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12 Steps of Self-Leadership

Name: 12 Steps of Self-Leadership
Author: Doug Lester
ISBN: 978-1-4602-6893-3

THE DIFFERENCE MAKER'S GUIDE TO LIVING AND LEADING ON PURPOSE

by Doug Lester with Cheryl Lester ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 11, 2016

An engaging personal growth “script,” casting the reader as a questing hero.

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Two Canadian leadership coaches map out a process to cultivate inner awareness and outer effectiveness in this personal/professional development guide.

Differing from past leadership guides that “tended to focus on plans and solutions that are externally applied and measured,” this manual provides a “path to meaningful change and success as a leader,” one that “demands much more of you and begins deep within.” Drawing on the 12-step models of Alcoholics Anonymous and most particularly Joseph Campbell’s hero journey, the Lesters, operators of Ontario-based coaching firm Eagle Tree Leadership, offer discussion and then takeaway “footholds,” “stepping stones,” and “travel tips” on how to reflect and respond to their series of personal growth steps. These steps move from simply accepting the invitation to become more self-aware (Steps 1 to 3), exploring this awareness (Steps 4 to 5), and preparing to use it (Steps 6 to 7), to applying it to your external world (Steps 8 to 12). As part of this process, they direct readers to their online quiz to assess DMQ™ (Difference Making Quotient), or a person’s commitment/awareness level regarding self-leadership, at the start and end of the “quest.” Readers also must determine, via values ranking and other exercises, FISC™—“your own ‘royal treasury’ of Facts, Influences, SoulDNA™, and Characters that make you ‘you’ ”—while respecting the FISCs of others. By following these steps, “Shift Happens,” leading to Transformational Leadership (Step 11) that will “inspire, engage, empower, and facilitate transformational change in the world—individually and collectively.” Finally, Keeping It Fresh (Step 12) involves ongoing journaling and learning. In this volume, the Lesters (who are married) fall into the common coaches’ trap of too many jargon handles. But their overall approach, leveraging Campbell’s journey just as Hollywood often does, is both dramatic and inspiring, encouraging readers to see themselves as having the “courage to answer the call.” While 12 steps may seem like a lot to get through to some, this allows for important sustaining concepts—not only that final, cycling refresh step, but also the very welcome Step 7, the “Integral Pause: I regularly engage in times of pause, retreat, and reflection.”

An engaging personal growth “script,” casting the reader as a questing hero.

Pub Date: Jan. 11, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-4602-6893-3

Page Count: 276

Publisher: FriesenPress

Review Posted Online: March 9, 2016

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.