Book 4 of 52 in 52: TED:ology by Akash Karia

Speaker, Presentations Coach, Well-Known Toastmaster, and my friend, Akash Karia, has made quite the splash over the last few years in the industry. He's published many books, often Kindle-only, at one, two, and three dollar prices, as well as some longer tomes.

He's sent me review copies, I've bought a few, but honestly, I've never read them (hence you've never seen a review from me). Why? A few reasons. I haven't been as committed to reading in past years as I am this year, with my 52 Books in 52 Weeks goal, which seems to be turning into a 60+ plan with some of the extra books that have been sent my way. Also, I never really knew how to take Akash - whether he was just putting out book after book as part of a marketing ploy, or if they'd be worth my time. You'd think I'd have read one to find out, right?

But the biggest reason? Jealousy. Yep. I hate to say it, but everytime I saw a book come out, I just seethed a little bit inside - at myself, really - for not putting out more information myself. Have you ever felt that way? Seen someone else's success, and put more energy into being angry at yourself than being happy for them? No? OK - well, I'm imperfect. But I'm working on it.

In the last few years, I've gotten to know Akash a bit over SKYPE, and he's the real deal. A nice guy who has worked hard to gain a lot of stage time, a lot of coaching experience, a lot of knowledge. Which is why I included TWO of his books in my list this year, though I'll probably read more.

TED:ology is one of six (or is it seven) books centered on TEDtalks, the worldwide speaking events that often have the best talks go viral on YouTube and have spawned hundreds of locally-organized TEDx events. I think we have at least four here in Colorado alone, annually.

It's a quick read on Kindle, though if you watch all the linked videos it reviews, it'll take a bit longer. Akash has teamed with three other communication professionals, Dana Rubin, Marion Grobb Finkelstein, and Dr. Michelle Mazur, to dissect a total of four TEDtalks. Each author tackles their own speaker, and describes the lessons we can learn throughout.

He promises "By the end of the book, you’ll be able to:"

- Harness the power of storytelling and move your audience emotionally.
- Connect with your audience by appealing to a universal experience or idea.
- Create an experience for your audience.
- Start with a startle (and avoid “shocks that block”).
- Keep your audience engaged and interested.
- Deliver a memorable presentation by repeating a hook line.
- Surprise your audience with twists and turns.
- Deliver a dynamic TED talk or any other speech or presentation.
- Build rapport using you-focused speaking.
- Instantly connect with your audience using the energy-matching principle.
- Gesture powerfully and confidently by putting your body behind your gestures.
- Deepen the connection with your audience by verbalizing their thoughts.
- Personalize your talk using callbacks.
- Keep your audience curious using knowledge gaps.
- Have fun on stage.
- Make your statistics come alive.
- Give life and meaning to your data.
- Engage seamlessly with your visuals.
- End your talk powerfully and persuasively.
- Share a message that is remembered and repeated.

That's a big promise - too big. What is really delivered is HOW the four presenters, Amanda Palmer, Jinsop Lee, Anthony Robbins, and Hans Rosling, accomplished those tasks, as explained by the authors. Knowing how it's done doesn't automatically mean you can do it, as anyone who's watched a video on how to paint has found out when they applied brush to canvas. Speaking is much more like art than a step-by-step activity like putting together a shelf.

Once you ramp down the expectations, TED:ology offers four strong, thought-provoking analyses, which, coupled with watching the speeches themselves, will help you as you Speak & Deliver your next presentation, provided you put in the practice with each tool.

Finally, while I found all the analyses to be insightful and interesting, it was Akash's own that stood out to me. Of course he had a dynamic speaker, Anthony Robbins, to critique, in what has become one of the most-watched TEDtalks ever. Beyond that, however, Akash dug deep into the speech techniques, and offered one up that I'm sure I'll be stealing - Knowlege Gaps - the why behind asking questions from the stage. He also was the only one of the four to relate his OWN speaking and coaching experiences in his review, and took extra time to talk to the reader about using the techniques he described.

Thankfully, he didn't let Robbins off the hook, despite his self-professed admiration of the speaker. He critiques his use of swearing, and his inability to stay within time, giving us some strategies to deal with both effectively.

The only aspect of the speech I didn't see him talk about - one of my favorite parts, in fact, was his interaction with Al Gore. Robbins completely had the audience in that short moment (and...it was a major reason he went over time in the first place).

The other authors were more succinct, perhaps more academically-in their approach. I'm not sure if I'd say they missed an opportunity to reveal more of themselves and their personality, or if Akash missed a leadership opportunity by asking them to give a little more of themselves in their chapters.

Overall, it was well-worth my time, and hopefully yours. TED:ology provided me with several good ideas and reminders of strategies easily forgotten when not used often enough. Regardless of whether you ever end up on a TED stage or not, spend the .99 cents - I did, and I'm happy to do so.

Rating - TED:ology: 4 stars out of 5.

Bonus Lesson for Speakers Wanting to write books - As Akash did here, and as I did in Go Ahead and Laugh, Win Place & Show, and The Finalists - team up with others to make it happen. You don't always have to write it all yourself. Get it done, and get it in the back of the room!

Next week's Review: Under the Dome, by Stephen King.

Ignite Win Anyway

Have you heard of TEDtalks? Yeah, I thought so.

But, have you heard of Ignite? Not as many of you, I'm sure. Ignite is also a worldwide speaking platform, organized by local groups, which grew out of the first event in Seattle - apparently to give the 12th Man something to do when they aren't cheering on their Seahawks during the NFL season.

Five minutes, twenty slides is their schtick - short speeches tied to a slide show that advances every 15 seconds whether you're ready or not. When you're out of time - you're done. Sell from the stage and you're likely booed by the typically Generation Z audience. If you're boring, expect heckling.

Here's an example of a typical speech:



A real challenge, to be sure, especially for my pretty positive topic of 'Win Anyway'.

When I went to the Ignite preparation meeting to find out what I might be in for, I realized the audience wouldn't be my typical group of conservative professionals and Toastmasters - though many would be similar to actual members of my club. They encourage a contrarian approach, and even recommend swearing in an appropriate manner.

As seasoned a speaker as I am, working in this format is pretty foreign to me - which is exactly why I want to participate. So I've submitted my proposal, and all I have to do now finish in the top 15 or so vote-getters and I'll end up on stage at the Oriental Theatre in Denver in late February, and leaving with a pretty professional video of me in front of a large audience giving my core message. Not a bad deal, right?

So I'm asking you for your vote. I have no campaign promises, no special prizes - but I do promise to post the video here when it's ready! 'Win Anyway' is the second option in the voting list - but you have to vote for all of them - yes, no, and 'meh', essentially, for the vote to register. By the way, feel free to vote for the first one as well - it's a submission by my fellow club member, who accepted my challenge for our club to submit as many proposals to Ignite as we could.

To vote, head here: http://ignitedenver.org/spark-voting/

Thank you, in advance, for helping give me yet another venue to Speak...& Deliver!

Bonus Video - an Ignite presentation from fellow TM Danielle Edmonds!

Toastmasters Friday: My Road to DTM - CHECK!

 

I've been a Toastmaster for almost 15 years. I've competed on the world stage. Twice. I've even been invited to keynote or speak in 13 different districts. Yet, my typical conversation when I meet Toastmasters outside of my district typically go like this:

Them: "You're a DTM, right?"

Me: "Uh, no. I'm and Advanced Communicator Gold with an 'Old' Competent Leader Award"

Them (stunned): "Oh. Why AREN'T you a DTM?"

Sigh. Lots of answers there. Too busy competing being primary among them. Tough to complete the District Leadership requirement when you're in 94 contests in a 10 year span.

Plus, the one year I took off in 2009-2010 to be a Division Governor, I took a job that took me out of town halfway through the term, and I never did most of the work. I still got credit for being a DivGov, but I didn't feel comfortable using that toward a DTM.

In truth, for a long time, I didn't really put a lot of value on a DTM. I was focused on winning the World Championship. That was my Moby Dick - and if you've seen SPEAK the movie, you know it was nearly my undoing. A DTM seemed like the ultimate accumulation of checklists. 40 manual speeches? Check. A few other bigger speeches? Check. CL manual? Check. Leadership role? Check! High Performance Leadership project? Check!

They didn't have to be GOOD speeches. You didn't have to be a GOOD Area Governor. You didn't have to have an effective HPL (High Performance Leadership) project, as long as you produced something. Let's face it - we've seen our share of DTMs in the world that caused us to wonder how hard it really was to achieve.

Yet - such a small percentage of Toastmasters become DTM's that it clearly is difficult to achieve. It takes time, effort, commitment - all qualities that don't always shine in the average human being.

Is the lack of quality control really a big deal? Or is it simply an extension of the activity-based, judgment-free atmosphere fostered by the organization? We have other awards that are judged - the WCPS, of course, and the Accredited Speaker. On the leadership-side, Board of Director spots are given only to those who HAVE been excellent leaders, and show strong credentials to the voters worldwide.

In 2011, after competing and not placing at the Semi-Finals in Las Vegas, I decided it was time to get out of competition for awhile. I announced in early 2012 my intention to be a 2012-2013 Area Governor, effectively killing my eligibility for the next two years. I changed my Moby Dick - so that I could finally answer the question "Are you a DTM?" with a "Yes - absolutely!"

My AG year was successful - we pulled off Distinguished with about 6 days to go. All I needed was my HPL - a GOOD HPL - one that would be worthy of DTM. At least worthy of what I wanted my DTM to represent. Thanks to the encouragement of several, the support of a great HPL team, and the inspiration from District 26's Lt. Governor of Education, Linda Rhea, the idea of ToastTalks was born.

ToastTalks was to be a Friday night event at the Fall Conference with Speakers either giving a 7 minute TED style talk, or a 5 minute, with 20 slides advancing every 15 seconds, IGNITE style talk. We wanted it emceed and video recorded. The event itself went off without a hitch, and the five speakers did a marvelous job of entertaining the 200 plus in the room. My team came through at every turn, and my HPL was completed two months later when I finally got back to my club, after traveling to Canada and dealing with Holiday events which kept me away, to give the wrap-up speech.

It wasn't the perfect HPL. I never got everyone together in person - schedules just wouldn't allow. Group email was my friend - and I asked them every question my manual demanded I ask, as if we were all in the same room. The timeline from start to finish was four weeks. But I learned a lot about my leadership style (or lack thereof) - and had to force myself to be more hands-off than I'm used to - to trust my team. In addition, I had to push myself in the background, as I was competing the next day in both contests, and any extra facetime by me would be unfair and potentially DQ me altogether. While it wasn't perfect, the final product was a grand success.

10 days ago, I was officially Rich Hopkins, DTM in TM's records. 7 days ago, I received the plaque in the mail. I'm proud of it - and even if it's just a series of checkmarks, they are checkmarks the average person never checks. And I didn't settle - by using the old Division Governor term, or using a project as an AG, like the Area Contest, which we have to do ANYWAY, for the HPL (not that there's anything wrong with that - though some thumb their noses at that practice), and I even made sure I earned the new Competent Leader award, even though I applied the old one to this award.

The DTM, much like Toastmasters itself, is what you want it to be, and you get out of it only what you want to get out of it. You can aim for quality or quantity. I suggest you go for both - and never let a checklist-oriented, judgment-free zone let you cheat yourself out of the best result you can get. Only you can decide what that is.

-----------

So my problem is solved. No more worries. I'll finally get my due respect. There's only one problem. I just know this is coming:

Them: "So - you got your DTM?"
Me: "Yes, absolutely!"
Them: "Great - when will your get your 2nd one?"
Me. "Ummmm...."

How 'bout right after I win the World Championship?

Book 3 of 52 in 52: Drive by Daniel Pink

I know, I know - I'm WAY late to the party. Five years apparently. Sure, I'd seen the TEDtalk video - but everytime I thought about buying the book - well, other offerings just seemed to jump up instead.

I still haven't bought the book. I listened to it on Audible. And I was bored.

It's full of great information, but I think I've been spoiled by Chip & Dan Heath, Dave Lakhani, Malcolm Gladwell and even Gary Vaynerchuck - authors who tell wonderful stories to illustrate their points. Pink has stories, but I felt they lacked an emotional component.

While I felt the book took on a more clinical tone than I like, the information within it was, as expected, pretty strong. But coming in five years late, I think my brain has been spoiled by so many books that probably owe a lot to this one. So much of it, between my years in sales and my long marketing and persuasion reading list over the years, seemed old hat.

Perhaps Drive introduced us to such now-old-hat stories as 'The Candle Problem' (take a candle, matches, and a box of tacks and light the candle without letting was melt on the floor), Zappos customer service, and FedEx innovation. If only I had a time machine.

A quick look at what the book covers:

Thesis: Companies aren't keeping up with what motivates today's employees. Not particularly surprising, since most companies are run by yesterday's employees.

Proposal: We've moved from Motivation 2.0 (rewards & punishment) to Motivation 3.0 (satisfaction & fulfillment) - and then describes the three components he believes today's worker is looking for:

Autonomy - working on their own
Mastery - working to their best potential, getting in the 'flow'
Purpose - working for something bigger than the components of their job

Nothing groundbreaking - TODAY. But something tells me it was when the book was published. But I've read and listened to so much other content covering similar material, it's impossible for me to give Drive a fair review beyond my opinion that it's a drier book than it needs to be.

What stands out for Speakers:

Pink has parlayed this and his other books into quite the speaking career - as you can see from his web page. The book isn't full of original thought - it essentially a research paper that assembles the ideas of others and comes to a conclusion. He doesn't really talk about himself at all. There's a lesson there - you don't have to know everything. You just need to find people that know SOMETHING, draw a conclusion and distill a process, and put out your book. Poof, you're credible, to one degree or another.

Three stars out of five. If you're new to marketing and persuasion, and are working mostly in a corporate environment, Drive is a great place for you to start your education. If you've been around the block a few times - recently, at least - you might be as bored as I was.

If you read the book years ago - what did YOU think? Am I missing its impact? Should I have read it instead of listening to it? What big idea did you leave the book with?

Next weeks review: TED:ology by Akash Karia

Bonus: Save yourself some time and just watch the video below, before deciding for yourself.

Speaker Launch Toward Success - A Case Study from Maureen Zappala

(Editor's Note: Over the last couple of years, I've watched my friend Maureen Zappala transform herself from a top-notch Toastmaster Speaker to a Wannabe Speaker to an actual, Bona Fide Keynoter. What does a journey like that look like? What does it feel like? I asked her to share that with us, in as transparent a way as she could, so that we could really see 'behind-the-curtain' of her efforts, perhaps finding instruction, and inspiration, for our own Launch Toward Success!)

“I’m not a marketer. I’m a speaker.” That thinking is the quickest path to being broke. The fact is, professional speakers are not paid to speak. We’re paid to market.

To reinvent myself as a speaker and get serious about making money at it, I made intentional and bold changes in my approach. In hindsight, there’s nothing magical about these changes. You can find this information anywhere. But unless you try out what you find, you won’t know what works for you. This is what worked for me. 

First, in late 2012, I attended a speaker training workshop. I shelled out a lot of cash, aligned the planets so my kids were carpooled and fed in my absence, and flew to Atlanta for the 3 day “Speak It Forward” Boot camp. It was conducted by my friend Kent Julian, a wildly successful pro speaker in the education market. Wow. I knew a lot of the material he presented, but now I had it all in one binder, presented in a linear, logical way that made my left-brained engineering mind wild with the delight of great possibilities. I could do this! I had a plan. Off I went.

To start, I joined the one year follow-up mastermind group after the boot camp. There were 10 of us, buzzing with excitement about making speaking-business things happen. The energy propelled us forward…at least for a little while. Emotions wore off and commitment, sheer will and iron-clad determination took over. Sometimes I didn't WANT to send another email or  make another phone call, or research another conference opportunity. I didn't WANT to listen to another recording of my horrible speaking where I was guilty of using the word “and” about 4,395 times to create a run on sentence that lasted a solid seventeen and a half minutes. But our group pushed each other.

For my topics, I decided to speak on the leadership lessons I learned while at NASA. Leadership speakers…ugh. They’re everywhere. What’s so special about me? My branding had to set me apart from the zillion other leadership speakers out there. Then it hit me. “Hey, I’m a female propulsion engineer.” I always thought it was ordinary, but people often would say “Wow, that’s pretty cool.” Hmmm…maybe I needed to capitalize on that. Duh. How many female propulsion engineers do you know? ‘Nuff said. Even though engineering was in my rear view mirror  (I left NASA in 1997) and even though I don’t speak on technical topics, or exclusively to technical audiences, it’s a unique branding that gets attention. I loved my work at NASA, and it’s a big part of who I am, so it was a natural choice for my branding. I became “High Altitude Strategies: Propelling Your Team to Peak Performance” 

I outlined 2 keynotes and gave them catchy names. I didn't write the 2 keynotes. I just outlined them. A mistake a lot of speakers make is to write and perfect a speech, only to find out that nobody wants it. I started with outlines and good stories. Then I shopped for audiences to see if any of them were interested in them.

I contacted local service organizations and Chambers of Commerce, because they are always looking for speakers for their events. I knew they didn't pay money, but they were people with pulses and that’s what I wanted. I needed audiences. Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions clubs and networking groups all have an online presence so I searched the Internet to find contacts. When I found a contact, I emailed a simple request, emphasizing my desire to serve them. Here’s the exact text of one email I sent:

“Hello, I was looking at the Richfield Chamber of Commerce website and I see that you host several events where you bring in speakers. Can you tell me how you chose your speakers? I think I have some topics that would be of interest to your members. 
 Please let me know if I can serve you. I can be reached via email or phone at your convenience.

Warm regards,  
Maureen Zappala

This  usually got a positive reply. Then I’d connect via phone, which is better than email because it’s more personal. (I’ll confess, though. The phone is hard for me. As social as I am, I really am an introvert. I could go days without talking to another human, and be ok with that. I had to be intentional to get out of my cave and talk to people.) I’d refer them to my website (where I had my speech titles and descriptions) and bounce around ideas around to get a feel for what direction they wanted to go. It worked beautifully. The titles were the real hook. “Is your Supersonic Team Producing Subsonic Results?” and “Leadership is NOT Rocket Science” were catching attention. I was getting booked. For free at first, but you must start somewhere. Now I needed to develop the actual speeches.

I wrote them, and I delivered them. I recorded them and reviewed them (oh wow…that was dreadful) and rewrote them and delivered them again. I worked at making them great. Your best marketing is to be great behind the microphone. 

At each event, the feedback I got was pure gold. I found out what worked and what didn't. It was win-win-win. The meeting planner got a free speaker. The audience got a great message from a decent speaker. And I got priceless feedback to fine tune the message. Oh, and I got to sell my book. (Make note to yourself: write a book.) 

Some of these free speeches were jackpots of opportunities for paid engagements as well. Through networking, I met people active in their professional network groups. For example, as a result of meeting someone when I spoke at the Richfield Chamber (email above), I am working on negotiating a keynote speech for a state chapter of a large national association. And they pay. Pretty well, too. Sweet.

In parallel to this free speaking, I did a metric ton of research into other opportunities. I spent hours at the library scouring the Encyclopedia of Associations, the National Trade and Professional Association directory and the Dun & Bradstreet Million Dollar Directory to find conference and contact information. I searched the internet using keywords like “2014 conference” and “leadership conference” and “women engineering conference”. 

I learned a LOT, primarily what groups would be hiring people with messages like mine. You bet I’ll stay in touch with those event coordinators. While cold calling is part of the booking process, the richer fare is gotten through building relationships. Relationships have to start somehow, and stalking conference chairs via the internet is a viable option. OK, stalking is a strong word. But contacting a conference chair whose contact information is listed on a conference website isn't a bad idea. It gets my name on their radar, and I can follow up later for more opportunities. It’s worked. I've booked with groups I can identify with: women engineers. I’m working on other aeronautic and aviation organizations. It’s a slow process, but it will pay off. When meeting planners need a speaker, I want them to think of and choose me because of the relationship we've built.

It’s not all been sunshine and glitter. If you could see the mountain of emails I've sent to associations asking about contacts, you’d shudder. There are hundreds. And the outflow exceeds the inflow. In other words, unlike with service organizations, I wasn't getting a lot of response. But I must keep pushing forward. 

It’s a numbers game, and you can’t game the numbers. You must do your due diligence. The work I do today may not see results for months. But I’m certain I will see results. That makes the journey fun.

A New York City native, Maureen Zappala relocated to Cleveland in 1983, employed by NASA’s Lewis Research Center after graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. She left in 1997 to pursue other interests including direct sales, fitness instruction and motherhood. Now as a professional speaker, she challenges organizations to “push the envelope” of their own expectations, so they can propel their teams to peak performance. You can find her at MaureenZ.com.

Speaking of MLK

Every year, Martin Luther King Day rolls around, and I feel a responsibility to post SOMETHING. A responsibility I don't fulfill - I don't even do the minimum, say, posting a meme, a picture, or a YouTube video.

Even a search of my blog for MLK shows only a couple of posts mentioning him - two about misquotes, and one regarding the analysis of his speech in Nancy Duarte's Resonate.

Lets face it - what am I supposed to say? He was a great man, though, like all of us, he had his foibles, depending on which interviews and biographies you read. His impact on the world is undeniable, his vision for freedom and his method for achieving it above reproach. But you don't need me to affirm that for you.

His death was tragic, though hardly unexpected, especially by King himself. I hesitate to say he accomplished even more through his death than he could have in life - it's an easy cop-out. When one considers what Nelson Mandela was able to accomplish with all of his extra years, one can only imagine what King's results would have been.

As a speaker - after all, this is a speaking blog - again, what am I to say? He wasn't a speaker as most of us consider them today. He was an orator. A grand mix of preacher, politician and poet. A charismatic presenter with an audience who desperately needed him, both his following, and his enemies. His ability to move his listeners both emotionally and rationally, to change the thoughts of so many from what they'd been brought up to believe, to rally people of all types to a greater cause, may not only be unequaled since, but impossible to equal in the future.

He was the right man, at the right time, with the right message, and the right delivery - and he embraced it.

So many aspiring and emerging speakers stop themselves with fear of not being good enough, not being well-received. But how many of us fear DEATH or IMPRISONMENT when we speak?

But again, do you really need ME to say any of this?

How am I to truly understand who Martin Luther King was or what he did? I was a baby when he was assassinated. I'm was a white, middle class kid who at 6 and 7 years old played with other white middle class kids chasing each other around with a 'nigger stick' - though we (or at least I) didn't have a clue what that meant, at least until a parent heard us and thankfully stepped in. They didn't exactly explain it, though, just made us stop.

I grew up having one friend in my Iowa high school who was black (sadly, even as I type this, I don't know if I should actually type 'brown' or 'African-American' instead, or perhaps something else altogether), and we got along great. Of course we did - we both loved drawing and comic books and movies.

In my small Christian College in Oklahoma, diversity wasn't extraordinarily apparent, beyond the athletic department. Still, there was a young lady I asked out once after we'd been flirtatious friends awhile. She turned me down, saying I had no idea the obstacles we'd face if we started dating. I persisted, saying, of course, that I could handle whatever came our way, but she'd have none of it.

I thought for a minute as I wrote this post: "Do I have any black friends today?" My immediate answer was NO - but then, they started to pop into my brain. I have many, just as I have many friends of all races, creeds, and cultural origin. I just don't think of them in those terms, unless I force myself to. That, I would hope, would be one of the many desired results MLK had in mind 45 years ago.

There is no way for me to fully comprehend the legacy of Martin Luther King. I can never truly walk a mile in his shoes, or the shoes of those he worked to bring greater freedom and equality to - any more than I can understand what it's like to be a woman, an Asian, a Hispanic, a tall person, a bald person, a musical prodigy or a mathematical genius.

I can only wonder who I might be, who America might be (much less the world) - what prejudices and injustices we would support - if Martin Luther King had not chosen to Speak & Deliver. To stand up for what he believed in, to stand up for what was right and is right and should have always been right. There are more battles, new battles, and even some of the same battles, being fought today. He was called to speak for his values and his people - and by 'his people', I mean the people of the world - because that's what he wanted to create. A world not separated by color or class or politics or religion. But again - did you need me to tell you that?

What can I really say? What can I really do? 

I can only hope that I and my actions and the family I'm raising up will fall on the right side side of the Dream. That I continue to stand up and speak for what I believe, knowing I live in a much safer world, and have a much safer agenda, than he did. And that I can, perhaps, inspire and instruct YOU to do the same.

Book 2 of 52 in 52: The Attitude Check by Heath Suddleson

On my list of 52 Books in 52 Weeks, I half-jokingly suggested to the author of 'The Attitude Check', Heath Suddleson, that I'd review his book faster if he signed a copy and sent me one for free. Seemed only fair since he covertly recommended his own book for the list in the first place. So he contacted me again, got my address, and presto, over the last week I read his Lessons on Leadership - which I'd wanted to do for awhile now.

First Impressions...

The book was so much smaller than I expected. All the pictures I've seen of it make it look like a Chicken Soup for the Soul-sized tome, and I figured it would take me a few weeks to digest. But at 5 x 7, as it is accurately advertised on Amazon, if I'd just looked closer, and only 120 or so pages, it is less a biblical text on leadership than a satisfying, anecdote-filled, read-on-the-airplane and walk off with some good ideas type of publication.

The Premise

Heath gives us a good look at the need for leadership, and chunks it into two overall styles: Command & Control vs. Responsibility & Reward. His 'Attitude Check' works for either, asking us to decide what kind of leader we are, to identify our customers, and to realize the importance of our team to our value as a leader.

The Process
The book covers everything from building your team to motivating them to dealing with conflict, nonperformers, and dealing with lost production. He examines decision-making, owning mistakes, and even looks at the end game as the book closes, discussing how to groom your successor.

Some nuggets of wisdom I enjoyed included his explanation of 'organ rejection' within an organization, avoiding getting his toes stepped on by not putting them in the way of his team in the first place, and his use of visual reminders (in his case, a piece of clothing with USMC on it) to give him a 'subliminal Attitude Check' (my words, not his). Sometimes, it is important to remind ourselves who we are and what we expect from ourselves - to lead ourselves before we lead others.

The Heart
Heath shows three primary sides of his life to us, using them all as examples of his leadership prowess and the stumbles he had along the way to developing those skills. A Marine, a construction manager, and a Toastmaster who led the organization from the club level up to the International Board of Directors level. He notes the differences of those groups, from expectations to relationships to methods of results achievement. Suffice to say you can't expect a volunteer hoping to overcome their fear of public speaking to respond in the same manner as a disciplined fighting machine.

Most interesting to ME were his Toastmaster examples, of course, as I just kept trying to envision what he went through against my own experiences at much lower levels of the organization. I'm not sure if it encouraged me to actually move up into District Leadership or solidified my decision to wait another 20 years or so...

The Result

A concise and entertaining glimpse into Heath's life as a leader - essentially a weekend-long leadership seminar in a book. As a speaker, this book is perfect for him to sell in the back of the room, or sell ahead of time to organizations hiring him - as resources for their attendees. It isn't overwhelming to read, but it IS authentic, fairly comprehensive despite being brief, and almost always original enough to stand out amongst the thousands of other leadership books sitting on the shelves and the Amazon Wish Lists of the world.

I give The Attitude Check four stars out of five - I wish it had been longer - and that's more a compliment than anything else, I suppose. If you're looking for another perspective on leadership, or know some folks around you that could use one, or just want to send a copy to your local member of Congress, I fully endorse it.

Next weeks book: Drive, by Daniel Pink

(Speak & Deliver disclaimer: I am friends with Heath, though we've never met, and only talked on the phone once, about 3 1/2 years ago, while I ate a really big steak in downtown Omaha all by my sad self. We were talking Toastmasters, of course, and he was offering me his own well reasoned point of view on an issue being hotly debated at the time. As is the nature of such things, I have almost no idea what it was at this point. Suffice to say that he impressed me then, and impresses me now. My book review, however, is in no way influenced by this prior relationship. Probably.)