Shaking Us Out of our Dream Complacency

Crazy Is A Compliment: The Power of Zigging When Everyone Else Zags

Linda Rottenberg, Penguin Group, New York, 2014

I bought this book because some well-known business magazine recommended it as must-reading for our current ‘world of work’. They were right. What this book did for me was drive home with vivid examples and more realistically what so many of its predecessors only tried to teach. Bottom line, “Don’t be afraid to zig when everyone else is zagging even if they call you crazy; in fact, if they don’t, you aren’t zigging enough.”

Linda Rottenberg speaks from experience, both her own and also hundreds of her clients, as the Co-Founder and CEO of Endeavor, whose claim to fame is that they are leading the high-impact entrepreneurship movement around the world.  She also speaks (and writes) as a wife and mother of two young daughters whom she loves very much.

The book is divided into three main sections – Get Going, Go Big, and (not or) Go Home. Read between the lines on that one. Throughout it are sprinkled practical tactics and examples of their implementation and impact. There are also gems like the quote from Sam Walton, “If everybody else is doing it one way, there’s a good chance you can find your niche by going in exactly the opposite direction.”

In its pages, you’ll discover the formula for ‘entrepreneur’.  Here’s a little hint: It’s a mathematical combination of heart, mind, and fear.

There were also some big surprises. For example, Rottenberg is not a big fan of ‘market research’ and ‘formal business plans’ if it means you aren’t ‘getting going’ and the data is there to back her up.

You’ll also learn about how some very famous name brands and multi-billion dollar businesses got started – in circumstances really not that different than yours and mine. Spanx, now sold worldwide in over 50 countries, is one such example. There are many others.

And if you’re counting on your friends and family – forget it, for the most part. They’ll only hold you back as they tried in Linda’s case.

And becoming successful does not count in Linda’s eyes if in the process you lose your family. Her advice in that area, near the end of the book, is well worth the purchase price. It’s of the same caliber as her advice throughout on how to be successful in pursuing your ‘entrepreneurial’ dream.  Go for it.

Afterthought: In the last few weeks, I have once again been made aware of friends, relatives, and clients that have lost their ‘job’. My advice remains the same. You can improve your chances against being let go 100% by working for yourself. Don’t wait until you’re forced to.  Don’t wait until you get the golden kick out the door.  Find the right dream, the right opportunity, the right timing, and start to work for yourself.  Rottenberg gives you some great “how-to” action steps in that regard. This is a book I would buy every close relative and friend that is in high school right now. The age when my grandfather, my father after him, and even I, never had a day of unemployment in our lives is over. The very educated, the very energetic, the very smart keeners still get laid off if the economy and the sector they’re working in require it. Just consider the oil industry in Canada recently. Get the book and give the book.

• You can read the book right here now: http://astore.amazon.com/accorconsu-20 

Ken B. Godevenos, Accord Resolution Services Inc., Toronto, Ontario. 16/01/24  

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Borrowing Has Its Risks -- Exodus 22:14-15

“And if a man borrows anything from his neighbor, and it is injured or dies while its owner is not with it, he shall make full restitution.  If its owner is with it, he shall not make restitution; if it is hired, it came for its hire.”
 

Two verses dedicated to borrowing rules.  You borrow it, use it, and if you break it or harm it (or kill it if it is an animal), you do so at your own expense and you will be responsible to compensate the owner for it. Unless of course, the owner was with you when this happened.

Here’s an example of how this may work out today:  “Yes, you can borrow my extra pair of skis while we ski together this weekend, and if they break, no problem.  But if you borrow them again to go skiing with your friends when I can’t and they break, you have to replace them.”

Chuck Smith suggests that the last two phrases of this passage, namely “if it is hired, it came for its hire,” are, because they are part of the whole last sentence implying that if someone borrowed or hired you and your equipment or animal (to till the ground or for any other purpose) and the equipment or the animal is damaged or ruined (or killed), then that was a known inherent possibility in the deal and since the owner was present, the borrower or the one that hired you and your equipment or animal is not responsible.  Again, if I borrowed your pick-up truck to move some furniture, and it broke down – I have to fix it.  But if I asked you (or hired you) to bring your truck and help me move some furniture, and it broke down, I am not responsible morally to pay the costs of fixing it.  (Unless, of course, I go over and above what the law says.)  When the owner is present, the user is not as responsible.

Bottom lines continue to be: Lender, be aware of the risks.  Borrower, be responsible when the risks occur.

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 [Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

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Little Physical, Sexual Activity May Temporarily Increase Heart Attack Risk

Newswise provides some very interesting reports on research into the relationship between risk/heart attacks/periodic exercise or sexual relations. It will be interesting to know what various readers do with this information. But don't tell us.

We just want you to be well aware of the research and we want you in good health for many years to enjoy life.

Occasional Physical, Sexual Activity Associated with Short-Term Increased Risk of Heart Attack

Thanks for dropping by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with your friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Middle East: Is the Two-State Solution Dead?

Robert Grenier writing in AlJazeera suggests it is.  You can see all his credentials (and they are impressive) when you click on to the article I'm referring to.  Here's his thinking.

The process of peace in the Middle East is all about "taking risks" and "trusting".  Most parties would agree that the greatest amount of "risk" to be taken rests with the Palestinians.  After all, this is the land of Israel we're talking about and the Israelis already have a recognized "state".   The P.A. also needs an agreement.  Israel, as long as it is not over-bombed, can live without one.  Its risk is limited to how long things can go on without a negotiated deal before the P.A. or their allies start a massive attack on Israel.

To make matters harder, the Israelis (and others) are demanding that the Palestinians could maintain a peaceful state that would not keep on bombing Israel if they were to be recognized.  And for some time now, as a result, the concept of "land for peace" (given all the concessions made by Israel in the last 28 years) really started being "land for Israeli security".   Well, I believe, there's very little land left to give and Israel is saying, "no more".   But that's all that the U.S. knows how to push for.

After 9/11, to get American support for a peace deal in the Middle East, Arafat agreed to "try and control his radicals" who used terrorism to get their way.  But that didn't go too well and Arafat also died.  Not satisfied that the leadership after Arafat has done or is doing a better job at that goal, Israel (backed by the U.S.) is saying, "no deal".  The problem is that the longer a deal is in the making, a new risk arises -- that of some of the P.A.'s friends coming to the end of their patience, join the conflict, and a major war ensues.  In fact there is a possibility that their own people may start seeing the P.A. negotiators as collaborators with the other side in not reaching a settlement.  In Grenier's opinion, the Palestine Papers (a ten-year record of negotiations) shows this not be the case -- claiming the papers show that the P.A. has made every effort to get an honorable settlement.  Grenier goes on to say he is ashamed of his country's (the U.S.) weakness in not getting a settlement, preferring instead to not upset the Israelis at home and in Israel.

Here's Grenier's bottom line: "The overwhelming conclusion one draws from this record is that the process for a two-state solution is essentially over, that the history of the peace process is one of abject failure for all concerned. The Palestinian participants, having lost the most, will likely suffer most. But I can only come away with the passionately-held belief that these people deserved better."

You decide.   Better still give us your thoughts if you think it will still work and how?
 

"Risks for peace" - The Palestine Papers - Al Jazeera English

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