Per David Allen from his article on Huffington Post, Resolve It, Then Dissolve It:
"It's smart to shelve in your library all of your books but the one you're reading right now. "
I'm not sure what I like more about this quote- the fact that everything has its place or that I should be reading one and only one thing at a time...
Part of the genesis of The Daily Saint was a desire to find purpose and meaning from daily work. Having worked with plenty of folks who seemed miserable doing the work that they had chosen, I set out to find a medium for promoting the marriage of ordinary work with personal values.
When I came across Soul at Work: Spiritual Leadership in Organizations, I found what I was looking for- a blend of business success with spiritual focus. The approach that author Margaret Benefiel uses is simple and direct, providing snapshots of organizations and how they attempt to integrate spiritual principles into everyday life.
What is 'soul at work'? Quite simply, as Benefiel writes, it is an organization that allows the human spirit to realize its fullest potential. When an organization provides an employee with the space to accomplish this, great things happen.
I especially enjoyed the chapter called Leading from the Inside Out: The Inner Life of the Leader. Benefiel provides a snapshot of four leaders who are principle-centered to the core. CEO Bob Carlson of Reell Manufacturing discusses his struggle to maintain times of sabbath and rest. Matching his personal life of faith with his role as the leader of a major corporation, Carlson has found a way to integrate the two. He and several other executives end their meetings with what they call 'inspirational wisdom'- a period of silence which lasts for seven minutes. Imagine if Microsoft and Google followed suit!
How do great leaders make decisions? Benefiel discusses such concepts as listening and keeping grounded in spiritual practices. She also provides a nice look at what she calls 'corporate discernment'. This is, I believe, at the heart of what others have called staying power- you don't stick if you can't make the decisions which allow for endurance. As an example, we all have seen too many universities that were once founded on core principles, only to find that years later they are trying to be all things to all people.
Mercy Medical Center in Iowa features one model for making decisions with a greater cause in mind. When faced with the opportunity to open a preadolescent psychiatric services program, CEO Jim Fitzpatrick gathered a team in order to discern how the venture would fit within the mission of the organization. In the end, Mercy made a decision that worked for them and honored those in need, within the framework of the organization's broader mission.
Soul at Work is a solid read. I highly recommend it for readers of The Daily Saint who wish to keep their faith in sync with their work. I've made copies of certain chapters for some colleagues in order to encourage and motivate them and I think that would work for your team as well. In the next month, we'll feature an interview with author Margaret Benefiel herself which should provide a perfect complement to this review.
Related Posts
Mini Review: The Fred Factor by Mark Sanborn
It's Not What You Read but WHERE You Read That Counts
Mini Review: The Likability Factor by Tim Sanders
Mini Review: The Power of a Positive No by William Ury
Photo by RickyDavid
My friend Gene lives like a rock star. He travels the globe, working and playing and then blogging about it for all to enjoy. There are others who test drive expensive cars or even jump out of airplanes.
I'd like to suggest something a bit simpler this weekend.
Weekend time can easily get swallowed up in errands, birthday parties for kids and house work. Even for church-goers, weekend time can get absorbed in a myriad of programs and events. The key, as usual, is to simplify. Here are some minimalist ideas for your Saturday and Sunday:
Sometimes I envy guys with a rock-star lifestyle, wondering why my Toyota Camry doesn't have racing stripes or a sub-woofer in place of a back seat. Then, I shake myself out of it and appreciate all that I have.
If you're looking for a quick read that offers truly unique perspectives on customer service, Mark Sanborn's The Fred Factor is just the ticket. Based on Mark's experiences with his postman, "Fred", he outlines what outstanding attention to the customer is all about. The book is broken down into four sections:
This book is straightforward and relatively short so the busy stay-at-home mom or commuting executive will find it a good fit. I usually mark pages where a good quote stands out and without exaggeration, I would say that every 2-3 pages is folded over!
One of the real strengths of the book is Mark's truly original perspective on service. As a professional public speaker, it would be easy to use stories from Zig Ziglar or someone else but Mark is creative, keeps things moving and by the end of the book, you want to serve others better and more often. That's what I call a success.
The Bottom Line: The Fred Factor receives 5 out of 5 halos
Resources for the Road
It's not What You Read but Where You Read That Counts
Mini Review: The Likeability Factor
Mini Review: The Power of a Positive No
One Final Thought
Mark Sanborn is a value-centered individual who provides an excellent product (public speaking and written materials) without sacrificing his own sense of customer service. I've received numerous emails from Mark over the past year when I've linked to his website. Looks like he practices what he preaches!
We learned just yesterday that test scores are up as a result of the No Child Left Behind Act. While test taking is an important skill, what many schools are struggling with is the art of reading and reading well. How do you get a child to garner the internal motivation to read ten pages of a text and retain it?
I've blogged numerous times about the importance of good books and why reading is such a vital piece to the 'workplace saint'. It's dawned on me of late: the content of what we read is important but where (and when) we read might be just as significant. Some ideas:
Sure, what we read matters a great deal, but where we read is just as significant. Creating helpful habits of locational reading is a crucial step to growing the reading practice.
Other TDS Book Resources
My Top 10 Great Books for Personal Growth
Mini Review: The Likeability Factor
How One Jersey Author Gets Things Done
Mini Review: The Power of a Positive No
I'm currently reading Seth Godin's newest book The Dip: When to Quit and When to Stick. I'm one of those guys who will read anything written by an author that I love. This would include Godin, Mark Sanborn, Laura Stack, Pat Lencioni and Paula Huston, to name but a few. Godin is both funny and creative, a great combination that makes for an easy read on any day of the week.
One of the key points of The Dip is being the best in the world. The catch is this: 'world' is whatever you want it to be. For me, I have the best realtor in the whole world (congrats Francine!)- her customer service is unparalleled and she is proactive. That's all we need and for us, she's the best.
In what world do people look to you for expertise and know-how? It might be your market niche, a nearby neighborhood or your church. Wherever it is, go with it and savor the moment(s) for all that it's worth.
Resources for the Road
The Dip on Squidoo
Guy Kawasaki asks Seth Godin 10 Key Questions
Escape from Cubicle Nation reviews The Dip
To start another work week, I've put together 7 steps for getting more out of what you read. The National Endowment for the Arts reports that fewer people are reading literature than ever before and for working professionals, the data may be even worse. As always feel free to share this resource. Enjoy!
Download The_Art_of_Productive_Reading.pdf
"You are what you read," or at least that's what I have come to believe. Since moving to Baltimore three years ago, my quest for great books has been 'fed' by my daily commute. It allows me to cover about 2 books a month via books on tape/CD. Here are my "top 10":
When I read Tim Sanders' (former Yahoo! executive) first book, Love is the Killer App, I was blown away by Sanders' writing style and truly unique ideas about the business world. It changed the way I see human interaction. I was unfortunately not as taken with his second book, The Likeability Factor.
Now, I have to come clean here and admit something: I prefer audio books as they capture accents, humor and subtleties in a way that words on a page cannot and I read (listened) to Sanders' first book while driving to and from Baltimore each day. For his second work, I chose the old fashioned paper approach. I only mention this because it impacted my overall experience of his book, probably not to its benefit.
The Likeability Factor has one central premise which I completely agree with: much of life is a popularity contest so why not maximize the degree to which folks like you? Pretty simple but oh so true! Unfortunately, much of the book takes on a style that left me waiting for something more substantial that what it had to offer. I was anxious for real life business-world examples but Tim preferred to keep much of the content on the "soft" side and shared but a few examples of personal change in the lives of folks he knew. One gets a sense that Tim has gone away from his concrete exepriences at Yahoo! and Broadcast.com and swerved heavily into the self-help lane where content is created, not so much discovered.
While Tim Sanders is in my mind a true innovator, a gifted speaker and makes a needed contribution to biz life, The Likeability Factor came up a bit short. Now I'm moving on to Malcolm Caldwell's The Tipping Point with a review coming in the next month or so.
Audio follow up: you can listen to an audio sample of Tim's book here.
When I first met author and speaker Allan Wright
in 1996 I knew that this man was gifted in many ways. With a great
sense of humor, true New Jersey grit and a love for all things
Scriptural, Allan has made a difference in the lives of literally
thousands of Jersey high school students through his teaching.
I recently had a chance to sit down with Allan to go over his new book
and discuss how he gets so much done while balancing work, life and a
healthy dose of Jersey diners. What follow are some of Allan's keys to
tackling major projects with ease:
Visit Allan's website or buy his book today.
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