September 2013 Read

Title: Be the Miracle

Author: Brett, Regina

Call Number: 158 B845B 2012

Subjects: Kindness; Possibility; Miracles

ISBN: 9781455500338

Book Description:

            Who doesn’t want the world to change for the better? Who doesn’t want to see a miracle? What are we waiting for? Why not be the miracle?

            That’s the challenge Regina Brett sets forth in Be the Miracle. To be a miracle doesn’t necessarily mean tackling problems across the globe. It means believing change is possible and making a difference, in your own living room, cubicle, neighborhood, or out in the world.

            Through inspirational essays such as “Do Your Best and Forget the Rest” and “Sometimes It’s Enough to Make One Person Happy,” Regina shares lessons that will help people make positive changes in the world around them. These stories come from Regina’s life experience and from the lives of others she has met in her years as journalist-from a convenience store worker who helped save a girl’s life to a young boy who helped hard scooping ice cream, but dreamed of being a surgeon. Each lesson stands alone, but together they form a handbook for seeing the miracle of change everywhere-and in everyone.--from inside book cover

My Read:

            From the beginning I am intrigued by the subtitle: 50 Lessons for Making the Impossible Possible. On day one I rummaged through the contents and mentally marked the lessons interesting me. They are Lesson 34: Watch Well Your Words. Practice Restraint of Tongue and Pen; Lesson 49: Leave a Legacy Time Can’t Erase; Lesson 44: Don’t Quit Before the Miracle Happens; Lesson 41: Make Someone Else’s Dream Come True; Lesson 40: Aim Higher; Lesson 35: No Matter What Happens, Don’t Take It Personally. Take It Spiritually; Lesson 32: Be an Original. Forge Your Own Path; Lesson 31: Carry as You Climb; Lesson 21: Dream Big; Lesson 18: Everyone Is Either Your Student or Your Teacher. Most People Are Both; Lesson 17: Give As If the World Is Your Family, Because It Is; Lesson 13: Give Birth to Yourself Every Day; Lesson 10: If You Want to See a Miracle, Be the Miracle; Lesson 6: We All Do the Same Thing. It’s How We Do Them That Makes the Difference; Lesson 3: You Can Make a Big Difference, No Matter How Little You Make.

            The first and the most lesson stand out as I leaved through the content table is lesson 34. And here is the first words the lesson begin: Before you say anything about someone, ask yourself three questions: Is it kind? Is it true? Is it necessary? Personally this lesson and the three questions are the most kind of lesson I am in need for I am born as a talker. Those three questions would serve me the most helpful tips when I interact with people around me.

            Lesson 9 is the most interesting one to me. After finished the lesson that night I shared what it is about with my best and close friend. “I feel like the person, Susan, in the story were me. Those things she has done in her career would be the same things I would do at work.” Here is one of the things Susan did for a customer: The Purse: Everyone’s favorite story starts with a couple from Chicago who came to the front desk frantic over a lost purse. They thought it might be at a McDonald’s restaurant somewhere between Chicago and Cleveland. Susan took it as a dare. She got out maps, traced the couple’s route, then called McDonald’s corporate headquarters and got the phone numbers of every McDonald’s along the interstate-all 30 of them. On the tenth call, she found the Fendi purse. (page 52)

            In my line of work, if one wants to be a great one, curiosity and strong will are the most needed traits one has to own. The thought, “Don’t give up too soon,” helps me to welcome challenge and find the possible ways and paths to find out what my patrons want and need.

            Be the miracle. Make the impossible possible. Life is fun and full of possibilities. Just give it a try and the rest will follow, one way or the other.

Activities of June and July

What I did mostly n the past two months was watching TV series. I finished the series, Medium and waiting for the following series to come: NCIS; NCIS: Los Angeles; CSI: New York; Criminal Minds; Person of Interest; Body of Proof.

Medium:

Medium

 

 

 

NCIS/Mark Harmon

NCIS: Los Angeles

 

 

Person of Interest

Body of Proof

CSI: New York/ Mac Taylor

Criminal Minds

August 2013 Read 2

Title: Shift: How to Reinvent Your Business, Your Career, and Your Personal Brand

Author: Arnell, Peter

Call Number: 650.1 A748S 2010

Subjects: Organizational Change; Change (Psychology); Branding

ISBN: 9780385526272

Book Description:

            With Shift, you’ll discover the steps you need to take in order to become the best you. Creating and revitalizing brands happens every day in business. Shift shows how you can make it happen for yourself and your personal brand.

            Innovative insights such as “go helium” are used by Arnell to explain how he reached his ultimate goal of 150 pounds-you can apply his techniques to reach for your own goals. You will see-through Arnell’s description of how he “went tiger”-how to exercise your own discipline and commitment, without apology even if that means bucking the norm. And by learning to reach out to your brand audience, you will come to understand the importance of your network of friends, acquaintances, colleagues, and family-your fan club-in keeping you motivated and providing the feedback you need for success.

            Weaving together personal stories of his own transformation with stories about how he created transformative change for brands such as Reebok and Pepsi, Arnell shares his unique vision on how each of us can rebrand and transform ourselves, both personally and professionally, to achieve the success we desire.

My Read:

            “Why not? Believing “why not” is a way of life. If you want to crack open a sense of possibility in your life and work, you’re going to have a lot more luck if you show a willingness-a serious commitment-to “why not.” Don’t limit yourself or allow yourself to get stuck in the boxes others build for you. Don’t compartmentalize your life. If you want to feel a wide-open sense of possibility, you need to knock down the walls and open up your life into one giant space, encompassing work and home life and everything else. I call this space “One Life.” I think you’ll find that the sky is not the limit, nor is the universe.”-page 27

            The “why not” attitude the author states in his book did some trick on me; for I felt a tug that night after I read this paragraph. That same night in bed I repeated the “why not” in my mind over and over again. The hard thought took me back to my past life and images surged, floated, came and went. If only such advice would have come at an earlier age, at the right place and to the right person, the person who would have heard and listened to with an open-minded mindset. At my age I have known better: it’s not that there was no opportunity or words spoken. It has to take all elements at the same time to have things happened: good timing, right place, and the right people.

            “Sooner or later, we are all going to end up in the grave….Will you be able to look back with the satisfaction of knowing that you challenged yourself, stripped away your fears, and dared to plunge into life to become who you were meant to be?”-Page 199

            It’s the words, stripped away your fears, that got my attention. There are so many unknown fears lingering inside me that I was deprived of the courage to face the challenges came in my early life. Fears like depression, they come and go and never stop to threaten or taunt a person. The treatment, similar to medication for the depression, is to bravely face the disorder: treat it like it’s part of your life. When they come, calmly face them and know that you are the host in charge.

            Mr. Arnell’s weight loss story truly inspires the readers. If anything, weight loss might be one of the biggest challenges in a person’s life. Frequent struggles and the fear of the lost weights’ coming back are the enemies one has to deal with. The “why not” attitude and mindset will help keep a person sane, active, and alert. No matter how pathetic life was as long as one is still breathing and mobile there is always hope.  

            At the Part One in the book under the chapter, Brand You(page 40), the author states: to rebrand yourself, to make a major change in your career or your life, start by distilling who you are down to its essence What do you want to communicate to others? What do you drive? Who do you hang out with? Where do you live/ What do you read? How do you dress and behave? The answers to all these reflect choices that help to form the brand that is you. This could be your chance of a lifetime to become one in a million.

            The following is Part Two in the book which includes:

Find your mission; un-write your life; be a tiger; go helium; create a fan club; shock and awe; embrace mistakes: they are how you learn what no to do; one life; about and out ; shout about it.

      

            Read the book? Why not. 

Reference:

Microwave Man/Samsung

 

Pieta/Michelangelo

DKNY/Donna Karan

August 2013 Read

Title: Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World’s Most Successful Businesses

Author: Shapiro, Gary

Call Number: 650.1 S529N 2013

Subjects: Success in Business

ISBN: 9780062242327

Book Description:

            In order to stay in front of the pace of innovation, Shapiro observes, top companies must operate as an elite strike force-just like the legendary medieval warriors known as ninjas. Ninjas weren’t called upon to do the ordinary; they had to perform truly extraordinary tasks, while risking everything. As a highly trained martial-arts black belt himself, Shapiro mines the valuable insights of these centuries-old warriors to spotlight the secrets of agility, creativity, decisiveness, and reinvention that are essential for twenty-first-century leaders seeking breakthrough success.

My Read:

            The following comes from page 14 and page 15 of the book.

            In brief, the Ten Killer Strategies include:

1-Your Goal is Victory: The goal of a ninja is to defeat the enemy and complete the job. Likewise, the goal of an enterprise is to be better than the competition. The ultimate goal of the business strategy was clearly defined as victory.

2-Your Strike Force: Ninjas often operated as a team. More important, they were a team of professionals, not amateurs. One of the first steps toward success in any enterprise is to build the right team.

3-In War, Risk Is Unavoidable: Ninjas, and successful leaders, approach their assignments as a way of life, not merely as a “day job.” If you don’t take risks, you won’t be successful.

4-Prepare for the Battle: A ninja’s behavior is grounded in a specific mental attitude. We can call this discipline. To succeed, you must mentally steel yourself for trials ahead. You will fail, often spectacularly. But never take your eyes off your goal.

5-The Art of War: Successful strategy is an art, not a science. Often you will not know all you should know to achieve success. That’s ok. A successful strategy is a living strategy; it must be executed in a way that allows for a change in tactics. Your competition is fierce and smart, and they won’t willingly let you defeat them. Expect surprises and adjust accordingly.

6-The Ninja Code: No matter the goal, all actions are “informed” by a martial code of conduct, a.k.a. business ethics. Ninjas create chaos because they don’t follow the normal rules; that’s how they succeed. But even ninjas follow a cod of ethics.

7-Ninjas Break the Rules: Unlike their feudal counterpart, the samurai, ninjas were not a aristocratic class. They succeeded because they were the best. Likewise, an organization won’t succeed if its hiring principles are hereditary, hierarchical and closed to mavericks. The last ninja standing is the enterprise or individual that not only employed the best people but also pursued the most innovative approach to success.

8-Innovate or Die: The ancient ninja always confronted obstacles that forced him to alter his approach. It’s the same with today’s enterprise Life isn’t predictable. But too often dying organizations turn to third parties (usually government) to save them without having the courage to change their mode of business. Be creative; be daring; be willing to take a different course. Otherwise, your failure will be fatal.

9-An Army of Ninjas: Today’s ninjas are part of something larger than themselves. As they build, they also defend. Technology allows for all of us to participate in innovation.

10-The Shadow Warrior: the ninja’s best skill was stealth. He was able to deceive his enemies through invisibility and disguise. Great ninja companies do this as well, but this is the one ninja trick that isn’t part of the innovator code.