LeaderShift - book review

This was an amazing book. I got to hear the author, Orrin Woodward, the night of the book release. He gave the most amazing history of the civilized world in 20 minutes. I think I took 3 pages of notes and it was hard to take notes because he was such an amazing speaker.

I read up to chapter 23 on the drive to meet and listen to him. I summed it up to a friend of mine as a book that makes history come to life. My hubby summed it up as a combination of a reverse Atlas Shrugged and THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU .

The website says: A most provocative business parable for our troubled times, LeaderShift is the story of how David Mersher, the successful CEO of IndyTech, sets out to discover why the United States is losing its leadership edge and what he can do to turn things around and make America truly great again.

In the process, Mersher and his team learn how the Five Laws of Decline are eroding the nation's economy-quietly ruining businesses and big institutions-and what American executives and citizens need to do to put a stop to this.

Above all, Mersher and his colleagues discover something few business leaders or citizens of free nations have yet to realize: Our world today is on the verge of a momentous LeaderShift, one which will reframe the twenty-first century and significantly alter the way we govern, lead, and do business.

When Mersher and his team get help from a surprising source, the result is stunning and unexpected-and it's one that concerned Americans will certainly reflect upon for decades to come.

The next LeaderShift is almost here.

Are you ready?

I would love to share with you more about the book but I am afraid that I would ruin it for you. The last sentence of the book has me wondering what the next book will be about. I have heard that it's going to be a three book series because people don't read books like Atlas Shrugged in today's society. Books of that size are a bit daunting.

High schoolers should be reading this book. Possibly even middle schoolers could understand it but I'm not sure that they've learned enough history by then to understand some chunks of it. It is definitely an easy enough read if the idea of reading history is daunting to you. I want to get some more copies so that I can start handing them out. Possibly even thinking of getting a copy to raffle off here because it was such a good read.

If you see that the world around us is looking for a new set of leaders, this is definitely a book for you. It has some new and exciting ideas for the future of our country. I was excited about the part where they mentioned that moms (parents) should be included as part of the group of leaders because moms are already leading at such an import place in our country, they just don't lead the numbers that make them noticeable by the masses. My other favorite was the passion for taking notes with pen and paper because it uses more muscles and thought than typing on a computer. Those that know me, know that I feel lost without a pen and a paper.

Go and get yourself a copy of this book and another to share with a friend. See what all the excitement is about. Each book signing has sold out of books. I'm glad I ordered mine online and could get to reading it right away.

Thoughts on gossip

I wrote this and had more thoughts on it before I decided to post.

Been tossing around the idea about what is defined as gossip. I think the fact that I haven't talked much in my life that I don't quite understand the concept of gossip. The hubby shuts down our conversations when he believes we've been gossiping. This leaves me confused. I dug into the Bible to see what God had to say about gossiping.

I found that gossiping is when you talk down about a person or that you are spreading rumors about someone. That made me feel much better. The one conversation that I had with the hubby was about a couple that we've been friends with for a bit and certain things are happening in their life recently. Since we both had information that the other didn't, we got to talking about the new news about them. Then we started discussing how we couple best help and what next steps we should do. Brainstorming, problem solving. The hubby cut it up short because he said that we were gossiping. I didn't quite see the same result because I would have said most everything that I said in the car in their presence because I believe that people should know what others are thinking of them if it is produced in a proper form and manner.

The other conversation that came to mind with the idea of gossiping was a talk I had with a trusted girlfriend. We were discussing another friend and how it seemed that something had changed in her. We were wondering how long it was going to last and were problem solving what in her life may be the cause of all the changes and if there was anything that we may be able to do to help her. This may be close to gossiping but it was a trusted conversation, we weren't talking down, and we were trying to find a solution that we could use to possibly help this matter.

The topic came up again in MOMS group this week. It was brought up that some people have voiced that they don't share prayer requests because they don't want to become "the talk of the town" so to say. I agree to that thought because some people love to just talk about others. I think that we need to not be afraid to talk to trusted friends because women need women to talk to.

Here is my conclusion to the idea of gossiping: as long as you are talking up and now down, as long as you are talking truths and not rumors, as long as you are talking to find a solution that you will act on, as long as you are willing to talk to the person of topic about what you are discussing, and as long as you do not share the conversation with others, then you are not gossiping.

I would love to hear what you think of this conclusion. I have been having such a hard time talking to people lately. I have been having a hard time thinking lately. So many storms brewing in my brain. So many ideas waiting to be birthed from my mind. But only so much energy to do anything.

I've been thinking about this more and I still don't think that my definition is close. I may be on the right track. Things keep coming to me that talking about people can always lead to gossip. Something tells me that not talking about people is not a good thing as well. There are so many fine lines in everything. It's hard to judge where some people's lines are compared to others.

I still have no answer about this dilemma. Reading my study for MOMS this week I came across a list of Bible verses which ended with the question, "What do these mean to you?" I wrote, "It means that I am stuck with a load of words and have no clue as to what to do with them anymore."

Here are the verses for you to read:
He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity. - Proverbs 21:23
When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise. - Proverbs 10:19
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. - James 1:26
Do not judge, or you too will be judged...Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? - Mathew 7:1,3

What do these verses say to you?

The Family Reading Book - a book review

I don't know if I could really call this a book review because I haven't read the entire book yet. It amazed me by what I found inside after reading the title of the book. I looked at the copyright date...1952. That amazed me more that the world has changed that much in the 60 years since the book was published. If the average family read what was inside this book (as the title has you believe) our country may not be so far off course.
I decided to check Amazon for you to see if you too could get a copy and this is what I found. Now to take you inside a little bit.

The Table of Contents starts with Keynotes of American Democracy. Which starts with the Declaration of Independence. It also includes the Bill of Rights, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson.

Followed by Love of Our Country and the Flag. Which includes Patrick Henry, George Bancroft, and a few Anonymous.

Toward Peace and Freedom For All Men includes Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Moore, Walt Whitman, and Lord Alfred Tennyson.

Outstanding Moments in Memorable Lives includes Benjamin Franklin, Eve Curie, Helen Keller, and Mark Twain.

Civilization, Progress, and the Lesson of History includes Ralph Waldo Emerson, Winston Churchill, and Henry George.

The Individual and the State includes Aristotle, Pericles, and Marcus Aurelius.

Love of One's Fellow Man includes St Luke and Epictetus.

The March of Science includes H G Wells and Sigmund Freud.

Man and Machine includes Upton Sinclair and Stuart Chase.

What Makes for Happiness includes Psalms, Sir William Temple, and Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe.

Skill and Contentment in Our Daily Work includes Florence Nightingale and Proverbs.

The Role of Money in Life includes Benjamin Franklin and Robert Frost.

The Value of Education includes Francis Bacon, Epictetus, and Albert Schweitzer.

The Measure of a Man includes Ecclesiasticus, Plutarch, Walt Whitman, Booker T Washington, and Emily Dickinson.

The Beauty of a Woman includes Proverbs, Lord Bryon, and Edgar Allan Poe.

Of Friends and Friendship includes Ralph Waldo Emerson, Shakespeare, and Daniel Defoe.

Thoughts Which Bring Consolation includes Psalms, Plato, Shakespeare, and Revelation.

The Joys of Nature includes William Wordsworth, Henry David Thoreau, and Robert Frost.

The Pleasures of Good Reading includes William Lyon Phelps, Emily Dickinson, and Herman Melville.

Famous Satires on Men, Women, and Humanity includes Sinclair Lewis, Jonathan Swift, and Plato

The Poet's Place in the World includes Walt Whitman, William Faulkner, and Charles Darwin.

Art and Artists includes W Somerset Maugham and Vincent Van Gogh.

Listening to Music includes Edward Bellamy, Martin Luther, and Johann Sebastian Bach.

Love and Marriage includes Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Washington Irving, and Sir Francis Bacon.

The Family Circle includes H A Overstreet, William Blake, and St John.

Children's Corner includes Lewis Carroll, L Frank Baum, and Edward Lear.

Family Pets includes Ulysses S Grant and Doris Bryant.

Good Food includes Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, and Washington Irving.

There are sections of Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Easter.

The American Scene includes Walt Whitman, Washington Irving, and John Steinbeck.

Frontier Days and the Old West includes John Greenleaf Whittier, Francis Parkman, and Bret Harte.

Fabulous Americans includes stories of Paul Bunyan, Davy Crockett, and Rip Van Winkle.

These are just a small selection of what's included in each section. If our children were read these amazing writers on a regular basis instead of watching the "stuff" that is on tv, we would have a different country than we do today. I can't wait to start reading from this book to my own children. I'm so glad that I rescued it from the second hand store. I'm a little sad that it's been living on my bookshelf for so long though.

Children have an amazing ability to learn if you give them the chance.  Start reading to your children from these authors.