I had the pleasure of talking with my colleague, Dave Buck, this past week on CoachVille Caffeine.

Listen in to the discussion below, as we talk about innovation, the story behind EDGE! A Leadership Story and the future of coaching.

Dave is a master communicator and coach, and he hosts this show to bring live coaching demos, interviews and all sorts of great information to the public. So, check out the show today!

 

 CoachVille Caffeine [61:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We would like to share a free chapter with you of EDGE! A Leadership Story

Download your free chapter here

Chapter Description:

The famous story of Jerry Maguire is not unlike what Mitchell James experiences in this chapter of EDGE! A Leadership Story. Our main character, Mitch, goes through both a breakdown and a breakthrough. He cannot escape the fact that he is not satisfied with his place in his family, in the world at large or within the walls of Global Trade Management, and he begins to dig deeply into his life by confronting his demons and writing his personal manifesto. What starts out as a struggle-laden piece of homework assigned by his Executive Coach, Kate Nelson, becomes pages and pages of deeply rooted thoughts, emotions and passions about his life. He reconnects with his creativity and what was most important in life, what ticked him off, the death of his best friend, hearing the words of his colleagues and wife, Anna. In doing so, he opens the door to reconciling his life with them. This chapter is emotional, passionate and draws the reader in with a creative writing exercise that will set your soul on fire!

Download your free chapter here

We had a wonderful time tonight as Carol Dickson-Carr interviewed us about our process in writing EDGE! A Leadership Story. Thank-you Carol for a great interview!

Listen to the interview below.

Carol Dickson-Carr is a Business Coach and the Founder of Managing Personal Resources and Power-Ed Solutions, Inc.

 

 EDGE Interview [59:27m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Did I get your attention with the title?

Good. I hope so.

In the book The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t, author Robert Sutton goes into a concise view of the jerks we have in many of our organizations around the country. He discusses corporate bullying, manipulation and control and gives some great advice on how to stop it. The sad thing is that in reading his book, I know a few people just like this, and I get e-mails occasionally from a few who I would never want to work with. It makes me sweat just thinking about it.

This post is one of the most important you are going to read this week. In light of what happened recently in Florida with a few teen girls beating up another girl (who by the way had been bullied and beat up by these girls for months), I have to take a stand and tell you this “Stop taking orders or working for/with a bully!” If we don’t stop it now, this is going to continue forever, and these corporate bullies are the people who are teaching our teens to go beat the s— out of another teen. I am so fired up about this story…it makes me sick!

Here are the signs that you are probably being bullied at work:

1) You are working day and night, only to be criticized by your boss or manager

2) You are being intentionally left out of meetings or social engagements with co-workers

3) You are hearing gossip about you from your work colleagues

4) You wake up in the morning, nauseated and with a headache, and you call in sick more than you know you should

5) You are doing work for your boss, and he/she is taking credit for your ideas and labor

6) You are noticing that you are being sabotaged at every turn

7) You can cut the tension with a knife

8)Your boss/manager is constantly asking you to work an ungodly schedule

So…if you are someone who is experiencing this, then please, please ask for help. And by all means, get out of the environment. Let’s put an end to this madness now!

As we move into the future, the face of leadership is going to change. As the Millennial Generation explodes onto the business scene, they will be bringing with them an entrepreneurial spirit unlike anything we have seen before in history. In order to lead in the future, not only are we all going to be called to understand what it means to be an entrepreneur, we are going to be challenged to shift our thinking and to start challenging our assumptions about the human dynamics which are at play for all business leaders…and those dynamics are going to be moving heaven and earth (just look at what is going on in our world today economically, politically and socially).

To help you along your journey, I am recommending two must reads (and I don’t recommend books that often). These two books are critical additions to your library, because both of these authors have worn many hats in life, have experienced a huge variety of business opportunities and will be the first to admit that they have made mistakes along the way. In spite of any demons they have met in the past, everything they have touched has turned to gold (so of course, why would you not read their books).

So…here we go…the two top reads for this month are:

Beyond Booked Solid: Your Business, Your Life, Your Way Its All Inside by Michael Port

I have come to the conclusion that anyone and their grandmother can write a marketing book. But…writing a marketing book with passion and from the human emotions we all experience as business owners requires a master craftsman. Michael Port is truly such a master, and this book is at the top of my list of biz books for 2008. Port goes deep…challenging business owners to look at the internal shifts required to go from being a great business owner to one making a significant impact on the world.  As we all know, each growth phase of a business requires a new attitude and a new way of seeing your business and the world, and I can promise you this…if you read this book, your life and business are going to change for the better, and there’s no turning back…you will never see your business or your life as you see it today (and that is a great thing…as I always say, you can’t do what you’ve always done to get where you’re going today and tomorrow!). Fabulous!

Awakening the Entrepreneur Within: How Ordinary People Create Extraordinary Companies by Michael Gerber

Michael Gerber’s mission is “to create a turnkey system for awakening the entrepreneur within every person who wishes to go into business for themselves, while providing them with the support for doing it”. Well, he has certainly achieved this mission with this passionate book…calling even the most frustrated entrepreneurs to start dreaming big about what they want for their businesses and their lives. As with The E-Myth Books, Gerber makes this simple and just a great read. You can read the entire book on a Saturday afternoon (while sipping hot tea or coffee in your snuggly robe, but after you read it, you are going to want a hot night out on the town dressed to the nines, because the book will set your soul on fire!) Truly inspiring!