I just finished writing an article for Trailer Life Magazine on a rapidly growing group of women called “Sisters On The Fly.” They are a group of women, married, single, widowed, divorced, heterosexual, lesbian and whatever, who buy old camping trailers, fix them up with a cowgirl theme and meet at rallies around the USA to laugh, drink Martinis and/or wine, fly-fish, go antiquing, do crafts or just hang out around the campfire with no men, boys or kids around. Adult daughters and mothers go – as do older women who just want to learn how to camp without a man around telling them how to do things.

I won’t duplicate the article, but I will tell you I just received a reviewer’s copy of the book, Sisters on the Fly: Caravans, Campfires, and Tales from the Road in the mail today and I’m drooling. Photographer David Foxhoven is brilliant – and the author (a new sister herself) Irene Rawlings, has done a wonderful job capturing the story of the sisters.

For those who don’t recognize the name, Irene is the host of an award-winning radio program, “Focus,” aired on the Clear Channel stations. She has been editor-in-chief of Mountain Living and Log & Timber Style magazines as well as group editorial director of Colorado Homes & Lifestyles. She has written about food, art, travel, and the environment for Art & Antiques, Sunset, Style 1900, Town & Country, ForbesLife MountainTime, The New York Times, Country Home, Country Living, Country Living Gardener and numerous inflight magazines.

Irene has also been art reviewer at the Denver Post, curator of the Anschutz Collection of Western Art and editor in chief of Country Home magazine.

I interviewed Irene for the article and she had some funny and insightful comments – read the article in “Trailer Life” to find out what. You can buy the magazine through Amazon, at Barnes & Noble and online at the website. Trailer Life is published by Affinity Publishing – part of Camping World – a major magazine with great articles.

Anyway – Irene sent me a copy of the book and it’s like a miniature version of a coffee table book – meaning PACKED with awesome photos, good writing, great tips on how to find and select a trailer yourself and lots of recipes…stories, interior shots of some of the trailers and wow….just the kind of book you want to linger over for hours.

The photos are yummy. Seriously. This is some heavy duty eye candy here. What makes this more than JUST a group of women going camping is the time and effort they put into creating a theme for their trailers – along with vintage collectibles, fishing and cowgirl gear and hand painted exteriors. With every trailer is a story – something meaningful, fanciful or fun – and revealing about the owner.

I was going to watch a movie tonight, but I think I’ll curl up in bed, listen to the rain on the roof and read. Want to see for yourself? Check out the inside.

Hi Jim.

Recently you reached out to me, someone who downloaded your Blurb book software, and asked for my opinion on a survey about your product. I love the software. But the survey didn’t give me anywhere to write about that. I could click radio buttons to indicate an answer and enter myself into your free iPod giveaway, but I really wanted to give you some feedback and tell you how utterly awesome your site is. I’d love to win the iPod, but really I was looking forward to was giving you some kudos and hurrahs for your site and software.

There’s no email address for you. You’re the CEO, and you contacted me for feedback, but you sent me to customer service to give it. Maybe I’m wrong, but there are a lot of people who don’t care as much about the company as you and may not have gotten the memo that you’re getting feedback. I know. I’ve talked to a few of them in the past. They didn’t seem really passionate at the time. Maybe they were having a bad day. Happens to the best of us. I forgive them.

Anyway, I do plan on using you in the near future. I think you have the best product going…Except for that charging us $2 to remove the Blurb logo from our book. That sucks. But other than that….

If you really want my opinion, here it is:

I LOVE YOUR SITE. But when you do a survey, please put a page in where people have the option to write you. You might be pleasantly surprised and get some great compliments….like mine here!

Affection delayed is not always affection denied.

He sounds old and his voice is tired. It’s been fifteen years since I’ve heard it, but it’s definitely him.

I am caught in that melodramatic made-for-television moment where I learn that my estranged father is dying of brain cancer and I have only – days? weeks? months? – to “set things right” between us.

I have to laugh. I’m a writer, and I never would have dreamed up such a trite, overdone scenario. But here I am, actually living it. It gets better: I get the news about his cancer the day I am fired from my newspaper job. Has God moved to Hollywood?

My brother, Todd, calls, distraught. I am either incredibly calm or in total shock because I feel nothing – no grief, no anger, no sense of sadness. Nothing. “No one gets out of this alive,” I reassure him. “We all die.”

How is that reassuring? I don’t know. “He was a monster,” Todd says, “But he’s our monster,” he adds, as though that makes a difference. Maybe monsters, especially childhood ones, aren’t so frightening when they’re dying of brain cancer.

The childhood years of being beaten, of bleeding, of anger and shame and all the typical and not-so-typical physical, emotional and mental abuse are distant memories now. Thanks to therapy – years of Prozac and screaming at empty chairs in my therapist’s office – I reached “closure” years ago. Or so I thought. Maybe I haven’t.

After our last conversation in 1991, when he told me he wished I were dead and I had never been the daughter he wanted me to be, I threatened to outlive the old bastard – excuse me, the old monster- just so I could piss on his grave. I’m surprised when my brother remembers.

“I’ll stand guard for you if you still want to do that,” he says sadly. I have to think about it, I reply.

Three days later I’m in the parking lot at McDonald’s on a cell phone. “Hey old man. It’s your daughter – Becky,” I say.
“Hey Beck, how are you? You sound – good, real good,” he says. He’s in his office, working with his accountant to get his business in order so he can sell it.
“Yeah,” I smile. “I’m good. Hey, I heard you had cancer.”
He doesn’t miss a beat. “Yeah, they diagnosed it last week.”
I know, I’m thinking. I heard from your sister, who called everyone and told us.
“How bad?” I ask.
“Stage four,” he says. Stage four is terminal.
“That sucks,” I say matter-of-factly.
He laughs. “Yeah, it does.” There is silence for a second.
“Well, you sure swung for the fences, didn’t you? If you’re going to have it you might as well have the worse possible kind,” I tell him.
“Yeah, I guess so.” He laughs again. We talk about what I’m doing now. I’m a freelance medical writer, and have been for about forty-eight hours.

He’s a children’s dentist. Upon hearing that I’m now doing medical research writing, he assumes I know all the medical jargon and lingo that makes up his world. He is looking for connections, for common ground. So am I. So he launches into the medical realm of the drugs he’s taking or going to take, as though he were prescribing them to a patient rather than taking them himself. He is honest about the outcome. “They’re end-stage drugs,” he says. We both pause.

That information out of the way, our conversation turns to photography, a passion we have both shared since he began taking photos in 1969, and that I took up shortly thereafter.

At seventy-three he is dying, but in the meantime he is learning Photoshop, as I am at forty-nine. There were moments now, I remember, when we did have some good times.

We talk cameras, digital and otherwise, megapixels and burst rates, Nikon versus Canon’s latest camera-the EOS-which really kicks butt, I assure him. He likes Nikon. I begin to grieve for the losses of the past fifteen years -advice not given, requests and fears unshared. I curse Hollywood through my tears. I saw the movies, I just never got the point. Now I do, I think.

Damn. He’s going to die before I win a Pulitzer. I won’t get a chance to show him how well I did, that I succeeded in spite of his proclamation that I’d only, ‘get married, get pregnant, and have babies.” He’ll never know I really am the daughter he wanted. The regrets pour in.

I doubt he remembers any of the things that have haunted me for forty-plus years. Once the chemo treatments start he may not remember much of anything, let alone the past.

The only “story” about my father will be what remains in my mind and in my brother’s. I tell him that I’ll be coming down to see him in a week or so. We’ll have lunch or dinner-if he’d like to – and we’ll talk some more. He’d like that, he says.

After fifteen years, can I convince him of that in the time it takes to sit down to one dinner? I don’t know if we’ll even have that dinner. The chemo may prove too much. Todd was right. After all these years he’s still our monster. But now that he’s dying, I say the magic words that will transform him.

“I love you Dad.”
For the first time I hear him blush.
“I love you too.”

And we hang up.

*********

“The Monster” above, is the essay I wrote for Tim Russert, and it appears as the first story in his chapter on forgiveness in his book, “Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons”

This is the story that saved me, that I read in the summer of 2006 and reconnected with who I truly was, and am – a writer. I just reread it today and still cried. It is powerful because it is real. And real things never lose their power. This is part of what I spoke about at TED Global 2009. It’s very much a part of who I am today and who I am becoming. I hope you have a powerful story to tell and will tell it. Powerful stories change our lives.

Okay. It made my day. Suze Orman, internationally acclaimed financial wizard, Oprah money guru, and kick-ass woman, LIVED and WORKED out of a van in her 20’s. Just freaking made my day. Changed my whole attitude and perception of her as someone who “doesn’t understand us paycheck-to-paycheck” people.

And I quote, from her book Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny

“I borrowed $1,500 from my brother to buy a Ford Econoline van and, with the help of my friend Mary Corlin (a great friend to this day), converted the van into a place I could sleep during the drive across country. With $300 and a converted van to my name, we set out to see America…..”

During that trip they stopped to watch a crew clearing trees and ended up landing their first jobs – as tree clearers. For two months, she writes, they lived out of the van and used a friend’s house to shower.

Suze joins a LONG line of famous people who have lived and worked out of their vans.

Jewel, the singer, and her mother shared side-by-side vans parked near the ocean while she pursued a singing career.

Steven Pressfield, best-selling author of The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
and Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae
among many others, lived in a van with his cat before overcoming resistance and coming into his own as the writer he is.

I won’t bore you with the rest, but click under the menu bar at the top of this website under How-To and see dozens of other famous homeless people.

I think what caught my attention is the fact that when we’re YOUNG – like under 30, we see life as an adventure, and living in a van and traveling and working along the way, as an adventure. When you’re 35, 40 or 50, the mind thinks, “Oh no, I’m becoming a bag lady.” Not everyone falls into this trap though. I did. It took me a while to remember I was a writer, and not just “a homeless woman.” When I quit allowing other people to define me, and to define who I was and how I viewed myself, things changed for me.

It’s not just a one-time thing – change your thoughts and change your life. It’s a journey. Trite and cliche, but true. You change, must change your thoughts every day for your life to change. Ever since I redefined myself in 2007 and said, “I’m a writer. I’m a writer,” I began changing those neural ruts in my brain that would prefer I stick with the “I’m a homeless woman,” mantra, and the “You’re worthless and stupid,” programming my parents instilled in me.

It takes hard work to change. No one hands it to you, or gives it to you. If you want it, you have to go after it. Suze Orman did. So did the hundreds of others who made it after a stint on the streets.

Perhaps out of all the people I’ve read about, Suze is the one who impresses me most. After her short work as a tree clearer, she became a waitress. After six years as a waitress she decided she wanted to open a restaurant. Customers she’d served for 6 years got together and loaned her $50,000 to do just that. But when she invested that money with a broker at Merrill Lynch, she placed it with a broker who basically lost her entire investment – by investing in high risk stocks against all professional ethical standards. She went from having her dream in the palm of her hand to penniless (thank you Merrill Lynch). But, she didn’t give up. She applied to become a broker (remind you of anyone else? Like maybe Christopher Gardner, in The Pursuit of Happyness “>The Pursuit of Happyness? He too was homeless and became a broker and is now a multi-millionaire.

Anyway, Suze was interviewed by a number of Merrill Lynch folks – all of whom thought there was no room for women in a brokerage firm and one who even said he thought women should be pregnant and barefoot…(I don’t think I’ll use Merrill Lynch as an investment firm when I become rich…) But she got the job. As she learned how she had been screwed over by the guy in the firm she went to her bosses and complained – was essentially told to shut up. So she sued Merrill Lynch. Yay!!! And WON!!! BIG YAY!! They settled with her out of court and she got her money back and was able to repay her investors. (don’t you love a happy ending).

Suze went on to become the person she is now – not without a lot more drama and the usual “Hero’s saga.”

As with all “Rags-to-riches” type stories, what is impressive is how the one thing that drives us all is PERCEPTION OF SELF. In other words, ATTITUDE. I said it in my TED talk, and I’ll say it again. Homelessness is a matter of attitude. Change your thoughts and you change your circumstances – maybe not overnight, but be consistent and persistent and they WILL change. It’s been four years since I moved into the van, and I’m still working on it. I think this is my year to finish the book and move up. Is it your year? Are you just starting out? Struggling? Wondering how to change? Start with watching your thoughts. Then start reading the biographies of people who have moved beyond their circumstances.

You CAN change if you want it badly enough. Over this next year I’m going to be posting more articles on how to do that. And, to those who sign up, or have signed up for my newsletter? You’ll get all the tips – FREE. I can do this. YOU can do this. Together, we can do this! And if you want to get her book – BUY it through Amazon.com by clicking on the graphic below. Thanks!

“Embrace your lizard brain. It’s the source of understanding why you’re in a job that sucks.”

Seth Godin’s new book, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?
will be out Jan. 26. In the meantime, some members of Triiibes.com (his social media site) and those who responded to an offer to donate $30 to the Acumen Fund, received advance copies. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a copy, so here’s my review. First, it’s a definite thumbs UP on the book. Buy it. If you need more convincing, read the review below.

If you’re looking for a book summary, or the Cliff’s Notes version of Linchpin, this isn’t it. As a member of Triiibes.com, and someone who has read all of Seth’s books and met the man, my impressions are not going to be totally unbiased. I haven’t drunk the Kool-aid, but I do highly respect and admire the man. If it weren’t for his encouragement and help I’d never have made it to TED, or grown as much as I have in the past year.

First off, I think Linchpin is different in many ways than anything Seth has written. I think his writing shift started with Tribes. He gave readers a glimpse into more of who Seth is, what he thinks, how he feels. He’s put more of himself into Linchpin than he did in Tribes, but not until the second half of Linchpin. His sentence structure is longer, and more complex. His “voice” is different – more studied, more analytical, more like he walked away from several discussions/debates and contemplation and the input of friends rather than simply a recounting or teaching of things he knew personally (ie. The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick).

My impression (and that’s all it is), is that Seth has spent more time listening, reading about, and hammering away at the ideas he’s presenting here than he has with his other books. Linchpin feels more intellectually collaborative, more like some of the themes and direction were thrashed through with the help of significant others and authors – more than simply Seth’s delving into a topic he has extensive first-hand knowledge of.

The talk of resistance rang a bell for me simply because I read Steven Pressman’s essay/blog on the topic before I even knew Linchpin was being written. And from the excerpts I’ve read in The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, overcoming resistance is a huge part of becoming a linchpin. (By the way, if you haven’t read Pressman’s blog, it’s usually brilliant and fascinating and worth subscribing to. And – for trivia buffs, Pressman was once homeless – living in his Chevy van with his cat before conquering resistance to being a writer instead of a truck driver or one of others of the dozens of jobs he held before recognizing resistance: http://blog.stevenpressfield.com/)

LINCHPIN REVIEW

Linchpin is 244 pages long. The good stuff, the stuff that made me take my feet off my desk and lean forward to grab my highlighter, starts on page 101. Seth, as you know if you pay attention to his writing style, always begins with a foundation, the history of ______, the background, the prologue, the reason for the important stuff to follow and Linchpin is no different. The first half of the book makes for great debate and presentation fodder and will bring you up to speed on the state of the corporate culture as we know it – if you haven’t been paying attention.

If you already know that corporate America is still stranded, for the most part, in the 80’s – then you won’t be surprised by the first half of the book. If you are a member of Triiibes.com, you will definitely not be surprised by anything in the first 100 pages. If you are still wondering what’s wrong about asking your secretary to fix your coffee or pick up your dry cleaning; or if you have the numbers of third world sweatshops on speed dial you really do need to read those first 100 pages.

No need for a spoiler alert here – most of you know the usual insights and basics if you’re a Seth fan. The first 100 pages cover those basics, such as the title headings indicate: Introduction, The New World of Work, Thinking About Your Choice, Indoctrination-How We Got Here, Becoming the Linchpin and Is It Possible to do Hard Work in a Cubicle?

What I found interesting about Linchpin was that Seth is reaching out to the individual more in this book than any other – save Tribes. I wonder if he’s become frustrated with trying to explain a “better way of being” to corporate executives and decided to build up the perfect workplace from the bottom up – which is where it should come from – the people who work in the rank and file. If you’re an artist, or a “creative” then you can find some comfort in what Seth is saying. Like Dan Pink and his recent book: A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future Seth encourages the right brained worker to step forward and become “indispensable.”

If you are a clueless, reluctant, skeptical cog in search of economic salvation, you’ll need those first 100 pages to convince you that the world really IS changing. You’ll need to realize that not everyone worships or accepts the concept of a vertical food chain terminating in the corner office for those not handicapped by a glass ceiling. You’ll find the reasoning you need in the first 100 pages.

However, if you already know the state of the average workplace, and consider it a dusty, boring place filled with cubical monkeys and supervisors who remind you of the soup nazi’s of work, as in: “No questions or NO JOB FOR YOU!,” then skip ahead to page 101. Save the first half of the book for later, for incorporating into your conversations with people who ask, “Who is Seth Godin?”

Seriously. If you need reasons, historical recaps and someone to bring you up to speed on the fact that the average workplace kills creativity; if you need the definition of purple cows and remarkable; or if you don’t know in your heart of hearts that being different, generous, remarkable and better worker is a good thing, then start at page one and read on.

From page 1 to 100 you’ll get great info, solid background and a typical Seth observation of the history of the workplace. You’ll find the evolution of the world of minimum wage, how outsourcing and the dumbing down of the American worker has starved our souls and created a disposable employee mindset and economy.

Read it. But if you want to dive into more than a retrospective of why most workers and those who pay them are mind numbingly clueless then skip ahead. If you know you are destined for a future without a gold watch or retirement that will actually cover the expenses of your golden years, then start reading on page 101. Return to the beginning later. If you’ve never read a Seth Godin book, or seen or heard one of his talks, then by all means, start with page one – this is good stuff. But page 101 on is better.

What surprised me most about all the talk of linchpins is that I don’t think the word “unicorn” is used once in the entire book. Seth, well known for his championing of the Unicorn, the remarkable worker who shows up in balloon factories (popping the bubbles of status quo beliefs) doesn’t mention the creature in this book. I don’t know if that’s because unicorns aren’t usually linchpins, or if Seth has figured out that talk of creatures that scare, upset or threaten the status quo doesn’t play as well to corporate moguls as the idea of a linchpin – an invaluable, creative team player who responds well to rewards, plays well with others and doesn’t run with scissors.

Same creature, different story. Or is it? Can a linchpin be a unicorn? Or can a unicorn be a linchpin? It’s not answered in this book, but it’s an intriguing question isn’t it?

There’s no doubt about it, Seth is focused on the individual in this book – not on changing corporate America. In Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
Seth urges readers to lead. In Linchpin he urges them to become the artist, the creative, indispensable person they can be. All you need to do is eliminate the fear (which, Seth explains, is really anxiety. People, he notes, confuse the two all the time.

Anyway, beginning with “Resistance,” on page 101, Seth takes a really good, basic look at lizard brains, that “fearful, hungry, angry and horny” part of our brains that controls so much of our thinking and a great deal of our actions. The lizard brain causes us to confuse fear and anxiety, to seek safety rather than risk brilliance. It also works and walks hand-in-hand with resistance – to totally stop us in our tracks.

I hear the influence of Pressman’s The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
in the second half of the book. I also see a good effort to reduce a lot of information into a handful of chapters. As a writer I can empathize and appreciate his creation of a roux of wisdom that packs a greater taste than three times the words. The tone in the second half of Linchpin is more like Seth’s previous books — more like Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
– still my favorite. He retains the blog post length of chapters – one of the great things about his writing style.

I found it amusing that Seth mentioned his favorite negative review (A review on Amazon.com) of his book Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
- since I responded to that particular reviewer (on Amazon) when the book came out. Since it’s all but impossible (never say never) to list specific steps in “how-to” be a creative genius, or a leader, or a remarkable person or business; his negative reviewer won’t much like Linchpin either; even though he comes closer to taking the reader’s hand and walking them through the process as much as is humanly possible.

As always Seth incorporates vignettes of linchpins he knows personally, using the short, short story of a success to make a point. He has developed the 200 to 300 word inspirational, informative or insightful parable to an art form.

If I had one criticism of the book, it would be that the second half of the book wasn’t longer and the first half wasn’t shorter. Like any creative person, understanding HOW to succeed, to act, to learn the rules of the workplace while becoming a linchpin is confusing. Seth urges workers to give more, to be more of who they are and to not just coast through their jobs putting in their time. Generosity and engagement is its own reward, he says.

As a creative person who has given and given and given and been fired, and fired and fired for being remarkable, different, creative and generous – I have to say I wish there were more specific instructions on exactly how to escape a job where generosity is taken advantage of by cruel and stupid employers; and how to find a job where such skills are valued and rewarded.

There may be a few hundred employers who look for and hire generous and creative people, but there is no “how-to” chapter on how to find them if they aren’t mentioned in the book.

What I liked best about Linchpin was the bibliography. Not only was it personal and helpful, but it was appreciative and thoughtful. If you haven’t read any of Seth’s books, I suggest starting with this one, then reading Tribes. Between the two you’ll have a good idea of where the new workplace is going and how to be a part of it.

Integrity, he writes, will ultimately determine if a person with brains, talent, competencies, energy, effort and deal making abilities and opportunities will succeed. There are those with all those things who WON’T succeed. The “linchpin,” as it were, is their character and the extent of their integrity.

So what is integrity? As we’ve all heard, if the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Cloud is one of the leading authorities in America on “boundaries,” both personal and business boundaries. He claims, and rightly so I think, that everything and everyone runs or doesn’t run based on the strength and flexibility of boundaries – which are related directly to self-esteem issues and other things. If a CEO for instance, can’t see that a star performer is none-the-less violating the boundaries of the workplace, he may fail to realize the reality of the situation, and be reluctant to take action to correct the transgression. Ultimately he’ll lose good performers and employees because he’s not in touch with the reality of the situation.

Cloud is very specific about reality, and boundaries. And while many managers and CEO’s may say, “I’m not a therapist, it’s not my role, job or duty to play therapist in the workplace,” the reality is, 90% of what happens in the work place is people related. You take steps to fix machinery when it breaks. Why not fix the investment you have in personnel by addressing the human element of the workplace? This is where Cloud comes in. His book is not a laundry list of things you can do to succeed. Rather, it’s a detailed, difficult and challenging request to leaders to look at the six qualities they need to be a success, to have integrity.

My favorite is the sixth quality: “When you’re small, you’re bigger.”

He opens the chapter with the old story of a Navy warship that was headed through the fog one night when a distant light appears directly in their heading.

The ship’s captain gets on the radio and says, “Calling the vessel on the 220 heading. Adjust your course 30 degrees immediately. The reply comes back, “no, you adjust.” The Captain, a bit ticked off, says, “I am an Admiral in the U.S. Navy. Who are you?” The voice says, “I’m an ensign in the U.S. Coast Guard.” The Captain says, “Then I suggest you adjust course.” The ensign replies, “No, you adjust.” The Admiral says, “We are a U.S. Navy warship. Adjust.” The ensign replies, “We are a lighthouse.”

Get the picture? Some things are just bigger than we are, although they may not initially appear so, and may not be “bigger” in terms of the usual terms (Admiral v Ensign for instance). If we consider people, events and situations only in the light in which they appear to US, then we not only have no character, we fail to ever be in a position where we can see, appreciate and leverage the big picture.

Cloud gives several excellent case studies of businesses who fell back on character rather than size, who became smaller, not bigger and gained consumer trust as a result. The primary study was Johnson & Johnson’s Tylenol product. After one deranged person poisoned and ultimately killed several consumers by putting something in a bottle of Tylenol in Chicago, the company could have said, “This is limited to Chicago, we’ll let our insurance handle it.” But instead they pulled ALL their product everywhere. They put their size (bigger) aside and focused on the individuals who might be harmed, Cloud pointed out. They got the big picture – something they couldn’t do if they focused only on being the warship.

I’m rereading it, and will most likely purchase a copy (a rarity for me) since this is a library book. I highly, highly, highly recommend it, and ANY of the books on boundaries that Cloud has written. They are all excellent. He writes for families, boundaries for parents of teens, boundaries in relationships, boundaries in general and is just a brilliant psychologist and author.

In the meantime, I find comfort in the feeling of being vindicated – reading that Cloud believes what I have always said, that if your people are dysfunctional your workplace will be too. We spend so much time hiring and interviewing for skills, competencies and abilities that we forget to look at character, mental health, whether a person has good boundaries and people skills. Saying, “I’m a team player,” doesn’t cut it. Demonstrating that you can experience conflict with co-workers and reach an amicable agreement or resolution; or that you can say “No,” to tasks or requests that you can appropriately and honestly say aren’t your responsibility (like covering for a co-worker who is repeatedly behind or unprepared) and that you will chose the right course rather than the course which will please a manager or co-worker, are just as valuable characteristics.

Allowing others to suffer the consequences of their actions; knowing when and how to make and enforce unpopular decisions; being able to face the reality, accept responsibility, and leave a “wake” of good decisions and effects behind you as you move through life are important traits of a leader. Can you do that?

Okay, okay – not the usual for this site, but I’m on a health kick (for life) and really looking at why I feel lousy so often. I found Jillian Michael’s book, “Master Your Metabolism,” and IT ROCKS! Wow. I just bought it today and have already read half of it, and skimmed the rest. I like Jillian’s kick-ass attitude and rocking body (I want mine to look like that!) on The Biggest Loser, but until you get into this book you can’t appreciate the brains this woman has as well.

In college I roomed with a nutrition major, and a co-worker I knew for years had alphabet soup degrees in health education and nutrition, but I never heard any of the information I just read in Jillian’s book. I’ve struggled with doctors for years, trying to determine just what hormones were missing or weak. NONE OF THEM suggested a change in diet. They all wanted me to take drugs (our pharmaceutical mafia at work) for my “borderline” hormones. I refused and now I’m glad. I get a shot at correcting my body naturally first.

This book rocks because the information is relevant, specific, easy to read and understand and applicable. Jillian isn’t tempted to wander into the “diet” and “workout” world we all know her for. She goes where no trainer I’ve ever met has gone – into the belly of the beast – telling readers exactly how toxins, food, and our Cheeto loving butts have gotten us into endocrine hell – with our thyroid, our hunger and estrogen hormones all screwed up from our food. I thought all food did was make me fat. It does more, and WORSE!! It zaps my energy, threatens my moods, my heart, my health….wow. I now have the motivation I needed to never drink another soda again.

Why should you buy it? Because like me, you’ve heard the same old CRAP about how food, the wrong food, makes us fat. You can recite the same tired lines and cliches about transfats, sat fat, processed food and blah, blah, blah – but this book DOESN’T DO THAT! You get NEW information, stuff you probably haven’t read. I’m a major reader, (and writer) and I’ve NEVER seen this stuff….because I think most trainers and folks are afraid to tell people how critical food is to our hormones.

Men – want to find out how “Junk shrinks the stuff in your trunk,”? Better get it and find out how your testosterone levels (that’s your sex drive) can be diminished by FOOD!!

Women….men….mothers-to-be. If you want to be healthy where it counts, (not in the size of your butt) – in your very freaking CELLS, then BUY THIS BOOK!!! It rocks. Really. It does.

Whew. Okay. I’m excited. And thrilled to be starting this new food regime. Awesome. There is no affiliate link on this page…so know that I’m supporting this book because it simply ROCKS. Really.