What happens when a successful businessman loses his job, his savings, his self-respect and his hope? And, on top of that, has a daughter in need of an operation? Well, if he happens to be the protagonist in The Traveler’s Gift: Seven Decisions That Determine Personal Success by Andy Andrews, he jumps back and forth through time (via a dream) and receives wisdom-filled advice from some of history’s greatest achievers.

“Not likely to happen”, you say? Well, you’re right. But don’t let that stop you from losing yourself in a couple of the most enjoyable hours you can ever invest. The bonus is that you’ll learn and re-learn some principles that truly can enhance both your personal and professional success.

The principles are familiar. They should be; they’ve been taught since forever.  That’s because they work (which reminds me of Jim Rohn’s famous line, “Beware the person promising to teach you ‘new fundamentals”).

The magic, however, is not just in the principles themselves, but in how they are related. Andrews, a former stand-up comedian; now an internationally-known speaker and multi-bestselling author, is also a historian. Accordingly, the story’s protege, David Ponder, learn these lessons mainly from important historical figures at critical, difficult points in their own lives. They include a couple of past U.S. Presidents, a Biblical King, a Civil War hero and others. Combining actual events and exceptional storytelling along with the mentorship makes the reader feel a part of history.

I read this book when it was first published many years ago. Knowing that the author has had several other very well-received books out since then that I hadn’t yet read, it seemed like a good idea to re-familiarize myself with this one. Good idea. Somehow it was even more enjoyable this time around. Perhaps, this is because there were two decisions of which I especially needed to be reminded.

The actual principles/decisions are:

1. The buck stops here. I am responsible for my past and my future.
2. I will seek wisdom. I will be a servant to others.
3. I am a person of action. I seize this moment. I choose now.
4. I have a decided heart. My destiny is assured.
5. Today I will choose to be happy. I am the possessor of a grateful spirit.
6. I will greet this day with a forgiving spirit. I will forgive myself.
7. I will persist without exception. I am a person of great faith.

Nothing new? Sure. Then again, as the king in the story also told us in Koheles/Ecclesiastes, “there is nothing new under the sun.” But that shouldn’t stop anyone from giving themselves a huge gift, by reading…The Travelers Gift.

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Note: Some of the Amazon reviews imply that the book has a Christian-based agenda. While the author is of the Christian Faith and makes some Biblical references, I did not infer any agenda being communicated other than to teach some very nice, success-based principles. If I were to use a “Twitter Hashtag” in response to those reviewers, it would be #GetOverIt

The book being discussed today breaks my heart. Not because I didn’t enjoy it. On the contrary, I loved it! Totally enjoyed the message. It breaks my heart because the topic is of such importance that — in my opinion — the title must accurately reflect the message… I don’t believe it does.

Leadership Is Dead: How Influence Is Reviving It is by Jeremie Kubicek, President and CEO of GiANT Impact, a global leadership company. Among their many impressive achievements is the Chick-fil-A Leadercast.

Leadership Is Dead. The title wouldn’t offend me…IF that was the actual premise of the book. But, it isn’t.

His premise — as is obvious throughout the book and as he describes in a brief video on his Amazon.com book page — is that “Leadership is dead when focused on you!” In fact, at he top of the back page of his book, it clearly says, “Leadership is alive when it is used for others. It dies when it is all about you.”

I totally agree. That is the basic message of Law #3, “The Law of Influence” in The Go-Giver. And, being that the title of John David Mann‘s and my next book is, It’s Not About You, obviously, I have no disagreement whatsoever with Jeremie’s premise.

My only challenge is with his title. In a recent post I discussed the challenge I have with people, in trying to find a contrarian title that will attract readers, misrepresenting (unintentionally, as I 100% believe is the case here) the actual body of work. And, in my opinion, this holds true whether an article or a book.

Being contrarian is fine and I certainly believe in using headlines that attract readers. However, it seems that the two should be congruent.

The book itself though? Beautiful! Jeremie shares lessons of leadership and influence I found to be powerful, helpful and enjoyable. And anyone who is a student of this topic and/or would like to be an effective leader and influencer will gain much through reading this book. The author shares personal stories that provide insight into his heart, and he provides numerous examples of other great leaders and the lessons they can teach us.

There were many excellent points throughout, and my highlighter and pen both got some serious workout time.  I felt his list of ten points under the subhead, “The Attributes of a True Influence Leader” on page 77 was terrific. And, my favorite quote of all was on the very next page where he wrote:

“Leadership is influence. Influence is power. How that power is used
comes from the intent of the leader, from the motives of the heart.”

I could fill an entire page with his many “takeaway gems.” Instead, I’ll suggest you purchase the book and be ready for an exceptional lesson on leadership and influence that you’ll hopefully enjoy and benefit from as much as I did.

Just finished the book, Idea Man: A Memoir by the Cofounder of Microsoft, by Paul Allen. It was a fascinating look into the digital genius, entrepreneur, philanthropist, musician and explorer whom, because of his private nature, few outside his world knew much about before this book.

I learned many lessons from the book though it was not one in which I found myself highlighting and taking notes on a continual basis. There were some gems, for sure, as might be expected when learning from such a successful person. Really, though, it was — more than anything — simply a very enjoyable read. Much more so than I even expected.

Allen grew up in a nice, middle-class family with loving Parents, a good imagination and, as it turns out, a fairly good grasp of computer stuff (insert major LOL here). He also sensed the potential it had to change the world in a positive way and he had the willingness to see it happen.

More than anything, it was his passion that came through the pages. In a quiet way, he threw himself full-force into whatever captured him at the moment. And, that was one of my biggest takeaways, the key insight into the man.

Near the end of the book, he wrote:

“Some people are motivated by a need for recognition, some by money, and some by a broad social goal. I start from a different place, from the love of ideas and the urge to put them into motion and see where they might lead.

“The creative path is rocky, with the risk of failure ever present and no guarantees. But even with its detours and blind alleys, it’s the only road that I find fulfilling.”

Here’s a man who, through the ideas he pursued (with his then business partner, Bill Gates) and the value he provided, became a multi-billionaire at a very young age. And, while the money was simply a means to an end that allowed him to pursue that which he chose to pursue, it certainly wasn’t about the money.

For Paul Allen, it was about the ideas; it was about putting them in motion; it was about seeing where they would lead.

What is it about for you? What moves you? What motivates you? What gets you up in the morning?

The Hokey-Pokey notwithstanding, this really is what it’s all about.

No, not what motivates Paul Allen; it’s about what motivates YOU. It’s about what YOU will throw yourself full-force into.

Please share with us what that is!

Blog posts on books I love are the most difficult for me to write.

Why? Because often, books like the one I’m suggesting today, despite being fun and easy to read, have lessons that run so deep, I’m concerned I won’t be able to communicate the messages sufficiently and/or appealingly enough that you’ll be moved to read them.

Such is the case with Aspire: Discovering Your Purpose Through The POWER OF WORDS.

In this extremely powerful work, former Franklin Quest partner and now highly sought-after business consultant, speaker and Coach, Kevin Hall, invites us along on his personal and exciting journey to discover how words (yes, words!) can help us clarify and discover our purpose as well as help us to do the same for others.

With the help of a kind octogenarian, Dr. Arthur Watkins, a man who’d invested his life in the study of words, Kevin focuses on dissecting 11 different powerful words, both English and from other cultures. The very first one, learned from Mr. Pravin Cherkoori, a wise and humble Indian shopkeeper in Vienna, Austria, is what the author refers to as The Secret Word. He also refers to it as as “one of the most meaningful gifts of my life.”

The featured words are: Genshai, Pathfinder, Namaste, Passion, Sapere Vedere, Humility, Inspire, Empathy, Coach, Ollin, and Integrity. Yes, we learn their roots and their origins of usage, and how they team with other words to arrive at their current meanings and incarnations. By the way, if you’re like I am, you’ll find this to be fascinating in and of itself.

What’s special about this, however, is how the words are used to tie into the real-life characters we come to know and root for; some of whom overcame dramatic odds to succeed and find their purpose.

I could go on and on with how emotionally touched I was throughout the book. Instead, if I may, I’d like to quote from the Foreword by Dr. Stephen Covey:

“The more you understand words and the layers within them, the more it helps you understand your path and purpose…Words are the direction signs that show the way to {following your} bliss. Words, in concert with the actions they inspire, help you become a better leader, a better spouse, a better parent, a better salesperson, a better athlete…The power in words generates wealth, health, productivity, discipline, spirituality, and limitless other desirable human traits.”

Dr. Covey’s Foreword ends a page later with:

“Whatever your goal, your quest, your passion, I am confident Aspire will unlock for you a universal force that will light the way to inspiration and personal growth. I suggest you keep a pen or pencil close by as you read this profound work over and over again. I know I will.”

All I can say in response to the above paragraph is, “it did, I did, and I will.”

Well, one more thing: I hope you’ll do the same.

I have only one complaint about this book:  it’s so good that I can’t see how I’m going to fit what I want to say into just one post.

Bought because I heard so many people talking about it and about the author, Tony Hsieh (pronounced Shay), I figured it would make a quick read on my flight back from speaking in Chicago.

No way. This book is worth studying, underlining, highlighting, note-taking and absorbing.

I don’t know the author personally and have never purchased shoes or anything else from the company around which this book focused, Zappos.com. So, I knew nothing about them or about him other than the names.

The Title is Delivering Happiness, which is exactly what Zappos.com does.  Shoes and their other items are what John David Mann and I refer to in Go-Givers Sell More as their “MacGuffins.” In other words, while shoes and such are the objects around which Zappos.com revolves…they are not what the company is actually about.  The subtitle is A Path To Profits, Passion, And Purpose. Very accurate, as well.  Though, like practically all great and outrageously successful leaders (and, make no mistake, the 35-year old Hsieh is both), he focused first on taking care of his people; both internally and externally even before all that.

The first part of the book is fun and interesting, and provides insight into the author’s mind and how it works, but at a certain point it accelerates into an entity where pretty much every page becomes loaded with life-enhancing and business-changing “A-Ha’s.”

…..it’s now 30 minutes later and after racking my brain on what to share from the book…..

If you don’t mind, let’s look at a core aspect of the author’s/company’s success. In doing this, however, first understand that they had a goal of $1 billion in gross merchandise sales in 2010. They accomplished it…in 2008!

According to Tony Hsieh:

“Looking back, a big reason we hit our goal  was that we decided to invest our time, money and resources into three key areas: customer service (which would build our brand and drive word of mouth), culture (which would lead to the formation of our core values), and employee training and development which would eventually lead to the creation of our Pipeline Team).

“Even today, our belief is that our Brand, our Culture, and our Pipeline are the only competitive advantages that we will have in the long run. Everything else will eventually be copied.”

In Delivering Happiness, you’ll find out exactly how Tony and his leadership team elicited the type of employee buy-in and raving consumer fans that has become legendary; experienced to this degree by only a handful of companies ever. Hint: You’ll find the words “Core Values” and “Customer Service” to be prevalent. And, yes; those words can often be as overused as “think outside the box” (which, fortunately, you won’t find). The difference here is that they figured out the what and the how of those concepts, and they implemented them.

Mistakes? They made their share and the author willingly shares them with us. However, they did a lot more right. Mainly they decided what they stood for; what exactly their values were. And, once they did, they did not allow anything to take them off course. While this tough stand created some tense and dangerous moments; not to mention a loss of  some immediate revenue, it rather quickly led to a financial success uncommon in these or any times.

Hmm, focus on providing immense value to everyone whose lives you touch and you’ll make money. Provide that immense value to the lives of many, and you’ll make a lot of money.  This is what Free Enterprise is all about. And it’s exactly what Tony Hsieh and Zappos.com does.

This book is so deep and wonderful and terrific, unfortunately this review simply did not do it justice. So, I hope you’ll purchase it and enjoy it as much as I have.