Hello again to my friends, family, colleagues, and clients. Many of you know me personally through work, networking or through one of my speaking engagements. Some of you know me only by email and telephone. Happy New Year and welcome to everyone that’s new to this distribution list.
I’m writing this from my home office at the base of Cheyenne Mountain in the Rockies behind The Broadmoor in beautiful Colorado Springs. It snowed last night and we woke up to a few inches of gorgeous powder this morning. The kids had a two hour delayed opening at school and they were thrilled.
There are a lot of smart and interesting people that I am very fortunate to network with. We share books, music and ideas that stimulate us. I'm always interested to learn what other people that I respect are reading and listening to and many others ask the same of me. I send out an email from time to time with books I’ve recently read, music devoured, movies seen and ideas that may be of interest to you. If you find this interesting and would like to pass it on, please feel free to do so. If you’d like to be removed from the list please let me know.
TWO BOOKS TO PUT ON YOUR MUST READ LIST
The Elements of Persuasion- Richard Maxwell and Robert Dickman
Whether you sell or give presentations for a living or not, learning that all effective communication can be reduced to a five-element story model can help you become a much better communicator. Once I read this short book I started seeing the PHAAT (Passion, Hero, Antagonist, Awareness,
Transformation) model everywhere. I hear it in songs and see it in movies, business meetings and conversations with Karin and my kids and now understand these conversations better. Great book!
There was also a great article by Peter Guber in the December Harvard Business Review on storytelling in the corporate environment. Fantastic article.
Never Eat Alone- Keith Ferrazzi
Many of you know that I love to meet people and seek to continually expand and develop my relationships. I have promoted Dale Carnegie's book, How to Win Friends and Influence People and also Tim Sanders' book, Love Is The Killer App for many years. These two books have helped me to develop personal and business relationships more than any other books that I have ever read. Never Eat Alone is right up there with both of those books. Ferrazzi's insights into how to cultivate and nurture a large network are very timely and take advantage of technology that didn't exist when Carnegie's and Sanders' books were written. The Relationship Action Plan is especially useful.
MUST GET MUSIC
Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007 DVD
Eric Clapton's 2nd guitar festival was recorded in Chicago in July, 2007. (He also had a guitar festival in Dallas in 2004.) The proceeds from this festival and the DVDs went to the Crossroads Centre in Antigua which is recognized as a premier center for the treatment of alcoholism and drug addiction. The lineup on this disc is full of amazing guitarists. Jeff Beck takes his guitar to a place that I think just may be in another galaxy. The blues playing by all the artists is some of the best you'll ever see and hear. There's also the first pairing of Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton on a number of songs. I love the raw sound of the two Los Lobos songs. Awesome 2 DVD set that should be in every guitar lovers' music collection.
Long Road Out of Eden- Eagles
If you are an Eagles fan (you're probably over 35) you will love this double CD set. Some of these songs sound like they were written 30 years ago and have been held in a vault somewhere. This new recording came out just a few months ago and has already been awarded 7 Platinum Records (yes, you read that right). If you like songwriting with lots of acoustic guitar and catchy melodies this is a recording for you. I can't wait to pick up the sheet music and start playing these songs on my piano and guitar. I'm hoping that they announce a tour soon. Let's hope that they don't wait another 20 years to record again.
GREAT BLOG
Scott Adams' Dilbert Blog http://dilbertblog.typepad
I've read the Dilbert comic strip occasionally over the years but have never read many of them. I recently started reading Scott Adams' blog and this is one funny and insightful guy. He has unique perspectives on a number of diverse and sometimes obscure topics and I often find myself laughing as I'm looking at the screen. Everyone needs a good daily belly laugh for optimal health and this blog will give it to you.
If you think that this will be of interest to someone that you know, please feel free to forward it on. If you have any thoughts or opinions on any of these recommendations please let me know- you never know where the conversation will go from there. 2007 was a very exciting year and I hope that you're having a great start to 2008 and that you, your family and your business are all doing fantastic! As always, the easiest way to reach me is either by email or mobile phone.
To your success,
Kevin