Thoughtful observations on titles worth a look
Timely e-mail and the art of possibility
Never Check E-mail in
the Morning
(Fireside 2004)
By Julie Morgenstern
Quite frankly, the
title sent a wave
of panic through
me. I muttered to
myself “Not check
my e-mail, why I
. . . sputter, sputter . . . !” But it
turns out that this
book is realistic and user-friendly.
Morgenstern’s self-assessment, compe-tencies, real-life case studies, as well as the
“it’s you” or “it’s them” examples make
this a usable book worth keeping on the
resource shelf.
Morgenstern entreats us to be
honest, with and about ourselves.
That honest self-examination is key
to her process and our being able to
really succeed in maximizing our time
and effort. One of her most exciting
strategies—dance close to the revenue
line—is related to her heart clutching
title Never Check E-mail in the Morning:
And Other Unexpected Strategies for
Making Your Work Life Work.
Her three-step pyramid makes visualizing priorities easy and clear. A simple
check is to ask, “Is this task close to my
revenue line?” The answer makes prioritizing your day a snap. In that light,
checking your e-mail first thing in the
morning seems far less essential. But
that is only one of 34 strategies she
shares with her readers.
No matter what job you do, your
personality traits, your strengths or
weaknesses, you will be able to find
workable solutions to enhance not just
your work life but your entire life.
Using her grab-and-go strategies, case
study tips and chapter summary give
you a clearer path to personalizing
your journey to success.
Laurie Brown
The Difference
Ferndale, Mich.
The Art of Possibility:
Transforming Professional
and Personal Life
(Penguin Group 2000)
By Rosamund Stone Zander
and Benjamin Zander
Although The Art
of Possibility begins
with the nine-dot
puzzle and the
phrase “out of the
box thinking,” I
encourage you not
to think its contents are passé. The
Art . . . is much like the professional
speaker as it offers the “means to . . .
sail into a vast universe of possibility.”
The heart of the book offers 12
Practices, transformational efforts to
promote shifts in one’s “posture, per-
ceptions, beliefs and thought processes.”
The Second Practice is to create one’s
universe of possibility, the place where
new inventions are the order of the day.
That universe stretches beyond the standard measurements that so often constrain our inventiveness (discussed in the
First Practice: It’s All Invented).
The Fourth Practice—Being a
Contribution—sounds like motivational
elements from one of our presentations:
“In the game of contribution, you wake
up each day and bask in the notion that
you are a gift to others.”
The two-part Eighth Practice is
Giving Way to Passion. Part one is
to release the barriers of self that keep
you in control. Part two is to allow
yourself to shape the stream of passion
into a new expression for the world.
Each of the 12 Practices can benefit
the processes by which we speakers
upgrade, update and upscale our
messages. Each one of the practices
also can have strong relevance to the
messages themselves that we present
to our clients.
A final note, the Zanders demonstrate
exceptional use of stories, which are
in abundance, to vitalize every point
they make.
Tim Wright, MBA
Wright Results
Austin, Texas
