Economic-Life Books

Outstanding book that'll nurture your heart and nourish your mind. A must read! It's an awesome book, and I highly recommend it.

Dick Biggs' book has something for all of us, from leaders in our military, to industry, and our society. Every parent should have this book because it lays out what is important in life, read relationships, and how to achieve same. We are the leaders of our children, and Dick makes very stronge leadership points. This book is divided into twenty contrasts of life, twenty short chapters loaded with idea, thoughts, and recomendations that we need to study and commit upon. The first chapter, Image and Integrity, is the perfect start. Without integrity we don't amount to much, but too many of us today are only concerned with image. In this chapter, "grit" is found in the word integrity. This book is small, 5 X 7.5 inches, and the chapters are 4 to six pages that makes for handy reading. Read a chapter with your morning coffee, while waiting for the rest of the members to arrive at a meeting, and at other times when you have ten minutes for good thoughs about where you are going. Most importantly, if you take this work seriously, you can determine who you really are and how others know you. We all need to think about Richard Biggs' words, they will help us and our society. This is a great gift for those people you love.

"Burning Brightly without Burning Out" is a breath of fresh air to those pressed by the demands of life. Besides being easy to read, the content is straightforward and potent. With so many voices calling for our attention, it's wonderful to have some basic principles by which to evaluate our commitments. Bigg's solid foundation gives his life direction and purpose. Instead of trying to do it "all" half-heartedly, Biggs has discovered the secret of doing a few priorities well. Thanks for the lessons well-learned!

They say in five years, you will become the average of the books you have read and the people you have associated with. For two-and-a-half years, I've had the privelege of associating with Dick Biggs as a professional speaker--and now I've been able to read his book. Both have become indispensible resources for me.

Dick is respected among professional speakers for being a man who walks his talk. Reading his latest book, BURN BRIGHTLY WITHOUT BURNING OUT, is almost as good as knowing the man--it will provide very practical assistance if you want to achieve great things in your professional life while building balance into your personal life.

Are you a reader? Then you'll really enjoy this book. Are you working on developing the reading habit? Then this book will get you hooked. If Amazon allowed a SIX-star review, this one would get SEVEN!

A friend chose this book and left it at my house. I ran out of books for the moment and picked it up thinking it was another one of those...
How absolutely overwhelmed I was at my age (73) to learn so much in so few pages. Much of what he has said to help guide people to a fuller, richer life, I had already learned and applied, but none of us have ever reached the point we can't learn or see something a bit differently.

My life changed drastically when health dictated this master workaholic was ordered to shut down her thriving business overnight or else...For 2 years I have been under recontruction to learn to be at peace in every situation. I can see, however, how to start over again now that my health is back and the doors are slowly opening to be useful again to myself and the Lord but this time I am going to keep this book right along with my Bible so I will put into practice the principles Richard K. Biggs has put forth. For whatever years I have left I intend to do it right and be a blessing to all I meet because of these excellent guidelines.

The Christian's Career Journey is an excellent resource for finding the job God designed for you. It has strong Christian references along with practical to-do strategies that fit into a successful job search program. We are usisng this book as a study at our church and it is relevant and needed in these changing times. Thank you, Susan Whitcomb for investing your time and talents into writing this wonderfully helpful book!

Excellent balance between Biblical truth and cutting-edge job search skill training. This book has been needed for years. It is a must read for any Christian considering a job search, and it is an essential for anyone in the local church who is ministering to those in career transition.

Lynn Guillory, Founder & Executive Director
Career Transition Ministries Network (a non-profit parachurch ministry)

This book should be a must read for job seekers who want to connect their faith with their work. This guide offers practical job hunting tips woven together with strong Christian principles.

How exciting it is to see someone offer their gifts in the way that Susan Britton Whitcomb does in The Christian's Career Journey. She brings together her vast and actionable knowledge as a career coach together with her perspective as a thoughtful and committed Christian to offer a practical and inspirational guide for those seeking new ways to share their own gifts through their career.
~ Scott Eblin, President of The Eblin Group and author of The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success

The Christian's Career Journey is a blessing for any Christian job seeker. Today's challenges and pressures to create a fulfilling career and earn a decent living can seem impossible. Yet God has a perfect plan for each of us, and He delights in doing the impossible if we only ask for his help, obey his will, and persevere through the career journey with prayer and scripturally based Godly wisdom. This book includes all the resources you need to fuel your job search, ignite your faith, and find real fulfillment by partnering with the ultimate career coach--God. He has big plans for you--to prosper you and use you in the workforce, and this book lights the way! If I could, I would give this book ten stars! Yes, it's that good -- you'll be glad you bought it!


Robyn Feldberg, NCRW, CCCMC
"The Abundant Success Career Coach"
Abundant Success Career Services

Great information, very practical. if you want to understand the biblical need for planned and purposefully church communications, read this book!

Good book, great insights, will really make you think about yor church at whatever size or level you find yourself. I found it a little bit frustrating that the author does not include some "self-help" tools and "do-it-yourself" steps to surveying and ananlyzing the local church marketplace, however. This leaves the reader in the unfortunate position of feeling the need to hire a professional to get the results they want, something not everyone should do or can afford to do. -Pastor Gary Mauro

I am heading a marketing team for our church's Appreciative Inquiry process. Our team jumped in to the task with both feet, but were starting primarily from a corporate standpoint, and without this book's ability to refocus our efforts, we would have missed the most important question. "What face is our church showing the community now, and how can we change that?" ChurchMarketing 101 asked a number of hard questions, and is making us look at our church with new eyes which will enable us to move forward in a much more effective manner. It is a must read not only for the marketing team, but for our ministers and board as well. I highly recommend it for any church that wants to do a better job carrying the message.

For those interested in pin-pointing some of the modern trends in successful church venues. This book is insightful. Short of hiring a PR person for the church or ministry, this book is a great directional tool in putting your best foot/face forward for success in working with people/the church as well as the unchurched visitors in the 21st century.
Basically saying first impressions are everything and talks about ways to accomplish this. Not so much image as best face and in my opinion not any cheesier than "Write(ing) the vision on the wall that all may see and fun with it." It is scriptural. Visual fortification is scriptural and effective. Great resourse.

If you know anything at all about basic marketing do not bother buying this book as it is just redundant to what you already know. I was looking for true ideas and strategies not run of the mill Marketing 101 info. If you know NOTHING about marketing then not a bad buy but even then do not expect any big inspirations.

Some highlights:

1) Compassion is the ultimate goal of capitalism.

2) Capitalism is the economic reality which drives us as individuals to excel and maximize our talents and potential. However, money is not everything. It is just a tool.

3) Albert Schweitzer said, "The purpose of life is to serve and show compassion and the will to help others."

3) Question: So, why do we work? Why do we need money?
Answer: Unless we have, we cannot give.

5) The reality is that most people live their lives very defensively. They are always afraid that someone will take some of what is theirs. They are too busy protecting ~ to give to anyone.

6) Question: So, how do you succeed?
Answer: Be an entrepreneur. Start small, and inexpensive. Be creative, believe in yourself, find a good mentor, have a dream, make a goal, do the basics everyday, learn from mistakes, work hard, care about others, put people before products,don't make excuses, never give up.

"Never give up, never give up, never give up"
-Winston Churchill

"Success is going from one failure to another failure with great enthusiasm."
- Winston Churchill

"One man with courage is a majority."
- Thomas Jefferson

"The best portion of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love."
- Wordsworth

This book was written by one of the most prominent businessmen in the world. He and his partner started with just an idea, as with many other large corporations we are familiar with, and turned it into one of the only debt free companies in the U.S.. Producing billions of anual revenue. Rich Devos has a huge heart and he is more generous than most, for he is willing to share with the world what beliefs and habits put him into the positions that he is at now. Rich Devos has been able to help milliions of people find hope and rekindle their dreams by using a direct selling method that many other companies alike can only wish they had. This book has great stories about success and failure alike, for one does not come without the other. If you are looking for a book with strong priciples and beliefs then this is the book for you. I would recommend it to anyone building an amway business or not, simply because of what it will teach. This book will make you feel proud to be in a FREE country and make you think "why am I not doing my part to help out?"

There are lots of wealthy people out there but most aren't truly happy. This is largely because they aren't fulfilling a higher purpose with their businesses, they're simply out there trying to survive in the often cutthroat business world. DeVos explains what it takes to make your business a positive force in the world; "positive" by virtually any standard.

Contrary to a lot of advice you may have heard out there on how to successfully build a prosperous business, DeVos claims that integrating compassion for your fellow man with lucrative opportunities is the real secret to security and happiness. It's the knowledge that what you're doing is making a difference that makes you feel worthy of the privilege and comfort of wealth. And even before the wealth comes, having a compassionate attitude along with sound business acumen (which can be learned) goes a long way towards increasing your chances of attaining wealth and influence.

A great book written in a language anyone can understand. I don't have any complaints, but I refrain from giving it five stars because it didn't "knock my socks off!" Highly recommended reading for anyone looking to understand the attitudes and principles necessary for *true* success.

I am not involved in Amway (Rich de Vos sure is!), nor am I an ardent Christian (I believe Rich de Vos is), yet I have no hesitation in recommending this book. I suppose I'm always on the lookout for new ways of doing things and new ways of thinking. "Compassionate Capitalism" provides some real meat for a hungry world in need of just that - new ideas. Economics is a complicated field (so I've been told - I'm no expert), yet Rich de Vos has managed to demystify it, at least as far as this reader is concerned. His ideas seem to be free of any real political ties or religious taints (religion doesn't enter into the book at all) - he seems just to be genuinely interested in people (I wish I couldn't hear the sneers, but unfortunately I do). I also admire him as an American. Goodness knows America has the driving force and energy to influence the whole of this world one way or another, but it doesn't really seem to have the will (nor, perhaps, the imagination) to do anything really creative (sure they have introduced fuel efficient motors - a relative concept at the best of times - but have you seen the size of the 1999 and 2000 models? ). So learning that there are ideas out there which do not just mean more of the same, and bigger and meaner (whether from the auto industry or the rest of the military-industrial complex) is somewhat reassuring.

One thing I'm sure of: every American (those who can read) should digest this book. It doesn't try to convert. It simply tries (very well) to make sense out of the current madness.

In the mid 1970's I was an Amway Distributor and one thing that always stuck with me were the tapes by Mr. Rich Devos. To this day, even though I am no longer associated with Amway, I enjoy listening to "Four Winds", "Selling America" and other audio tapes recorded by Mr. Devos. This man has a voice and something to say! He is great. An outstanding businessman and an outstanding American.

In Compassionate Capitalism, Devos explains that the "dog eat dog", law of the jungle and every person to himself rat race mentality is not only not necessary to achieve success but in fact, impedes success.

Devos offers a completely different vision of capitalism. A vision of capitalism as the finest tool yet known to help people become all they can be for others as well as themselves.

In Compassionate Capitalism, Devos offers more than just a vision, it is a plan--a practical plan--a proven plan. And it is not just about Amway and it's incredible success stories. It's about you and me and everyone. How we can all become more by helping others help themselves in a nation of free enterprise.

Compassionate Capitalism spells out clearly and eloquently the guiding principles and concrete steps to take to make your life and your world better. Devos shows how your energy, your ambition, and your spirit of enterprise can travel together down a path in which the spirit of capitalism and moral values inextricably merge.

Devos illustrates both how success is achieved and what it really means. He demonstrates how compassionate capitalism is the only solution to the most crucial issues of our time---poverty, homelessness, hunger, the enviroment, and the many other challenges that face us in the new millenium.

Whether you are the owner of a huge corporation or a worker on a assembly line, a student about to graduate or a homemaker ready to enter the job market, this important guide to success the compassionate way can be the most inspiring and enlightening book you ever read.

Highly recommended. AND to repeat, I am not an Amway Distributor. Just someone who appreciates Mr. Devos and what he is doing to create a stronger nation, the compassionate way.

So many of the articles and books I have read about vision and visionary leadership fail to practice what they preach...inspiring through vision. This book not only provides the necessary theoretical and practical information about vision, but the way Lasley talks about vision is so passionate, vibrant, and clear that her vision of inspiring vision in her readers shines through every part of this highly recommended book.

Martha Lasley's book is essential for anyone who wishes to know about the power of visioning for making things happen in the world. It also makes an excellent case for the power of business coaching. Highly recommended.

Written by an expert executive coach, Courageous Visions: How to Unleash Passionate Energy in Your Life and Your Organization is an instructional concerning the art and skill of visioning and learning to unleash one's passion and energy to better fuel leadership in business and personal life. From how to share one's vision in an inspirational manner, to laying plans for the future based on what is most urgently needed, to fostering transformation in response to changing situations that demand adaptibility, and much more, Courageous Visions is a powerful, can-do testimony. Practical advice in plain terms and a positive emotional drive fuel this first-rate guide.

This is a book which should be read, digested, and incorporated into the conciousness of just about every entrepreneur. If this was simply a motivational work it would still excel its peers. What makes Lasley's tome exceptional are the steps leading from one's passion to the execution of actually living one's vision.

Unlike many self-help books this is a work for people who envision going well beyond inner changes and wish to extend their world through organizational superiority and leadership characteristics. A mature person can use this book with greater effectiveness than many Business School texts.

The chapter on "Turning Vision Into Action" was perhaps the most critically valuable as it integrated much of the book around principles such as planning and goal-setting, providing methodologies to bring everyone on-board and to get from "A" to "G", altering attitudes, delegating, and inviting everyone to embrace risk, newness, and calculated changes for growing an organizaiton with is stable and dynamic simultaneously.

The author attaches a short 3-page bibliography and a 6-page index, but her 87 chapter sections are easy to use if the reader looks to the table of contents for guideance. This is a valuable addition to a select short-list of humanistic organizational development books. Its utilization of self-awareness themes of our times coupled with highly specialized and knowledgeable experiences of an executive coach makes this appropriate for stocking in our Business as well as Personal Growth sections.

I loved how the author clearly addressed using the material for both individual and group work. I've now had a chance to experience her methods both personally and as a corporate coach/facilitator. I recently utilized some of the storytelling exercises with a team that had gotten a bit off track and found trust waning. There was a richness and uniqueness to the experience that completely shifted the tone of the session and set the stage for a more collaborative interraction. Thank goodness I found this tool!

This down-to-earth and refreshingly non-prescriptive book helps put the whole money issue in perspective. The author shows you how to question your existing assumptions and separate out common emotional responses to financial decision-making -- some of which may actually be preventing you from accomplishing your most cherished and deeply held goals in life! In addition to the sensible advice, the client stories add a lot of heart and depth. And I particularly appreciated the notion (explained in detail in the second section) that if you understand what your goals are, and clearly understand your spending habits, you'll change your behavior, not because you *should*, but because you *want to*, in order to make your dreams happen. This is a gift. Highly recommended. P.S. This author is a great speaker and if you get a chance to see her in person, jump at it. You'll be entertained and amused, and come away much wiser as well.

Wow! This book is so much more than I bargained for. I bought it in my never ending quest to see how I could earn more money. But the book gave me insights about why I don't think I have enough in the first place! This book really broke the blind cycle that we're all in about spend-consume-spend-consume and still be dissatisfied. It also gave great advice about helping to build character in my kids by setting limits regarding what I will and will not buy them and requiring them to participate in earning money for what they want. This book could be called "Everything You Know About A Lot of Things is Wrong!" I loved it and have sent it to six people already.

Karen's book has provided the forum to acknowledge truisms found deep in the recesses of my mind but heretofore unable to articulate. She has a unique ability to concisely walk down a path of knowledge by shedding long held myths leading to personal happiness, and replacing them with practical, honest, proven, methods of attaining true peace through financial freedom.

After reading through a few of the myths at the bookstore, I took the book home and read it in one sitting. Since then, I refer to it often, mostly in discussions with friends and family. Recently, a friend at work was contemplating the purchase of a house -- with dread. When I asked him why he didn't want to buy a house and yet was launching a search anyway, he said it was because he saw several other people at work his age buying homes, and thought it was "time." Well, I copied one of the chapters from this book and left it for him on his chair. He came to my office later offering profuse thanks. He wasn't going to buy a house, and he had this book to thank for it. He literally bounces around the office now, with the pressure of homeownership off, and a new sense of financial priorities in place. And that's the effect of just one myth, on just one person. Do you have to fund your retirement fully every year? Should you pay off your house early? Is a tax deduction a good reason to buy a home? Is a home a good investment? Is it an investment at all? Should you stay in an apartment for the rest of your life? The answers are in this book. They're accessible, relevant and enlightening. They may just change your views about your personal finances. Especially if they're all wrong.

Karen has done a great job of presenting the human side of spending and saving. This book has helped me to put money to work for me - for my particular needs and temperament. No longer do I need to look at saving and spending from just an investment standpoint. I can feel good as I weigh how my spending and saving feels to me. As a behavior consultant with children, I consider her advice to be sound for parents trying to teach their children how to save, spend and contribute to the world at large. What a fun and easy read!

From Cinderella to CEO was a great read, a lot of fun; Full of good advice. If you've had a job, you'll see yourself in many of the stories; I know I did. This would be a wonderful gift for a new graduate.

Cary's delightful journey into all the archetypes that fairy tales present helps us realize that the big bad wolf, the wicked witch and the trolls under the bridge whom we encounter at work can be sidestepped to our advantage--and gracefully.

She taps the age-old wisdom that helps us find our path safely through the forest of the corporate world. I've known Cary since she was about 10 years old, and she's always been wonderfully refreshing. The same Cary shines through in Cinderella to CEO .
Patrice Dickey, author of BACK TO THE GARDEN: Getting from Shadow to Joy

Cary Broussard's terrific new business book is filled with straightforward and powerful advice on how to get where you want to go in business. The great thing is that she does it by using our favorite fairy tales as metaphors for life in business. She takes us back to a time (our childhood) when we believed that anything was possible. By taking us there, she makes us see that in fact almost anything really is. It's a book, you'll come back over and over again.

Absolutely loved it! This book is a great tool for a woman at any point in her career. It's appropriate for men too!

I started the book and finished it over the weekend. I wasn't expecting to want to read the book cover to cover, but I couldn't help it! I am buying this book for all my girlfriends for Christmas.

This is a must read for any small business owner. Written from the perspective of someone who has actually done it, this book is a clear, straightforward approach on how to have a better business and a better life. From the opening story of Bob's Printing Company, a typical small business owner drowning in a sea of things to do, we are given practical, real-world advice on personal priorities, delegation, marketing, hiring, planning, profit sharing, and more. The assessment at the end is an invaluable tool to help you know where you stand as a small business owner. Get it, read it, do it!

We started a business 4 years ago (landscape consultancy practice in the Middle East), with one staff. The business has been a financial success (now with 24 staff) but we gave up many important things to achieve it. We read so many books on how to run a business. Bill's book was the one which helped us to chart the path to a balanced lifestyle. Appendix A is a checklist made from the chapter summaries. We use this periodically to score ourselves on how well we are maintaining a healthy balance. It's a worthwhile quick exercie.

The book starts with "week in the life of" a frazzled buiness owner, and ends with a "week in the life of" a succesful small business owner. Just read these two and you will feel like reading the rest of the book.

I recommend this book to everyone who is starting or running a small business. It is a great guide.

I am a small business owner of 7 years standing. I liked this book a lot. While I was aware of many of the issues that the author raised, it is still worth a read. The ideas are presented in a concise, well planned and easy to read style.I found that every issue/idea was easy to reconcile against my own business. The author has been there and done it. The book is well structured and takes one through all of the areas that any small business owner needs to address if they are to have a life outside of the business!

Great book--Easy read, full of practical advice, and great examples. This book is much needed for any small business owner, but especially those who find themselves "spread too thin." Isn't that all of us?

Bottom line: It requires lots of work to be able to kick back and let your business run itself instead of run you.

But the author gives great guidance on what, when, and how to accomplish the ability to take time away from your business while it runs without you. Some paragraphs in this book could easily be expanded into chapters or even whole books. But a busy small business owner has no time for a whole book.

I ended the book feeling "I've got a lot of work to do" - but you probably will too after reading How to Succeed as a Small Business Owner... and Still Have a Life.

A very well written book which goes a long way toward enlightening credit card users. Arnold discusses both pitfalls and opportunities - conveyed in a easy-to-understand style and language. If you care about your financial literacy, you need to read this book.

When a book delivers exactly what it promises to deliver, it deserves 5-STARS. This book does. (Contrast this review and rating to the one I just finished writing about one of Trudeau's baloney books about credit card debt).

If I had read this book 4 years ago when I was buried in credit card debt after being laid off, and juggling the debt with zero interest balance transfers for months while I lived on credit and looked for work, I might have pulled myself out of the debt hell I sank into.

BUT -- that being said, I also believe that encouraging people to believe they can actually PROFIT from the BAIT that the credit card companies use to entice us into debt and KEEP us there paying interest and earning the credit card companies 3% from the merchant on every credit purchase made is a tad unrealistic, IMHO. That's like teaching people they can beat the odds in Las Vegas... sorry. The reality is much more sinister.

I applaud this author for providing accurate, nuts and bolts information to help anyone steeped in credit card debt use intelligent tactics to pull out of the leg-hold credit trap without chewing off their own leg in the process... BUT I would add that it is better to get out and stay out of the credit traps, PERIOD.

In that vein, I also highly recommend:

DEFAULT !!! Escaping the Debt Trap and Avoiding Bankruptcy

In fact, reading both of these books will give you a balanced outlook at BOTH SIDES of the credit card 'coin' (pun intended ... I just couldn't help myself, lol).

I just finished reading Curtis Arnold's latest book, "How You Can Profit From Credit Cards".

I have been a writer, teacher and consumer advocate in the field of credit and debt management for over 10 years. I can say without hesitation that this book was the most comprensive and easily digestible I have found. From credit cards wisdom to debt reduction, it is all between the covers. This is definitely one book which will be in my easy reach for all future credit card debt issues.

Curtis has written a very relevant, timely message to an audience that needed this many moons ago. I have struggled with my finances in my college days like most students, and have found myself asking, "Where would I be today if I had this book in college?" Curtis has written this book as a tool for any and every consumer, but specifically the student credit chapters need to be plugged in to every university in America. It's information would prevent the next generation from experiencing what we are going through today. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to see the next generation succeed financially!

I've been writing about credit issues for more than twenty years now, and through my work have had the opportunity to get to know the author Curtis Arnold. I am thrilled he finally pulled his knowledge together in this book, and can't recommend it highly enough.

We've all come to realize now with the credit crunch what a double-edged sword credit cards can be, and Curtis has done a thorough job explaining how to make sure you don't get hurt! The book is easy enough to read, but detailed enough to warn against traps you may not have heard of. (Trailing interest anyone?) You'll also find advanced strategies like credit card arbitrage, and predictions for the future of plastic.

This is an excellent, well-researched and well-written guide to credit cards. I would recommend it to anyone who uses plastic - whether you pay in full each month and want to maximize rewards, or you want to dig out from under as Curtis did himself.

The Poetry of Business

When I created The Poetry of Business - working from the inside out - I was using poetry to take a person through their career for the purpose of self examination and enlightenment. Poetry is one of the most powerful mediums to penetrate to the core of your beingness and invoke innate emotions and creativity. Leading from within is a great use of poetry and commentary used to inspire leadership, and I think it is exactly what it promoted itself as. I was thrilled to see another book combining poetry and its impact in the working culture. In addition it is a fundamental direction for the nurturing of poetry within, and the furthering of poetry in society.
Tracy Repchuk
Bestselling author of 31 Days to Millionaire Marketing Miracles
President and Founder of the Canadian Federation of Poets
Founder and Editor of Poetry Canada Magazine

There are many devotional resources, most of which serve us well in our faith formation. This book however has been a unique resource for me as a United Methodist pastor. It is a book filled with poems that have been selected by various individuals, some well known, others not. The individual gives a reflection on the meaning of the poem for her/him and then the poem following.

For me, I turn to this book at the end of the day, sitting in my easy chair I flip through the book in no particular order. I find myself reading the reflection by an individual. I then read the poem, allowing the person's reflection to "color" my perception of the poem. And then I sit in silence. No difficult/complex process. Just reflection, poem, silence.

As we are reminded in the Courage & Renewal work, the soul/spirit comes to us "at a slant". It is in the silence that I feel a particular sense of the sacred. This book is a rich resource to be read one poem/one reflection at a time. It is food for the long journey.

This wonderful anthology gives pleasure two ways: first, as a source of a wide variety of new and interesting poets and poems you may not have encountered before, always an important service for an anthology to perform. Second, however, the brief introductions that each contributor offers to his or her poem are a revelation and often as powerful as the poem itself. Who would have guessed that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group, would both find inspiration in Tennyson's "Ulysses"? Or that a Congresswoman would be touched by Naomi Shihab Nye's "Kindness".

If you are expecting a collection of sentimental poetic candies, fear not. A few old chestnuts are here: "Invictus", for example, offered by a philosophy professor at the U.S. Naval Academy, but when you read his reason for including it, you read the poem with a new appreciation. Poets like William Stafford, Mary Oliver, and Langston Hughes are cited multiple times, and much-anthologized poets like Robert Frost and T.S. Eliot are here too, but so are poets new to me: William Ayot, Carol Zippert, or Ezzeddin Nasafi. Mystics like Rumi, Hafiz, and William Blake. Public figures like Eugene McCarthy and Martin Luther King Jr.

The 93 poems are thoughtfully grouped into eight sections with intriguing titles that will make sense to anyone who's been in a position of leadership: "Called", "Defining Moments", "Sometimes It Aches", "Pay Attention", "The Real Bottom Line", "Dare to Endure", "Leading Together", "Back At It". The editors have clearly paid attention to the poems and clearly thought deeply about leadership. We expect much of our leaders and project upon them powers and motives that only compound the responsibility they already carry. We hope they will inspire us, but we seldom think about where they find inspiration. This anthology offers their testimony and the result is an anthology that rewards multiple readings. Whether you lead a large corporation or a school PTA, you'll find it inspiring to listen to leaders praise the poems that inspire them.

The richness of the poetry in Leading for Within will resonate with anyone who faces challenges in leadership. And the well chosen poetry is enhanced by personal reflections of remarkably wise leaders who have contributed to this wonderful book. It has become my trusted resource -used frequently for personal sustenance in legal academia. It's a perfect gift to inspire and comfort those who embrace leadership day in and day out.

I have come late in life to poetry. I learned in high school how to dissect and wrestle a poem to the ground not how to savor and take a poem into my heart for my own use. This book of poetry and reflections is one I can savor. I so enjoy reading how others have found inspiration in a poem that I too have come to love like the poem "Lost" by David Wagoner with a reflection by Peter Senge. I highly recommend this book.