living life well
For all the definitions, descriptions, and characterizations of leaders, there are only two that matter: effective and ineffective. Effective leaders led successful teams that accomplish their mission and win. Ineffective leaders do not.
Continue reading ““Extreme Ownership” by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin”
There are many good beginnings, but few food endings.
After a discussion on leadership, this book was given to me by a friend and co-worker – David Cable. I thoroughly enjoyed the read and would recommended to anyone interested in fundamental, practical leadership principles.
We all know that getting to the top is difficult and staying there is even harder. Through the years great empires faced a 4 century lifecycle. This 400 year lifespan has played out many times over throughout history. Given that the United States is about 240 years down this path, one can conclude that we are most likely on the downhill path toward a major fall.
While history is a good teacher, I do not believe it serves as an infallible prophet of all things to come. Is it possible to break this cycle? Can a world leader survive?
Beyond that, can any entity sustain at the peak beyond the historic cycles? Continue reading ““The Ruler’s Guide” by Chinghua Tang”
Those who don’t build must burn.
This is one of many books I found away around reading in my school days. Only now, when assigned reading for my son, am I getting back to it. There are many themes flowing throughout the work that I believe can speak differently to as many readers there might be. Continue reading “Quick Review of “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury”
As often occurs, I read this book at the request of a friend I admire who would like to discuss it. This particular individual touts the diary of a catholic priest’s 7 month monastic sabbatical as her favorite book of all time. While I am not quite so captured, I did find myself embracing this work at a deeper level as I journeyed through the months. I chose my words in that last sentence carefully. It’s not that I ‘liked’ the book more as I read on; it’s more like a sense of self-reflection began to occur as the days and various thoughts were contemplated.
When God is my only concern, when God is the center of my interest, when all my prayers, my reading, my studying, my speaking, and writing serve only to know God better and to make him known better, then there is no basis for anxiety or stage fright.
On this earth the experience of great beauty always remains mysteriously linked with the experience of great loneliness.
There is nothing more important to your health – and, ultimately, your life – than what you believe to be true.
The full title of this book is “Elite Minds – How Winners Think Differently to Create a Competitive Edge and Maximize Success”. That full title, along with a recommendation from a friend, is what brought this book into my reading queue. However, I was quite skeptical that this would be yet another rehash of the same content floating in the self-help success genre for the past 20 years. I was pleasantly surprised. Continue reading “Quotes from “Elite Minds” by Dr. Stan Beecham”