Archive for books
Let the judging begin!
Posted by: | CommentsThis past weekend I was in Denver, Colorado, enjoying the beauty of the Rocky Mountains and speaking to a great group of leaders.
And apparently many of YOU were leaving comments on my last blog post. Wow! 1,090 entries in the Big Case Giveaway!
Now a group of Thomas Nelson employees has the job of determining the best comments – what they consider the 20 most effective and creative ideas for using a case of Everyone Communicates, Few Connect.
The judges expect to be done by the end of next week, and as soon as they give me the list of TWENTY winners, I’ll post them right here and contact them via email.
Thank you for taking the time to share your creativity and strategy with all of us in the comments. While only 20 commenters will “win,” I’m confident that many more will influence the connecting ability of blog readers around the world.
P.S. If you’d like another chance to win – this time a single signed copy of Everyone Communicates, Few Connect – then go visit the personal blog of Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers. He’s giving away 100 of them this Friday, April 16. Details and instructions can be found on his blog.
ECFC excerpt and Twitter GIVEAWAY
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s here! Tomorrow is the “official” release date for Everyone Communicates, Few Connect.
And even though many bookstores actually started stocking it weeks ago, we still want to celebrate by offering something to you now. So over the next few days, look for promotions here on the blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter.
TOMORROW (March 30) is an all-day giveaway on Twitter.
(Obviously, if you don’t already follow me there, now’s a good time to start.)
Just log onto Twitter 3/30/2010 at or after 9:00 a.m. EDT, when I’ll share how to enter. Your patience will be rewarded.
Now on that note, I’ll share a timely excerpt from Everyone Communicates, Few Connect:
Connecting Requires Patience
We live in an impatient culture. We use drive-through windows to buy meals, pick up our dry cleaning, complete banking transactions, and order prescriptions. I think Lisa Thorne’s comment on my blog describes a lot of us: “The good news is I move fast; the bad news is I often move alone.”4 Everybody is in a hurry, but that prevents most of us from connecting with others effectively. If you want to connect with people, you need to slow down.
I must admit, impatience has always been a weakness for me, and I have continually had to work on it. Early in my career, I wanted to do things as quickly as possible and move on to the next thing. If someone didn’t want to move at my speed, I breezed right past him or her. But that leadership style hindered my ability to connect with others, and my relationships suffered. The good news was that I moved fast. The bad news was that I often moved alone.
Moving at the speed of another person can be exhausting. It obviously takes energy to keep up with someone who is moving faster than we are. But isn’t it also tiring to move at a slower pace than we want to? Henry David Thoreau wrote, “The man who goes alone can start the day. But he who travels with another must wait until the other is ready.” I find waiting very frustrating. It tries my patience. However, if I want to connect with people, I have to be willing to slow down and go at someone else’s pace. Good connectors don’t always run the fastest, but they are able to take others with them. They exhibit patience. They set aside their own agendas to include others. These things require energy. But I’ve discovered over the years that anything really worthwhile in life takes time to build.
From Everyone Communicates, Few Connect
The book is coming! The book is coming!
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On a boat in the Sea of Galilee, Israel, with my bride, Margaret.
Hello from the USA! Thank you very much for all your good wishes and prayers for us as we toured Israel. I truly enjoyed helping my friend and pastor, Tom Mullins, lead the group from Christ Fellowship Church. We had a fantastic time.
At any rate, I’m back on American soil for the time being. And we have a lot going on this month.
Remember the book? The one that YOU helped me create right here on the blog? Well, it’s finally on its way!
Two weeks from today (March 30) is the official publication date for Everyone Communicates, Few Connect in the US and Canada! If you’d like to read an excerpt of the “finished product” RIGHT NOW, go to Scribd.com, where you’ll find the prologue, chapter 1, and a very nice high-resolution picture of the cover. (Perhaps with YOUR face on it?)
If you read the book here on the blog last fall and found it helpful, please consider going over to Amazon and writing a review. And if you participated in the editing process, make sure to also share your opinion on how that went.
Are you following me on Twitter and Facebook? If not, now’s a great time to start. For the next 30 days, I’ll be sharing updates with quotes and thoughts on the power of connecting.
ALSO…
On Twitter beginning March 30, I’m giving away signed copies of the book (provided by the publisher, Thomas Nelson). Don’t miss out; giveaways will be Tweeted every day until they’re gone.
And finally, over the next two weeks, I’m speaking in Florida (also streamed live online) and North Carolina. Check Upcoming Events in the sidebar for all the details.
Have a great week!
The final countdown
Posted by: | CommentsWell, the countdown has begun…
The final edits are complete, contributions from commenters have been added, and Everyone Communicates, Few Connect is currently at the printer.
If you remember the cover design from November, you may notice that it’s been modified just a little. After I previewed it, Justin Wise at BeDeviant.com pointed out its design similarity to the logo for a conference called Cultivate. That prompted us to revisit the design and modify it. The good news is that I think this new design is even better than the first. But of course, this does have an effect on exactly which photos made it onto the front. Fortunately, every contributor photo that we collected in the fall will be featured INSIDE cover no matter what.
On March 30, readers in the United States will find it in bookstores and online. It looks like it will be available in Europe and Asia (in English and Spanish) on the 28th of May.
(Also, Thomas Nelson is working with publishers around the globe to make it available in other languages. We’ll share information on translations as we receive it.)
For information and for links to preorder in the US, visit Thomas Nelson’s dedicated webpage.
Vision: Are you moving forward… or in circles?
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One of the great dreamers of the 20th century was Walt Disney. Back when Walt’s two daughters were young, he used to take them to an amusement park in the Los Angeles area on Saturday mornings. Walt was especially captivated by the carousel. As he approached it, he saw a blur of bright images racing around to the tune of energetic calliope music. But when he got closer and the carousel stopped, he could see that his eye had been fooled. He observed shabby horses with cracked and chipped paint. And he noticed that only the horses on the outside moved up and down. The others stood lifeless, bolted to the floor. The cartoonist’s disappointment inspired him with a grand vision: Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
Vision is everything for a leader. It is utterly indispensable. Why? Because vision leads the leader. It paints the target. It sparks and fuels the fire within, and draws him forward. It is also the fire lighter for others who follow that leader. Show me a leader without vision, and I’ll show you someone who isn’t going anywhere. At best, he is traveling in circles.
if you lack vision, look inside yourself. Draw on your natural gifts and desires. Look to your calling if you have one. And if you stil don’t sense a vision of your own, then consider partnering with a leader whose vision resonates with you. That’s what Walt Disney’s brother, Roy, did. He was a good businessman and leader who could make things happen, but Walt was the one who provided the vision. Together, they made an incredible team.
Find your vision,
and let it guide you in
all that you do.
From The Maxwell Daily Reader,
January 25
