An honest, emotionally gut-wrenching, and ultimately soul-satisfying memoir.
A corporate executive offers an account of her journey to find her true soul.
This debut memoir couldn’t be timelier: As American businesses flounder under the weight of a pandemic and society suffers upheaval, it seems perfectly appropriate to question one’s own trajectory. Approaching age 50, Paxton decided to follow a boldly unconventional path by leaving an executive-level position at a large corporation to take a “soulbbatical”—her cleverly devised term for an extended period of self-discovery. The book is divided into four distinct sections (Fulfillment, Authenticity, Courage, and Purpose), but it is essentially a memoir with a strong connecting thread from chapter to chapter. Peppered with salty language that Paxton admits is “raw, from the soul,” the volume traces the author’s experiences, pre- and post-corporate life, until she became aware that, once she helped herself, her end goal was aiding others. It is compelling to look over Paxton’s shoulder as she agonizes about her awakening, a realization that there is more to life than her career. Plenty of soul-searching ensued, both before and after the author departed her high-powered marketing position at Harley-Davidson (that’s important, because later in the book, riding a motorcycle becomes symbolic). In order to make her own experiences instructional to readers, Paxton ends each section with “Soul Search,” a series of reflection questions that are “not meant to confirm your existing beliefs; rather, they’re designed to stir up what’s deep inside you.” She exhorts readers to employ a “S.O.U.L. Process…Show up.…Own it.…Unleash it.…Live it.” Gimmicky, yes, but apt. Paxton’s introspective journey literally took her across the globe—from the Midwest to New Zealand and back—in search of her next phase. This aspect in particular may stretch the credulity of those without the financial security afforded the author. Still, her fervor is palpable: The courage it took for Paxton to detach from corporate life, the fear and uncertainty she candidly reveals, and the verve and vitality of her prose all serve to make this a most memorable book.
An honest, emotionally gut-wrenching, and ultimately soul-satisfying memoir.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-982131-33-3
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Tiller Press/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.
Want to get ahead in business? Consult a dictionary.
By Wharton School professor Berger’s account, much of the art of persuasion lies in the art of choosing the right word. Want to jump ahead of others waiting in line to use a photocopy machine, even if they’re grizzled New Yorkers? Throw a because into the equation (“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine, because I’m in a rush?”), and you’re likely to get your way. Want someone to do your copying for you? Then change your verbs to nouns: not “Can you help me?” but “Can you be a helper?” As Berger notes, there’s a subtle psychological shift at play when a person becomes not a mere instrument in helping but instead acquires an identity as a helper. It’s the little things, one supposes, and the author offers some interesting strategies that eager readers will want to try out. Instead of alienating a listener with the omniscient should, as in “You should do this,” try could instead: “Well, you could…” induces all concerned “to recognize that there might be other possibilities.” Berger’s counsel that one should use abstractions contradicts his admonition to use concrete language, and it doesn’t help matters to say that each is appropriate to a particular situation, while grammarians will wince at his suggestion that a nerve-calming exercise to “try talking to yourself in the third person (‘You can do it!’)” in fact invokes the second person. Still, there are plenty of useful insights, particularly for students of advertising and public speaking. It’s intriguing to note that appeals to God are less effective in securing a loan than a simple affirmative such as “I pay all bills…on time”), and it’s helpful to keep in mind that “the right words used at the right time can have immense power.”
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063204935
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper Business
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
A satisfyingly heartfelt tribute to a thoroughly remarkable man.
Investigative reporter Franklin recounts the life of the free-spirited millionaire entrepreneur who used his fabulous wealth in the fight to save nature.
One constant in the epic life of North Face founder Doug Tompkins (1943-2015) was his enduring love of the outdoors. The son of a successful antiques dealer, he grew up in the countryside of Millbrook, New York (Timothy Leary was a neighbor), where he cultivated his love of the natural world. His contrarian ways eventually led to his expulsion from high school just weeks before graduation. Tompkins headed West, where he baled hay in Montana, raced Olympic skiers in the Rockies, and took up rock climbing in California. He also “hitchhiked by airplane throughout South America.” Tompkins ended up in San Francisco, where, by the mid-1960s, the skiing and climbing supplies business he started with the help of Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard suddenly began to boom. He was a charismatic businessman, and every one of his ventures after that—from his wife’s Plain Jane dress company to his own Esprit clothing brand—was successful. But his Midas touch never changed his passion for travel and adventure—e.g., flying his Cessna, sometimes with his family, but often, to the detriment of his marriage, solo. In the early 1990s, Tompkins bought property in southern Chile and fell in love with its pristine beauty. His outrage over the resource extraction–based nature of the Chilean government’s policies fueled his desire to protect the land. In the years that followed, he became an outspoken, sometimes reviled conservationist dedicated to using his fortune to transform thousands of acres of Patagonia into national parks. The great strengths of this timely, well-researched book lie not just in the author’s detailed characterization of Tompkins’ complex personality, but also in the celebration of his singularly dynamic crusade to save the environment.
A satisfyingly heartfelt tribute to a thoroughly remarkable man.Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-296412-0
Page Count: 336
Publisher: HarperOne
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
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