The Truth Behind American Idol

If you are like me you watch American Idol to see truly awful singers emberass themselves, and once the bad singers are all filtered out you lose interest in the show.

There is great truth in this. Most of those who emberass themselves the worst always say, “My momma said I was a great singer.” Momma Lies. Make sure you have people who are speaking truth into your life. It is better to find something else to do than to keep chasing a dream that doesn’t mesh with your gifts. If you keep pursuing something you are bad at you make yourself look like a fool, and it will make it harder for you to transition into something else.

Leader of Leaders

You get far more world impact from being a leader of leaders than  you do from being a leader.

Linchpin by Seth Godin

Book: Linchpin by Seth Godin

Rating: Great

Lesson Learned: It’s your job to make yourself indispensable.

Steven Pressfield wrote the War of Art which explained how the resistance holds us back from doing the things that we really need to be doing artistically. It is a pep rally book, it makes you think and then go and do something because you cannot read it and not be motivated.

Seth’s new book Linchpin is a response to Pressfield. It takes the war of art and transfers the battle to the workplace. The premise is that only artists will survive in the new economy because they are the most valued and the hardest for employers to replace. In typical Godin style you are left inspired and excited to go to work understanding that in the end you are your own boss because your actions decide whether you keep your job or get fired.

A lot of what Godin wrote about I too wrote about in Breaking Into the Creative Class so it excites me a big timer would agree (in that the premise of my ebook is the same) with me. He is writing to a generation of workers who are tired of work and I am writing to a generation entering into the workforce.

You need to buy this book.

Giving Husband

GivingHusband has been launched and is ready for use in time for Valentines day.

If you don’t remember this, think back to an idea I had a while back to help husbands be better husbands and gift givers.

Husbands, go to the Giving Husband site, sign up for a profile, and let it rock your world. Let me know what changes need to be made to make it better.

From the users I have so far there are already big changes in the work to make it more couple friendly so stay tuned and grow with us.

Bob Roberts World Changer

I don’t know of a son who is more proud of their dad than I am.

He has written several books, (Transformation, Glocalization, The Multiplying Church and soon to be released Real Time Connections), which deal with how Christians should engage in our world with both the poor and the influential. I can go on and on to list all of the great things he has done professionaly on an international scale, but the thing that best sums up the work he has done happened this weekend at a Multi-Faith event he hosted at his church, Northwood, a synogague and a mosque. You can read about it on his blog, but I would encourage you to watch what happened on CBS news, or read the article in the Dallas Morning News. It is exciting for me to be the son of someone determined to change the world and make a difference.

Just like my dad never played the ordinary pastor role, he never played the oridinary dad role. I have been lucky to have him constantly push and inspire me to be the best man I can be. Whatever success I earn over my lifetime will be traced back to the way he has, and continues to influence my life. I was lucky to have a dad as amazing as he was, and now I am even more lucky to have him as a friend.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

Burn Your Diploma by Benjamin P Roberts

I put together several of my ebooks and added new content to create my first book. It’s fun and a real easy read. Josh Berman designed it and did an awesome job.

Back of Book Summary:

Welcome to the Entrepreneurial Age! The world has changed since you went to college, and only the entrepreneurial will survive. Don’t let the change get your knickers in a twist. You’ll be fine. Burn Your Diploma is a collection of essays Benjamin P. Roberts wrote to the Millennial Generation trying to succeed in both life and work after college graduation. The economy has changed, and so should we.

To get your copy of Burn Your Diploma go to the Burn Your Diploma website.

Push by Sapphire

Book: Push by Sapphire

Rating: Okay

Lesson Learned: Find something to live for.

I am not big into reading novels, especially ones which are turned into movies, but I thought I would give Push a try. (I haven’t seen the movie). Push follows Precious through the struggles of incest, teenage pregnancy, and hopelessness in Harlem. The book is written from the perspective of Precious and it makes the book ‘harsh’ and ‘raw’. I don’t know what I think, it is a cornucopia of misery with some redemption at the end. Some people will get uppity by the language, others by the content, but at the end of the day it was hard to not feel for someone who had survived through so much fiction or not.

Also the author’s name is Sapphire, no last name, so I bet she is pretty fun.

I don’t know what to think about the book, so there it is.

Entrepreneurial Hierarchy

These are the levels of entrepreneurship:

1. Uncle Eddie: Uncle Eddie is the guy from National Lampoon’s. This is the guy that always has a crazy get rich quick scheme. He isn’t taken seriously because his ideas aren’t thought through and he just slaps things together. He’s creative and he is ambitious, he just isn’t thoughtful.  (Pyramid Scheme)
2. Hustler: The hustler, made famous by rap songs, is someone who doesn’t have to have a good idea he just has to have something to sell. I see the hustler as a good place to be on the hierarchy even though it isn’t at the top. Hustlers make good money but they will not experience massive returns. (Mary Kay Cosmetics)
3. Entrepreneur: The Entrepreneur has a good idea, good follow through, and owns the failure or success of the venture. Sometimes the Entrepreneur doesn’t make as much as the hustler, but their potential is far greater. (Amazon)

The great thing about the hierarchy is that there is little that distinguishes an Uncle Eddie from an Entrepreneur. Aren’t some of the successful people successful cause they launched something at the right time? Don’t worry about being an Uncle Eddie, you’ll get there. Read Outliers by Malcom Gladwell to understand success a little better and how that applies to this.

The Art of the Idea and How it Can Change Your Life by John Hunt

Book: The Art of the Idea and How it Can Change Your Life by John Hunt

Rating: Great

Lesson Learn: Ideas are organic and need to grow

Beautiful book, great message. I enjoyed reading this easy book which is graphical and enjoyable. I think it is a preach to the choir book about how to nurture creativity, but it doesn’t make it any less relevant.

The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture by Shane Hipps

 

Book: The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture by Shane Hipps

Rating: Great

Lesson Learned: how is technology affecting us?

I wrote a review about Flickering Pixels by Shane Hipps if you read that review it applies to this book too. I thought they were different books, but I think they are the exact same with different titles..doesn’t make anything I said about Flickering Pixels less true. However, if you know the differences between the two books let me know. I read the first three chapters and I kept thinking, “I’ve read this before”. Then, I got to a diagram I knew I had already seen so I knew it was a different package same message. I would recomend buying Flickering Pixels since it is a better cover.