Inside Personal Growth with Greg Voisen · Podcast 518: Holacracy: The New Management System for a Rapidly Changing World with Brian Robertson The new book

Eric SinowayMany of us are privileged enough during our lifetime to have a wonderful mentor.  Howard’s Gift is a book about Eric Sinoway and his amazingly wise mentor and professor at Harvard University Howard Stevenson.  This book is filled with compelling stories and lessons that Eric learned from Howard throughout his years at Harvard and beyond.   Howard was a towering figure at Harvard Business School, and the man who literally defined entrepreneurship and taught thousands of world’s most successful professionals.

Many of the lessons you will take from this book will be quite valuable, and the way that Eric tells the stories are quite inviting and compelling.  One lesson that Howard speaks with Eric about are “inflection points“.  So just what is an inflection point and why is it important?  An inflection point as defined by Andy Grove the founder and former CEO of Intel is an event that fundamentally changes the way we think and act.  Usually, an inflection point isn’t a little change. It is a moment when–by choice or not–we pivot from the path down which we are traveling and head in an entirely new direction.   I would venture to say that almost everyone has inflection points in their lives, and it is the experiences and moments like this that we remember forever and change us– almost always for the better.

Howard advocates business planning for your life’s work.  In other words  develop and image of where you want to be and this place is not defined by our title, pay or stature.  As human beings we are complicated souls seeing meaning and purpose in our lives, but when you look at the individuals that have made a difference on our planet they have done so by having a vision of creating something much greater than just making money.  They have a mission to change our culture and society with their inventions; Apple, Facebook, GE, Toyota, Tesla, Google and the list goes on.

If you are driven to make our world a better place to live by whatever means, then you owe it to yourself to read “Howard’s Gift“.  This book is filled with great stories and lesson learned by Eric Sinoway the author by his mentor and wise confidant Howard Stevenson.

Enjoy this wonderful interview with Eric and for more information about the book please click here or watch short video on juggling priorities on YouTube by clicking here.

 

Alan SheltonI recently had the opportunity of interviewing author Alan Shelton who’s new book entitled “Awakened Leadership-Beyond Self Mastery” it is a great read.  The book has lots of Alan’s personal life story, but weaved into the content are life lessons that we can all learn and benefit from if we apply in our life.

Alan comments in the preface of the book about being in a “seekers hole”, a term that I personally can appreciate and relate to from time to time.  I don’t know a soul on this planet that is not seeking, and at times we all get frustrated and dissatisfied with the journey.  In essence we forget that we are spiritual beings having a human experience, vs. human beings having a spiritual experience–big difference.  The key to enjoying our journey is as all times to remember who we are, and why we are here-easier said than done right?.

Alan points out that we are not the center of the Universe, even though at times we think we are.  Yes, our ego’s do take control and we think that we are it!!  Alan reminds us that a life awakened is beyond self-mastery, the belief that we author and control our own reality.  He points out that to become a more effective leader we need to understand what it is like to express our authentic self.  In essence,  not to put on false pretenses or allow our ego to attempt to control or have a negative impact on our relationships.

“Awakened Leadership” is about leadership, and what it takes to become a compassionate and effective leader.  Alan cites author Joseph Jaworski the author of “Syncronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership” by saying ” Institutions of all sorts are facing profound change today, with complexity increasing at a speed and intensity we’ve never experienced before.  Jaworski came to realize that traditional analytical leadership approaches are inadequate for dealing creatively with the complexity.  To effectively face these challenges, leaders need to access the Source from which truly profound innovations flows.

If you would like to learn more about accessing the Source, and what is necessary to become a leader in our business world today, then Alan’s new book “Awakened Leadership” is a must read.  If you would like to learn  more about Alan Shelton please click here to be directed to his website, or you can watch a great book trailer by clicking here.

I hope you enjoy this wonderful interview with Alan Shelton.

 

Dan PallottaI personally appreciate the position author Dan Pallotta has articulated about the unjust discriminatory rules that society imposes on charities.  In his new book entitled “Charity Case-How The Non-Profit Community Can Stand Up For Itself and Really Change the World.” Dan states that virtually everything our society teaches about charity is backwards.  The donating public is told to measure the effectiveness and moral character of charities by how little they spend on “overhead” never being taught that overhead is really investment without which the nonprofit sector can never hope to solve massive social problems.  The media and government unwittingly perpetuate these views, condemning charities that invest in behind-the scenes infrastructure or attempt to lure talent away form the for-profit sector.

I personally have volunteered thousands of hours on charity boards helping to organize and raise money to assist with the funding of this program or that, and believe me the task is a challenging one at best.  Charities are always fight the battle to attract and keep good loyal and committed donors, and those donors frequently are judging the charity on how they control their expenses, and how much of their donated dollar is going to work.  Believe me just like any other business, charities can waste money but the charities I have been involved with have been lean mean fighting machines and truly use the donated dollars quite effectively.   I understand what Dan is saying in “Charity Case” is that the public sentiment has always been one of suspicion. While we spend money with other private-sector businesses and never once give a thought to how they spend their money on expenses or advertising as long as we receive the good or service we purchased.

In my interview with Dan we speak about his movement to help reposition charities in the eyes of the public.  Dan has a very interesting proposition about building an anti-defamation league for charities, the purpose would be to unite charities and create an advertising campaign that would inform the public about all the good that they are doing.  A great example is the ad campaign that “Got Milk” did that was funded by the  Milk Advisory Board which is comprised of dairy cattleman who have united and created advisory board to help build a positive image about milk.  Dan states that charities have never united together, and put their resources to work building a positive image for themselves with the public.  I personally believe this is a great idea, and one that is long overdue.

 

If you are interested in learning more about how Dan plans to help the charities of the world unite and overcome the ill-conceived views of the public I encourage you to read both “Charity Case” and Dan’s previous book “Uncharitable“.  You can also learn more by visiting his website by clicking here.  Enjoy this great interview with author and activists Dan Pallotta.

 

Cindy WigglesworthWe have all read and heard about the work of Daniel Goldman regarding Emotional Intelligence, but now what I believe could prove to be equally important is the measurement of our  spiritual intelligence.  Author  Cindy Wigglesworth has just published a book entitled “The 21 Skills of Spiritual Intelligence“which  provides insight into our spiritual intelligence.  As part of my inquiry Cindy  allowed me to take the 170 question analysis that she diligently developed over many years. The quiz was quite revealing and is certainly a tool that will be quite useful both personally and in the work environment. (For more information on the click here to be directed to her website.)

Cindy defines spiritual intelligence as “the ability to behave with wisdom and compassion while maintaining inner and outer peace regardless of the situation.” Wow, now thats  a skill set  that most corporations would love to instill in their employees.  Cindy states that “transcending our smaller nature and growing into our full potential as human beings is the most important and fulfilling thing we can do with our lives.  The set of skills that are collectively known as spiritual intelligence are designed to help you become more fully who you are, to continue to grow and develop, and to live with greater consciousness, direction, wisdom and compassion.

Cindy uses her newly defined spiritual intelligence in conjunction with the other identified intelligences, physical, cognitive, emotional intelligence.  When combined and analyzed they become a powerful tool that can assist the management of organizations in defining how employees will best work, inspire and collaborate with one another.  There are 21 skills that have been identified as part of our spiritual intelligence , and those skills have been classified into four (4) quadrants.  Self-Awareness, Universal Awareness, Self Mastery, Social Mastery/Spiritual Presence.  To better understand the spiritual intelligence model I recommend that you click here to be directed to Cindy’s Deep Change website.

I hope you enjoy this wonderful interview with Cindy Wigglesworth, the author of “The 21 Skills of Spiritual Intelligence“.  You can click here to watch a great PBS interview in which Cindy provides the viewer with insight into her personal philosophy and history.