people have been the lessons of knowledge and experience he’s passed on to others through mentoring.

Not just basketball players or coaches benefit from his Pyramid of Success tool he’s developed. One of the concepts he talks about with basketball coach Roy Williams is the fact that if someone with experience and success offers to give you their time to gain knowledge and wisdom, you should take the opportunity when it shows up.

I’ve been lucky enough through the years to have business owners pass on wisdom to be about running a business, coaches who’ve helped me excel at bowling, and professors who were willing to take the time to break down and reconstruct my writing. I’m always up to ask questions of others who are more skilled, more knowledgeable and who’ve gone through a lot of the ups and downs of life that I want to learn from.

I believe you can learn from the moment you are born to the moment you pass away. If you are unwilling to grow, I do believe certain parts of you wither away from non-use. Every time my children experience something, whether it’s an excellent grade on a project that worked hard on or a punishment they receive as a result of making a poor decision in their life, I hope they take what happens, learn from it to grow in the right direction.

I found it interesting in the forward that John Maxwell would be willing to spend a certain amount of money for people he wanted 30 minutes of their time to ask questions of. When he would get people to accept, John would spend 10 times the amount of time he would get with the particular person preparing for this mentoring question and answer session. Don’t be afraid to ask these people out for a breakfast or lunch and probe their brains and be willing to take down their answers and implement their knowledge into your own habits.

I study the best writers, I continually read 3-5 books a week, I watch motivational DVD’s and video material, I listen to audio books and lectures/ seminars on my car rides to and from wherever I go. I take notes, I ask more questions and I’m willing to implement what is offered into my life. I think most of my successes have happened in my life by the Jack Canfield adage of preparation meeting opportunity. When you’ve learned a skill and can apply it with ease, you can achieve more faster than someone else who’s ill prepared for what may be placed in front of them.

I hope you think about this as we approach the new year. Everyone makes pie in the sky resolutions of what they want to achieve, but without research, preparation, the resources to achieve these resolutions and accountability, you’ll quickly fall back into the same routine you’ve always had, getting the same results you’ve always seen. Don’t you want to achieve more next year? Wouldn’t you love to be increasing your income and increasing your recreation time? How about improving the quality of your relationships both near and far?

Be ready to make this year a year of learning, a year of sharing, and a year of special outcomes. Good luck in the pursuit of all your hopes and dreams- I look forward to discussing these concepts more in the coming year.

I love a quote used by John Piper which I found on his Facebook status. Back in the mid-1980s I first heard about Kazakhstan when he talked about this Central Asian land.  Perhaps he knew about it from his German connection. Back then, nobody really knew this country existed during the Soviet Union’s Cold War period.  Many in the western world still do not know this land of about 16 million people live in a country the size of three Texas states put together. 

So I have to give credit to Dr. Piper for getting me here to Almaty indirectly when I first arrived in the summer of 1993.  Piper wrote,“If we are not hated by someone, we don’t know enough people, or we don’t speak enough truth.”  I KNOW I fall into the latter category, I’ve been speaking the truth as a realist during my time at this Western university in Almaty.  Another quote I like is: A pessimist sees the dark tunnel, an optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel and a realist sees the train coming down the tracks.”  I also love Winston Churchill and what he stood for, here’s a quote attributed to him about optimism: “I am an optimist and it doesn’t seem hard to be anything else.”

Yes, I am optimistic about Kazakhstan’s future because I have been working with their youth for the past 2 ½ years.  I did not get re-hired by the hiring committee because I fell into the third category of this joke which my husband loves to tell.  Apparently I know too much, especially about Soviet teaching pedagogy. But I’ve been accused of being culturally insensitive. I’m sorry that my words have been misconstrued and twisted by the very people I came to help.  I know I am needed for what I know, but I am not wanted.  Common malady among many of us Westerners, “needed but not wanted.” Read several blogs back.

 The Communist Party (CPSU) membership committee was interviewing candidates.

 The first candidate arrives, sits in front of the commission, and is asked:

“How much is 2 + 2?”

The candidate hesitates and replies, “6″?

“Are you sure?”

“7?”

He is dismissed and discussed.  They vote him in after one of the committee says,

“I like him.  He is flexible.”

The second candidate arrives, sits in front of the commission and is asked:

“How much is 2+2?”

The candidate does not hesitate and immediately replies, “6!”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure, 2 + 2 is 6!”

The second candidate is dismissed and discussed.  The commission votes him in as a new member of the Party, after one of the commission members says,

“I like him, he has the courage of his convictions!”

The the third candidate arrives, sits in front of the commission and is asked:

“How much is 2+2?”

The candidate does not hesitate and immediately replies, “4!”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. What kind of stupid question is that.  2 + 2 is 4!”

The third candidate is dismissed and discussed.  The commission votes NOT to admit him in as a new member of the Party, after one of the commission members says,

“He knows too much!”

Pres. Kennedy is quoted as saying, “Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education.”  Finally, one more quote by John Maxwell: “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.”  I’ve tried to do that with my fellow teachers and I’ve tried to be a leader in the classroom full of students, whether they are Kazakh or Kazakhstani (Russian, Korean, Uighur, Tatar, German, or  mix of whatever else).  I have made enemies amongst some who do not want to see reality for what it is.  I still chuckle to myself for coming up with the quote that my Yale law school trained, work mate loved: “The truth will prevail, it may just take a little longer in Kazakhstan.”

Help!

We are bombarded with the word “Leadership.” A Google search of the topic rendered 160,000,000 hits! With so many books, articles and opinions of unsavory definitions to decipher, one simply can give up in hopes of defining leadership. Politicians, business executives, coaches, parents, ministers to name a few have published books on leadership. It seems everyone has a opinion on the definition of leadership.

There are untold numbers of leadership development training “Great Leaders” for the next generation. Those programs consistent focus on training the next generation of which incites grandeur of one becoming a successful financial baron or IT genius for many.

Top-selling leadership author, like John Maxwell, (which I have read some of his books) go unchallenged in critical leadership definition discussions. Our illusion of leadership resembling a person who leads people out of the wilderness is reinforced by some authors and training programs. Leadership looks like a person to most of us in Western society.

Unfortunately, our obsession with hero-worshiping has created a one-track consciousness.  “A Leader must be an exceptional person and extra-ordinary leadership must be perform by such person.” This is false.

*****

3 Undeniable Myths about Leadership

(1) A Leader and Leadership are Synonymous

Nothing could be farther from the truth. A leader may be a person; however leadership cannot be possessed by such person.  I believe we are all leaders in our own specialties, policemen, teachers, and other occupations prove this point.  We hear constantly the call for leadership in our lives. How do we call for something we cannot define?

Leadership is an episodic social phenomenon involving collaborators (Leaders/Followers). It can sprout from a tragic accident on a highway, when group of strangers work together to pull an 8-month pregnant woman from a burning automobile, to a group of women’s national campaign (MADD) whose purpose was to change the laws concerning drunk driving.

“Leadership is a process of mutual influences which exists inside a group of individuals who are purposely-driven to intend real changes from current circumstances.“

No one person can ever be mightier than a group.  If we could resist the “Hollywoodization” of leadership, we would find that all projects accomplished were achieved by a group of people with a common purpose. Ford, Edison, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and so many others were a part of a whole. Yes they may have had an unequal influence upon others, but we continue a dreadful journey of the Great Man/Woman theory by focusing on leadership as one magnificence person.

*****

(2) Leadership Training is Innovative

Some leadership development programs consistent focus on training the next generation of “Great Leaders” is erroneous. Leadership as aforementioned is a process of collaborators. Leadership training disguised as acquiring skills which helps clients become the next “Bill Gates or Jack Welch” also is misleading. Consequently, who’s training the next generation of “Great Followers?”

We consistently rehash old paradigms of traits, characteristics, and great man/woman theories as leadership. Leader and leadership are not synonymous. We have settled to fuse the two together than too laboriously and critically examine their differences.

Our obsession with hero-worshiping has created a one-track consciousness. “A Leader must be an exceptional person and extra-ordinary leadership must be perform by such person.” This is why we gear a large majority of leadership training for exceptional college students only, and exceptional executives only; ordinary people cannot be leaders in some of our consciousness.

*****

(3) We know Leadership when we see it

This myth is one of the most debilitating obstacles in critical discussions in defining leadership. We see the eloquence of President Obama or the feistiness of Sarah Palin and hitch our agenda to the perception of leadership. The process of leadership has been transformed into glitz and glamour. I am not indicating these two are not leaders that is not for me to decide, but they are not leadership.

Regrettably Leadership is no longer in the realm of scholars’ examinations and defining, it’s in popular culture, and each person may define it as they please.

America in a war of instant gratification refuses to laboriously define the social phenomenon known as leadership. We define it as a person, characteristics, traits, power, celebrities, fame, bottom line success, authority position, personal success and accomplishments, sport figures, 3-day seminar, quotes, happy the group’s not fighting, ( I made that up), but you get my point.

If we were to be perfectly honest, we would admit, (1) We do not know how to train a leader, and (2) We do not know how to measure leadership.

Leadership training’s a big business because no one can agree upon a consensus in the scholastic environment.  And so, a leadership shell game exists with the old leadership paradigms while the public is no more the wise.

*****

We have to hold accountable the scientific community to either prove leadership as a social substantive phenomenon or myth. I do believe however this horse is out of the barn.   I believe the scientific community may be fed up with the discussion of what is leadership.  I sincerely hope not, however as I head down my own scholastic research journey, hopefully I will contribute to the scholarship.

But, please do not allow me to add to the pop culture of leadership.

99% of all leadership occurs not from the top but from the middle of an organization.

- John Maxwell

I want to share with you some thoughts that I have been processing from some recent reading.  If you have been  following my recent entries, you know that I am working through the John Maxwell book How Successful People Think.  What I am sharing today comes from the chapter on Unselfish Thinking.

Even though most of us see the value of Unselfish Thinking, our natural tendencies are to look out for ourselves first.  So, to help me and others  try to manage our self-centered urges  here is a quick and dirty  punch list, as prescribed by John Maxwell.

How to Experience the Satisfaction of Unselfish Thinking:

1) Put Others First

This really is not new material. But, it does not hurt to hear it again.  We have to be reminded that the first step in unselfish thinking is learning to put others first. Regardless of popular thinking, it is not all about me.

Norman Vincent Peale and Ken Blanchard wrote:

People with humility don’t think less of themselves; they just think of themselves less.

2) Expose yourself to situations where people have needs.

If we can get to the point where we see the value in putting others people’s needs before our own, we nest need to be willing to put some feet to the idea. We need to actually  give of ourselves unselfishly.  Start small at first. The point is for us to learn how to give of ourselves freely and establish the habit of thinking like a giver.

3) Give quietly or anonymously

Once we have established the habit of pouring out ourselves for others, our next goal is to learn how to do it without expecting it to be reciprocated. We all like a little recognition when we do good. Try serving someone without telling others about your actions.  Its a good test for your motive for giving. It wont be easy, but you can do it.

4) Invest in people intentionally

The pinnacle of unselfish thinking is being able to give  of yourself to another person for their personal well-being. This includes considering other’s personal journey and determining ways to come along side them and collaborate with them to meet their goals. Most people want to ensure that they win first. The unselfish thinker looks for a win-win with others.

5) Continually check your motives

Most people’s generosity is often times ambition in disguise.  The motive for investing in another person was merely to ensure their own win. We need to continually check out motives to ensure that we are not slipping back into a selfish mindset.  Ask yourself frequently “Why am I helping this person? Is it for my benefit or theirs?”

Let’s go give this a try this week. The world could certainly use a few more givers instead of takers. Good luck!

John Maxwell is one of my mentors. I hope you enjoy and lean from his teachings as I do.

Leadership is influence, nothing more nothing less.
The greatest leader that ever lived is Jesus Christ!
If you really want to lead, you have to know how to serve.
If you really want to know how to connect with people in your community follow the steps of Jesus.
Jesus would say leadership is servanthood.
You really want to lead you have to know how to serve

If you want to save your life you have to lose it, if you want to be lifted up you have to be humbled, if want to be great, you have to be a servant, If you want to be first, you have to be last, If you want to rule, you have to serve.

In corporate America the higher you go the greater your options, but in the Kingdom the higher you go the less your options. “You have to give up, to go up”

Dr. John Maxwell says it best “Our first job is to work with excellence, to add value to people, to live a life of integrity until those around us become hungry for what we have in our faith”

We need to challenge ourselves to be the a servant leader at work, in your community, in our church and at home. God wants us to always be transparent and true. He is looking to promote those with a servant’s heart. We are called to be light. You have more potential than you realize. See yourself through God’s eyes, believe in yourself, go and do that which is good that which God has put in your heart!

14″You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Mathew 5:14-16

What is Leadership?

I begun 28LeadershipGroup to gain knowledge and add to the scholarship of the phenomena known as “Leadership.” My definition of leadership does not originate from contemporary fusion of leader/leadership or leadership being effective management, but from the foundational framework presented by Joseph C. Rost.  (Rost,1993)  Rost in his book, “Leadership for the Twentieth-First Century” posits an issue with our definition of leadership,

“The facts are that in the 1990’s, the concept of leadership does not add up because leadership scholars and practitioners have no definition of leadership to hold on to. The scholars do not know what it is that they are studying, and the practitioners do not know what it is that they are doing.” (Rost 1993, p.8)

We are no closer to a consensus on leadership than Rost’s publication in 1993, as a fact matter of opinion we may be farther away than any time in history. Scholars in their zeal to add diversity to leadership has produced a quandary of definitions which lack any practicality. Leadership is whatever someone says it is, “Buyer Beware.” Leadership may be a quote, “Leadership means taking a courageous stand for all that’s possible,” or a style, a group of behaviors, or mastered in a 3-day T&D seminar.

“Many scholars have studied leaders and leadership over the years, but there is still no clear idea of what “leadership” is or who leaders are … The problem with [this] statement is not that it is inaccurate but that, having made it, 95 percent of the scholars ignore the statement and write their book, chapter, or article as if they know what leadership is. Worse many scholars write as if their readers know what leadership is and their readers’ understanding is the same as their own.” (Rost 1993, pp. 13-14)

The mis-education of leadership

Leadership has become a poster child of social network re-definition of scholarship. Although scholars never produced a definitive consensus and with the advent of our now knowledge-based world, leadership is whatever someone say it may be. Nevertheless, the majority of the rehashed definition of leadership continues to have the industrial definition cloak in its explanation.

The New Leadership has become a shell game with traits, great man/woman and characteristics theories meshed together as a new soup.

Our Problem with the Definition of Leadership

After monitoring “Tweetdeck” in three groups containing the title “leadership” one thing is apparent, leadership has no consistent definition among the public. I witness the definition of leadership as a stream of regurgitated unproven leadership frameworks, rehashed industrial theories and quick-fixed seminars and books. There were tons of leadership quotes thrown around as practical solutions from business to religious organizations.

Certainly one would not rely on social networks to gather an academic definition of leadership. Such a definition would be dismissed before the ink dried, and rightly so, however absent consensus scholarship has created the vacuum. Also, where are those definitions of leadership coming from?

A Google search of “books on leadership” relinquished 52,900,000 results on the subject. I would guess nearly 99% present the old industrial definition of leadership in some fashion as their framework. Leadership is vogue. The people have accepted an idea of what leadership should look like and in the absence of contrary theoretical evidence; they are being sold a rehashed formula expediently.

Leadership  poorly define, is not leadership.

Some scholars and practitioners are simply providing the people with what they want- “a leadership slogan and a dream.” Every facet of interaction has a leadership component, health industry leadership, business leadership, spirituality leadership, athletic leadership, poker leadership and on and on.

Leadership is the solution to everything. The hurricane of leadership books, T&D and seminars will become larger next year. Popular leadership authors like John Maxwell and Rudy Giuliani, are only a few who mesh old industrial definitions as a new paradigm of leadership.

The outlook on defining leadership scholarly appears bleak; it seems the genie’s out of the bottle. Pseudo leadership paradigms, sell! It’s a profitable business and the dullness of scholarly research is not required nor requested. The people have spoken, “We know what leadership is, and that’s all there is to it,” mobs can be fickle that way.

After millions of dollars are wasted on quick-fixed leadership books, antidotes and T&D people will look back and wonder. They will wonder why organizations continue to fail, why poor educational system maintain status quo, and why our political system remain in a funk. The people will shout yet again, “Where’s the leadership?” I hate to tell them, you would not know leadership if it walked up and hit you in the bottom.

Robert Williams, entrepreneur and graduate student specializing in leadership development

Pt.2 Why defining leadership is so important.

I just heard John Maxwell’s talk, “Books That Have Marked My Life” and he mentioned that he read 3 1/2 books on one of his flights…3 1/2 books?! It makes sense though because he’s considered the world’s leadership expert, mentors Fortune 500 CEOs, professional sports teams and started the only non-profit organization that gives 100% of proceeds directly to the cause.

And I’ve seen him speak in person 2 times. He’s a great speaker…so simple and connects so well! I even got his autograph for one of the books that I bought too. So nice.

Well, in his talk, he said that he took 3 speed reading courses. He’s 62 and said that he easily read at least 8,000-10,000 books. OH MY GOODNESS. And he loves reading biographies of successful people (which are usually really long). So cool…I love how he’s always so humble and shares how he learns stuff.

I thought speed reading was fake until he talked about it, so I looked it up and found this free one. Has a lot of cool tips! Hope it helps!!

John Maxwell offers these tips for a successful winning team:

— B: Believe in them before they succeed. “You have to believe in them first, before they become successful, and sometimes even before you can persuade them to believe in themselves.” Put your faith in them.

— E: Emphasize their strengths. “If someone believes that they have what it takes to accomplish some task, they are more likely to succeed than if they are focusing on addressing their perceived weaknesses. Praise for positive abilities and skills should be both public and private.”

— L: List their past achievements. “Helping people to recall their past successes can be a great source of encouragement.” Too often, people forget how well they have done in the past while remembering all too often their failures.

— I: Instill confidence when they fail. “Many people give up at their first failure. Encouragement at this critical point can make a huge difference.” Share some of your own past failures and show that you have been able to move on.

— E: Experience some wins together. “Help people to achieve small successes and you build their ability to conquer larger problems. Both their confidence levels and their skills are boosted in this way.”

— V: Visualize their future success. “If we ‘cast a vision…and paint a picture of their future success’ for people it will give them a great source of encouragement and motivation.”

— E: Expect a new level of living. “Encouraging people to stretch themselves and expand their horizons will help them to move on to a new level of effectiveness and achievement.”..

…….. B-E-L-I-E-V-E !

http://www.positivelite.com/

Yesterday, December 1, 2009, marked the official launch of a very important social network and online community.  It is also very exciting to note that this important media launch was planned to coincide with World AIDS Day.  What a great idea!  You will come to know the importance of this as you read on.

PositiveLite.com is a brand new e-magazine for HIV positive gay men and their friends. It is the product of many months of work, development, and planning by Brandon Williams and Brian Finch who are both ‘out’, long term surviving HIV positive men living in Toronto.

The website will provide something over and above the typical blog that we see everywhere on the web these days.  PositiveLite.com is different than other websites as it is an online social space where readers and members have access to unique perspectives of people who live with HIV/AIDS, as well as those who have been affected by it in so many other ways.  Contributors on PositiveLite.com represent many aspects of our everyday reality, as community members, thinkers, and friends.  I myself, as a friend of many who are HIV positive, find spaces like this site to be inspirational and important in lieu of today’s neo-liberal zeitgeist.  In other words, this online social space, as a voice for people affected by HIV/AIDS, is long overdue.  Here is a place where those living with HIV/AIDS make sense of their lives with discourse, personal stories, art, social media, multi-media, and humour.

It is the first of it’s kind in Canada, bringing together several published, well-known, and respected HIV positive voices such as: Life-Coach Brandon Williams (http://www.btscoaching.com), social advocate, writer, and humourist Brian Finch (http://acidrefluxweb.com), Montreal lawyer Ken Monteith (http://talktothehump.blogspot.com), Toronto stylist Phillip Minaker, advocate Robyn Pardy, HIV health & treatment specialist Devan Nambiar, Toronto columnist Derek Thaczuk, blogger and facilitator Bob Leahy (http://www.hivstigma.com/blogs/bob/),advice columnist John Maxwell, columnist Corey Washington, internet gossip columnist Perez Sheraton, internet gamer and self-confessed gadget geek Sebastien Goulet, and astrologist Soul Garden (http://www.soulgardencollective.tv/).

I hope people sign up for membership on PositiveLite.com (www.positivelite.com).  I am betting there will be daily entries that will educate, provoke, and certainly entertain its readers.  From what I have seen so far on PostiveLite.com, blog entries are taking multiple forms in both written and visual formats.  You can bet there will be much creativity being utilized and explored while this social media site evolves.

This is also going to be an online space offering social networks and workshops for people to take part.  It offers the ability for members to become reflexive parts of this energetic community.  I am certainly looking forward to seeing how this site will evolve over time.  The contributors come from various diverse backgrounds, all with content that is aiming to be collective and mutually constructive.  This website has the promise of constructing new meanings and descriptions of how people not only live with HIV/AIDS, but thrive in so many aspects of their everyday realities.

It is also very exciting to note that PositiveLite.com has aligned itself with media organizations important to Toronto and Canadian LTGBQ communities such as Shaun Proulx Media (www.GayGuideToronto.com), OUTTV’S The Shaun Proulx Show), and The AIDS Committee of Toronto.

Congratulations to Brandon, Brian, and everyone involved in this project.  I wish you the greatest of success!

Richard Birch

PositveLite.com logo used with kind permission.

Let one of the world’s best speakers enlighten us …

La diferencia entre la persona promedio y los triunfadores es el concepto que tiene del fracaso y cómo lo enfrenta. El autor nos dice que si somos como era él, nunca estamos preparado para afrontar el fracaso. Pero ha aprendido a hacer del fracaso un amigo y puede enseñarnos a hacer lo mismo. Esa es su intención en este libro. Con la calidez y el buen humor que lo caracterizan, nos enseña principios claros para vencer el fracaso y quince pasos para que lleguemos a ser triunfadores. En resumen, aprenderemos a:
Dominar el miedo en vez de que el miedo nos domine a nosotros
Acabar con las fallas que nos llevan al fracaso. Desarrollar estrategias para triunfar tras los grandes fracasos.

Para Descargar el Libro Completo, Haga Click Aquí

El cuadro del éxito consiste en saber el propósito de uno en la vida, crecer hasta alcanzar nuestro máximo potencial, y sembrar semillas que benefician a otros.

Cuando uno ve el éxito como un viaje, nunca tiene problema en tratar de alcanzar un evasivo destino.

El mapa para alcanzar el éxito es un amplio y valioso libro que nos ayudará a transitar el camino para el que fuimos creados, seguir hacia delante, vivir nuestros sueños y terminar victoriosos.

Para Descargar el Libro Completo, Haga Click Aquí

We have 24 hours in a day, yet feel like we can never accomplish everything we desire in that time frame. It’s so easy to procrastinate, put things off and wait until someone else comes along to give us that push to action. Why do we struggle with self-motivation? To take a page out of Shakespeare’s world with a minor substitution, to do or not to do can be the statement that sends your world to new heights or keeps your life in stall out mode.

When I first started living on my own in college, I learned that the professors give you a syllabus for the semester that outlines when papers, quizzes, tests and projects are due- along with percentages of what your grade will be based on. They won’t tell you how to manage your workload amongst all your classes. They won’t be urging you on to get that book read, that paper written, the studying you need to put in for the big mid-term or final. It’s all left up to you. If you didn’t develop good study skills in your formative years, you’ll certainly have to develop the mindset in college to know how to manage your time effectively- or you’ll be swimming in stress and possible failure.

It was at this point that I learned to break tasks down into smaller chunks, and understand that if I have 20 books to read in a semester, I need to look at how much I can realistically accomplish each day as well as fitting in my normal daily living activities, socializing, meal times and adequate sleep. I would write out daily and weekly to do lists and cross each off as they were accomplished. If I needed assistance in the form of studying for tests, I would seek out teaching assistant or my professors during their office hours. I worked on teamwork to get the material embedded in my head- so we would form study session groups in our dorm.

I wasn’t very good at waiting until the last minute to accomplish major 15-20 page papers. I often volunteered to be first when it came to class presentations- because I felt my preparation and attention to detail would be a good barometer for my classmates to aspire to. If I want to accomplish my dreams, I know I have to be one to come up with the desire, the plans, writing it down, breaking it up into manageable tasks and then taking each step forward every day to achieving my goals.

So I’m urging you to develop lists called “To Do Now”, starting with your most difficult tasks at the top and working your way down to your easiest tasks. If you aren’t able to accomplish something that day- transfer this task to your “To Do Now” list for the following day. Write out what you want to accomplish the night before you go to bed- it will give you the impetus to know what you have to get going on when you awake. If you need some inspiration in the morning, seek out the comfort of positive material from Success magazine or authors such as W. Clement Stone, Napoleon Hill, John Maxwell, Brian Tracy, Deepka Chopra, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jim Rohn, Denis Waitley, T. Harv Eker, Marcus Buckingham, and hundreds of others. Look in the mirror and reflect on how wonderful, special and unique of a person you are. You have talents and abilities the world needs in their lives everyday- so shine like the bright beacon of light you are.

You don’t want to look back at the end of the year and wonder where the time went- you want to feel like you have more to offer to this world and can’t wait to tackle each day with gusto.

This question came in from our Success 2.0 Webcast last week.

“What is the most important trait that someone could have to remain positive in this economic environment?” Gary

In any type of struggle, faith is the most important thing you can have.  I have heard Dad say many times, “I don’t know what the future holds, but I know Who holds the future.”  When you know this and believe this, it gives you hope.  And as John Maxwell says, “When you have hope in the future, you have power in the present.”

One of my facebook friends just posted this question: ” Dan wonders why Christians are so obsessed with ‘leadership’?

Craig Davidson posted:
because of the weak social construct of the church. What we have created doesn’t naturally default to or promote true unity nor community – hence the one-up-manship.

Also, leadership and influence sounds very kitch. ‘I’m a leader…’ it kinda sounds sexy to the masses.

Studying this very topic at the moment Dan – you’re an insightful little happysnapper.

Jade posted:
I wonder if part of it comes from a narrow view of being a “shepherd” – ie. that he’s the cool dude that leads his posse of sheep around everywhere rather than the dude who goes and lives outside in the cold and rain with the sheep, makes sure they all get fed, are safe from wolves and are always accounted for.

Jack posted:
I don’t think christian leaders are obsessed with leadership because it’s sexy or one-upmanship Craig, although I do agree about the weak social construct and what we’ve built does tend to revolve around the leader in a fairly sick way.

And in saying the obsession is because leadership is sexy, or glorious, or cool, probably takes away a bit from the genuine heartfelt sense of call and responsibility and sacrifice christian leaders make.

I think it comes from more like what Jade is saying… a narrow view of leadership from many sources. The corporate world, a steady fiber-free diet of John Maxwell, contemporary leadership theory and our hugely charismatic “heroes” of the faith that we compare ourselves to….

There’s nothing wrong with developing a gift, it’s when we become obsessed with techniques, skill sets, knowledge, methodology etc. that it becomes an issue. Then it’s no longer about “being” but “doing” and the best advice that Paul said to Timothy was “let your growth be evident to all” – in other words, “let people watch how you grow through difficulties, pain, hardship, good times and bad. Follow Christ and that will be the most powerful leadership you can give.”

Dan, contemporary Christianity is obsessed with leadership because that’s what you get pounded into you, and it’s pounded in because it’s one of the hallmarks of pentecostal and charismatic Christianity. It’s one of the aspects of church growth we “discovered” and “implemented”. Basically it works – to an extent (but has a massive downside) and I think the bubble is going to burst on this one and the next “reformation” of the church is going to restore leadership to what Jade just said.

by The McCuistion Program, November 17, 2009.

During this weekend’s episode, Is “Corporate Ethics” an Oxymoron?, panelists discussed everything that surrounds corporate business ethics and the breakdown of ethics in portions of corporate America in the past years.  During the program, panelists discuss how the ethics of corporations will only be as strong as the ethics of the individuals that make up the organization.  This is a fascinating point as it leads to questions regarding hiring, promoting and the overall leadership training of organizations.  Tagging onto the question of corporate business ethics, the overarching question of ethics in general beg question.

In 2003, reporter Jayson Blair made national headlines for his lack of ethical reporting.  He had covered stories for the New York Times, ranging from the D.C. sniper case to the rescue of Jessica Lynch.  Unfortunately, he had both plagiarized and fabricated details of many of the stories he had written…(continue reading)

Here are some of the books, that I am reading or have been influential in my development.  Maybe you can add some of these to your own library.  Maybe you have an opinion on one of them. Let me know!

ESV Study Bible (English Standard Version)

This is simply the best study bible out there for people who want to not only read verses out of the bible, but to understand the message of the bible and articulate that message to other people.  Lots of great tools have been included to help one’s study of the Bible. (When you get the Bible, read St. Mark’s Gospel, Paul’s Letter to the Romans, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,  and Ephesians )

Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley

This biography was such an amazing tale of a man who through the force of his convictions educates himself and becomes one of the strongest orators and thought leaders of the 60s.  Even if you disagree with his politics, his story is fascinating.

Martin Luther King Trilogy by Taylor Branch (Parting the Waters, Pillar of Fire, and On Canaan’s Edge”

This trilogy I still haven’t finished.  But if you are looking for something on the life and times SURROUNDING Dr. King and the players in that era (e.g. Kennedy, Malcolm X) this is series for you.  The author spent almost 20 years of his life putting the information together and its well worth the read.

Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper

Piper calls for those of us who are Christian to run after God and get out of boring, safe Christianity, and actually run after Jesus.

7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

If you are trying to pick up some tools to order your life, there are some here.

Desiring God by John Piper

Piper drops this gem. “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”  Please read!

Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams

Mr. Williams spent an inordinate amount of his life tracing the history of the decline of ancient African empires to the modern day neo-colonialism that is Africa’s calling card.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Achebe speaks about a civilization — a way of life — that is killed ironically by “civilization.”  Good book: it gave me perspective.

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

I just love anything that Mr. Gladwell writes.  The Tipping Point started the love affair.

21 Indisputable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell

John Maxwell writes this great one on leadership.

Slide-ology – The Art of Creating Great Presentations by Nancy Duarte

If you are into making presentations and want to understand the art behind great Powerpoint or Keynote slides, pick this one up for your library.

Vintage Jesus by Marc Driscoll

I haven’t read this one yet, I must confess.  However, I hear it is good for those who want to know about the life of Jesus in highly reader-friendly language.

Why We Can’t Wait by Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin speaks to the discontent of the Black America in the sixties.  Some of what he writes is still prescient for today and he is at his poetic best in this book.  The Letter of a Birmingham Jail is included.

I mentioned a few blogs back that I am working through John Maxwell’s book “How Successful People Think”.  Cultivate Big-Picture Thinking is the first principle out of eleven in total that he discusses. Here are some highlights of his teaching on the importance of being able to expand your thinking to the Big-Picture level.  The chapter opens with some quotes worth remembering.

Where success is concerned, people are not measured in inches, or pounds, or college degrees, or family background; they are measured by the size of their thinking – David Schwartz

You have to think, so why not think big? – Donald Trump

Maxwell stresses that Big-Picture thinkers:

• Learn continually
• Listen intentionally
• Look expansively
• Live completely

Why should we pursue Big-Picture thinking?  Maxwell says:

• Big-Picture thinking allows you to lead
  • It helps you to:
    • See the vision before the people do
    • Size up situations, taking into account many variables
    • Sketch a picture of where the team is going
    • Show how the future connects with the past to make the journey more meaningful
    • Seize the moment when the timing is right
• Big-Picture thinking keeps you on target
• Big-Picture thinking allows you to see what others see
• Big-Picture thinking promotes teamwork
• Big-Picture thinking keeps you from being caught up in the mundane
• Big-Picture thinking helps you chart uncharted territory

From reading this chapter you can’t help but asking yourself:

Are you expanding your thinking to see the entire picture?

Are you able to see how today’s results, whether a win or lose, fits into the top level battle plan?

Are you keeping balance between tactical thinking required to get from point A-B  and the strategic thinking driving you to reach point Z?

Next time I will share Maxwell’s thoughts on Engaging in Focused Thinking.