Category: Books

A Perfect Walk by Paul M. Gallagher (BUY ON AMAZON) isn’t a book I’d typically read or review. Full disclosure, Paul and I are good friends and I’m always up for helping a friend out so I bought and read the book. With that said, I was along for the ride with Paul and was present at several of the situations he discusses in the book, all while never quite realizing what he was suffering through. Thus, this book will inevitably move me in very different ways than it may move the casual reader. I teared up at times reading this book wondering how I could’ve helped more or wondering how much I contributed negatively to Paul’s illness. Here’s the thing – THE BOOK WILL MOVE YOU!

Paul puts himself out there and opens up in a brutally honest way to give a full look into the mind of someone that suffers from mental illness. He shares stories of his thoughts about taking his own life and why he believed he could never actually do it. He explains how one particular incident in his life shaped his negatively. He addresses how he handled situations poorly and how bad decisions layered over one another making matters even worse.

The writing is deeply rooted in Paul’s faith. He discusses the treatment he received at multiple times in his life. He shares how family and friends helped him during his struggles. Most of all, he shares how coming to terms with his faith most helped him to battle his mental illness. In the book, Paul shares 60 life tips that helped him get to the point in his life that he’s at now. Most of these are rooted in Paul’s Christian faith.

This book is an eye-popping look into the mind of someone with mental illness, someone that I never suspected was anything more than over-competitive when we played organized sports together, or just easily annoyed when we’d be hanging out in social circles. It showed me that you never really know what someone else is dealing with at any given moment. Paul lays it all out for the world in A Perfect Walk.

In The Encore Effect (BUY ON AMAZON), Mark Sanborn challenges readers to look at themselves as if they were actors or musicians on a stage as they performed their job. He explains why audiences go wild, forcing the talented actors or musicians to come back out onto the stage for a warm welcome. Most people aren’t going to find the content Earth-shattering but Sanborn does give readers a kick in the pants and the path to being the person others at work look for when something important has to be done.

This book may have related to me a little more than others since the work I do is in front of people and requires me to engage a wide variety of folks. I particularly enjoyed a quote he included from Olympic gold medal sprinter Michael Johnson where Johnson questions the thought that life is like a marathon. Instead, Johnson says he believes it’s more like a sprint because you work really hard for a long time for an opportunity to really shine in specific moments.

Sanborn has a love affair with words that start with the letter “P” and I can appreciate that. On the home page of my sports broadcasting website, I identify professionalism, preparation, passion, and personality has four of the factors that separate me from other broadcasters. In his inverted Pyramid of Possibility, he identifies six qualities that will make a person great: personalization, persistence, principles, passion, purpose, and potential. These qualities make up a “performance person.” So, you can see how I can appreciate what Sanborn is saying here.

The guiding equation for Sanborn is that great performance comes from a combination of passion, discipline, and action. Without the elements of passion, discipline, and action, Sanborn says a person can’t find the encore effect.

Would I give The Encore Effect an encore and read it again? Probably not but at 130 pages, the book is a quick read and you’ll take something away from it depending on what you’re looking for right now in your life.

-Don Wadewitz

This book has been out for awhile and I wish I had read it back in 2007. The thing is, it’s very relevant to me right now and I likely would’ve picked it up for a re-read now. I write this review as we’re in the midst of the coronavirus, mostly isolated to our homes, and while trying to grow this new business.

As I read The Dip (BUY ON AMAZON), I not only looked back on what I’ve done in the past, times I leaned into The Dip, and perhaps times I should’ve quit something but didn’t. Moreso, however, I looked at the present and the future as I look to develop my public speaking business at a time where there isn’t any traditional public speaking going on.

I was able to easily relate to Seth Godin’s dip. I’ve faced it many times in my life. I think back to college. My college was going to be paid for by my parents but, about a month before classes were scheduled to start, my step-dad said he didn’t like my summer work ethic and said if I wanted to go to college, it was up to me to figure out how to pay for it. In the short-term, having committed to an expensive private school, it might’ve been easier to hold off on college. Instead, I chose to lean into the dip, the point when things go from fun and exciting to become a lot of hard work.

I chose to get a job, working 40 or more hours a week, while trying to pay my way through school. Feeling burnt out, instead of studying when I should, I chose to waste time on video games or going out to parties. My grades suffered and in my first two years of college, I was booted out of school three times, only to be allowed back in after writing a letter to my dean.

I hadn’t quit though. Using Godin’s terms, I leaned further into the dip. I found a job that provided me with tuition remission at the school and allowed me to study. Even that didn’t go smoothly, however. I owed the school money and they didn’t want to allow me to take classes until I paid them. Thankfully, I found someone in human resources that fought for me and worked out a plan to allow me to continue.

I ended up graduating, though it took me eight years and, no, I’m not a doctor. That accomplishment, along with the work experience I gained, ended up paying off handsomely in my life. Which is what Godin’s dip is about. The world relies on people quitting. Many systems are set up to challenge people so that most quit. As Godin says, it’s why there is a lot of value placed on being the best.

Godin goes against the norm in The Dip, telling people it’s okay to quit. Quitting and failing are two different things. Quitting can be strategic. If you’re not making progress toward the larger goal, quit and change direction. Just don’t turn into someone who quits every time they face adversity.

Godin goes on to share how you might know it’s time to quit in The Dip. He offers questions to ask yourself and shares thoughts and scenarios for what to do. If you’re into something that has gone from fun to a drag, it will be a timely read for you to help you decide what you should do.

-Don Wadewitz

I was a day into reading this book when a fellow leader in my organization came up to me and asked, “Do you ever wonder why the heck you choose to lead people?” I paused for a second and told this fellow leader that I do and then talked about the book I had just started reading, Leadership and the Art of Struggle (BUY ON AMAZON).

Yes, this book had an immediate impact on me. I was dealing with a couple of difficult concerns at the time and this book armed me with the courage to address them and the tools to do so as well. It helped me see that some of the struggles I was encountering was because I was a new leader for a team and was trying to take them away from old habits.

The book has personal stories of other leaders at top companies in the world that struggled and how they were able to come back and be better and stronger leaders. The book also touts self-compassion and understanding that leaders aren’t perfect. They make mistakes like anyone else and how it’s okay not to expect perfection from a leader. In addition, as a leader, how we need to admit our weaknesses and failures and work on them.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (BUY ON AMAZON) is one of the preeminent self-help books ever written. Dr. Stephen Covey introduces several concepts that can help people make major improvements in their lives.

I was “voluntold” to attend a 7 Habits of Highly Effective People work session in my mid-20’s. I went to it begrudgingly but by the middle of the first day of the three-day session, I was sold. Dr. Covey introduced many concepts that I didn’t think about that helped me change my life.

I would follow that session up by reading the book…several times. Anytime I tend to get into a funk, I pick up the book and find a chapter that I think might help get me back on the right track and it’s always worked.

I’m now a certified facilitator of the classroom version of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I’ve trained over 500 people and enjoy having people reach out and tell me how much the session helped them. Every person should be able to take something away from the book that will improve their life.

It’s important not to bite off more than you can chew, however. Some people have come to me and explained how they got lost trying to improve themselves in each of the seven habits introduced. I tell them to focus on one of the habits or even one principle in one of the habits and really work on that for a few months and see how it goes. Most of these people have come back to me and thanked me for re-focusing them because they were able to make positive change in their lives.

I encourage you to give the book a try. You will find something to make your life more effective. If you’re interested in hosting a work session for your group, make sure you contact me and let me know!