PRO CONNECT
Dr. Brian Smith has a PhD in organizational psychology, a master’s degree in management information systems, a bachelor's in accounting, and is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt Consultant. He has been helping business owners and managers since 1988. His company, IA Business Advisors (a DBA of Individual Advantages), has helped over eighteen thousand clients since 1996. His educational background coupled with thirty years of experience are what led him to write The I in Team Series. His passion for helping others and seeing them succeed to their fullest potential is unparalleled.
His greatest joy in life is his family. During the nicer seasons of Illinois, he finds pleasure in grilling, baseball, riding on his jet ski, mowing the lawn, and enjoying the beautiful weather. His personal definition of prosperity is realizing that in each moment he is in control and responsible for his own destiny; whatever that may bring. His personal motto is: Live in the present. There is nothing more important than what you are doing at this moment, it’s the time you have to make your best decision!
“A colorful and conversational manual that should help readers—personally and professionally—to better assess themselves and to build richer relationships with others.”
– Kirkus Reviews
An anecdotal guide delivers recipes for success in life and business.
Smith’s debut book focuses on self-realization, with the goal of creating for each reader an epiphany “about how your own individual advantages will affect the advantages of other individuals.” The author is the founder of Individual Advantages, “a company that helped other companies understand the correlation of people, process, and technology.” The bedrock of his approach is that every organization is made up of individuals, each one of whom brings unique strengths to the mix, whether they be physical, charismatic, personal, or a host of other things. These advantages have the ability to push people forward in life, but, as Smith points out, they can also pull individuals back if they’re not understood and handled well. The author has a long history as a professional consultant. He’s seen various staffs and managements in many different states of disarray and draws a series of lessons from all of them, here presented with clarity and fleshed out with ample tales from Smith’s own life and experiences. He talks about growing up poor, entering the military, and pursuing his gradually developed ambition to help people work better in teams, reminding his readers that “who you want to be is not about some physical job or position.” Throughout his book, the author puts forward some very simple concepts, like the virtues of slowing down and taking stock of things around you, honing individualism for personal strength, and determining what your real priorities are. Being self-aware, he asserts, is a basic key to forging your own individualism (and ultimately using it to enhance the individualism of others). When you can set aside your own ego and be honest about yourself, you construct a firmer foundation for becoming a leader. Smith uses clear, encouraging prose to elaborate on these basic underpinnings, and he overcomes the simplistic nature of his points by using a winningly self-deprecating tone. When talking about slowing down, for instance, Smith admonishes against immediate gratification, extols the virtues of living in the present, and uses himself both as a “before” and “after” example (“I was the stereotypical man who wouldn’t ask for directions,” he writes, before he changed his ways). The author’s truisms—sentiments like “If you really want to grow, then you need to face your own demons”—take on a greater degree of believability when he links them to his own story of self-improvement. He tells tales of the early days in his career when he let his emotions rule his reactions in tense business situations, usually to his detriment. These personal anecdotes make the resulting lessons (“There is no human on earth who has earned the right to treat another human being poorly,” for instance) feel far more meaningful.
A colorful and conversational manual that should help readers—personally and professionally—to better assess themselves and to build richer relationships with others.
Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5439-4634-5
Page count: 194pp
Publisher: BookBaby
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Day job
Senior Management Consultant (but if I could mow lawns all day I would do that.)
Favorite author
Tom Clancy and Michael Gerber
Favorite book
Red Storm Rising and The E-Myth
Favorite line from a book
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view..." To Kill a Mockingbird
Favorite word
Equilibrium
Hometown
Elgin, Illinois
Passion in life
Helping others realize their importance
Unexpected skill or talent
Writing
A Guide To Achieving Prosperity From The Pen Of Dr. Brian Smith, 2019
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