Host a Webinar with LeaderShape!

We are excited to announce that we have opened the submission process for our 2016 webinar series.

We are looking for people will valuable experience and knowledge to share with the greater LeaderShape community to be a part of this webinar series. If you are having thoughts like, "Um, Yes! I do have something to share." and "My pal knows some things worth learning about.", then we hope you and the friends and colleagues you encourage will consider submitting a proposal. Need more info before you decide? We thought so...

Webinar Audience

Webinars will be publicized to the LeaderShape community via our weekly email newsletter,  social media outlets, and through program partners. 

Webinar Topics

No topic is "off-limits", however we do ask that the values and mission of LeaderShape are taken into consideration when preparing a proposal. Find a topic that you are knowledgable and passionate about sharing with others. Be willing to think boldly and encourage others to take action.

Who Can Submit a Proposal?
Anyone! You do not need to have participated in a LeaderShape program to be a part of the webinar series. We are looking for folks who are prepared to inspire, educate, and activate the LeaderShape community.

The Submission Process

Just fill out this Google doc! It will capture the information we will be using to make decisions on the webinar schedule. Not sure you are ready to present a webinar? No problem! Sign up to receive notifications of upcoming webinar events and learn something new with us.

We are eager to put together a series that engages, educates, and stretches our community! If you have any questions, please send us an email at community@leadershape.org. 

Book Review: Tidying Up

I’m having a weird moment as I write this latest book recommendation.

After having done a number of these recommendations over the years, I wonder if you all know a little too much about my issues. Sure, I over share on a daily basis (ask the staff) and tend to be pretty open about my life. However, at what point do you all say, “OK, Paul. Got it.” I don’t think this is the one, but I may be getting close. 

I have a bunch of stuff that I don’t need. From books, clothes, college t-shirts, old concert tickets, and junk drawers (yes, that’s plural), to my office (don’t get me started about organizers), I am realizing yet again how much crap I accumulate. One of the best things about getting engaged and planning to share your life with someone is the inevitable question of “Are you going to keep that?” which is said in such a loving and caring way by your soon to be partner when you know that they are questioning their decision should you respond affirmatively. Oh the fun. Anyway…

So I made the mistake or the good decision of picking up the book by Marie Kondo, “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” and sharing it with my fiancé. I knew it was a good book when she stole it from me and finished it in two days. I knew I would also be impacted by it when she told me to read it immediately. Yep, she told me, didn’t ask. Love her to death. 

Anyway, wow. I was blown away by the mental approach to tidying up being more important than the actual tidying up. If something doesn’t bring you joy when you look at it or touch it, why do you keep it? Damn you, Kondo. Throw my stuff right back in my face why don’t you?!! I’ve looked at clothes I don’t wear any more (bachelor days) and items that irritate me (broken holiday lights), and didn’t bat an eye. Just took it for being a part of my life that was accepted. 

Now, I’m out of control. First of all, “tidying up” is such a better way to say “get rid of your crap” so I don’t avoid it as much. The book’s approach is all about the feel of going through your belongings than it is the actual act of decluttering. Love that. Love the way that I look at my home in a different way. Love the way it makes me think about what is important in life. Love the way that it brings my future partner and I together to be intentional about what we want in our lives. Actually make decisions about what we want in our lives. 

So I did what everyone does when they discover something cool…I posted it to Facebook. By the response from my friends, I’m not the only that has enjoyed the book. I hope you pick it up and feel the same. 

Now back to that pile of clothes in the middle of my bedroom…

Paul

September Book Review: Think Like A Freak

I'll be honest that I haven't been reading as much as I usually do. Most of that is an issue of the summer and being busy coaching baseball, doing yard work, taking and picking up kids from camp, and work. Mostly work. However, I've gotten back into it with a vengeance and began tackling the pile of books that has accumulated over that time. I do love my Kindle, but there is something to holding the book, dog-earing pages, and using a highlighter. Thus, the stack. I really did intend to read them when I bought them. Honest. Be warned though, I read more on the edges of leadership these days given that most of what is written about leadership these days seems to be repackaged. I must be getting old.

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot these days about asking good questions because I believe that most of the major issues we face in the world are a result of asking bad questions. Asking questions of "who is to blame" instead of "what are WE going to do about it," is just one example. So I'm gravitating to books that help me think more clearly, more often, and more openly. I found a really good one that you should pick up by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner…two economists…hang with me.

They are the authors of Freakonomics, Superfreakonomics, and their latest Think Like a Freak. All of them made me go "hmmm" out loud because they look at issues, problems, and challenges from the perspective of asking good questions to get at the root cause not just what it would appear to be on the surface. Our news comes to us pre-washed and shrunk to sizes that apparently we consume best – two sentence tweets. With that, we miss nuance, debate, perspective, the works. I truly believe that if we moved past the lens that we have crafted to see the world and actually see the world for what it is, many of these challenges facing us could actually be addressed. 

Kicking the can down the road is not a solution any more. We will continue to find ourselves asking why we are in the same place as we were years before. Being economists, the authors write a lot about incentives and how to truly influence other people. As LeaderShapers, we embrace living in possibility every day and thinking about how best to influence others and ask good questions seems like an exercise worth doing.  I would pick up Think Like a Freak as it is their latest and I think best book. I think you will really enjoy reading it. It's hard to put down.

On to the next book in the stack.  Here we go…

Paul

Begin. Lead. Repeat

At LeaderShape, we talk about how every day after The LeaderShape Institute is Day 7. Every day provides you with the chance to use what you’ve learned, to keep growing, and to make a difference. Day 7 happens over and over again. It repeats.

You are checking things off of your to-do lists and reaching the big, bold goals you set for yourself. You are growing in ways that allow you to be the best you can be. Still, there are chances to do and be more. And isn’t that lucky? We think so!

We hope you’ll put your learning and accomplishments and growth on repeat in the sense that you will continue to move forward in these areas. That you will keep working to make yourself, you community, and our world a better place. You will do all of this again and again again. 

Begin. Lead. Repeat.