I spend several hours in my home office each week to think, read, and write. In addition to the weekly leadership blog post and podcast, I would like to connect with you on a more personal level to share books, stories, quotes and principles that have recently impacted me. I hope it will encourage you on your journey of growth and discovery – Wes Saade, M.D.
Welcome to my office! I hope you had a wonderful week! Please allow me to share with you some of what I learned and read this week.
In this blog:
- Summary of the two books I read: The In-Between by Jeff Goins and Don’t Step In The Leadership by Scott Adams, “A Dilbert Book”
- A few takeaways from the Platform Conference I attended this week which I hope you will find helpful in deciding how to build your platform.
Books I Read this Week
The In-Between by Jeff Goins
This is a wonderful book written by a great author! I had the honor of meeting Jeff last February and have really enjoyed reading his latest book. I also had the privilege of interviewing Jeff for the Aspire podcast this week about his touching book. (That episode to be published soon. Stay tuned – I know you will enjoy the interview.)
In The In-Between, Jeff discusses the tension we feel as we are in the waiting periods of life. In the waiting, where we spend most of our lives, we get impatient and sometimes lose our bearings. Whether we are waiting to get a job, a promotion, to get married, to have a child, or to make more money – in this period of waiting, we need to be intentional, proactive, positive, and focused on personal growth and appreciating the small moments.
Jeff discusses several life changing experiences he had and highlights these moments of the “In-Between” to illustrate how we all should really engage in living them. His descriptive and captivating writing draws you in and sometimes makes you tear up. I would read it on a slow afternoon with your favorite drink in a relaxing chair.
This book is 159 pages and is easy to read.
Don’t Step in the Leadership by Scott Adams, “A Dilbert Book”
This is the first animated, comedic leadership book I have ever read. It made me smile and laugh a few times. Here are two of my favorite jokes.
Carbert the evil HR director says, “There will be no layoffs after the merger. However, many of you will be transferred to jobs on a frozen asteroid.”
Dilbert’s unnamed pointy haired oblivious manager says to his gathered employees, “Happy combined birthdays. Today we honor the employees who had birthdays within the past year. That’s Dilbert… Alice… Asok… Did I miss anyone?”
This book is 127 pages and is fun to breeze through. If you are in a leadership position, it may be a fun addition to your desk or your book collection.
Lessons from the Platform Conference
If you don’t already know about Michael Hyatt, I recommend you check out his world-class website. Michael is an inspiring person who was the CEO of the publishing house, Thomas Nelson, and is the author of the New York Times’ best-selling book Platform.
The book Platform, as well as Michael’s blog and podcast focuses on how to create and promote a platform online and beyond as a leader. He also holds a Platform Conference to teach these principles, which is the conference I attended this week.
If you have a message to give – whether it’s a ministry, a business, or a blog – I recommend you read his book and follow his blog and podcast.
The speakers at the conference were very inspiring and informative. Here are some takeaways you may find helpful:
- If you have an online platform, having email addresses (email subscriptions) is golden. The more you have, the more you can disseminate your message, the more you can attract book publishers (if you want to publish books), the more you can monetize your site, and the more you can market to your customers or clients if you are a traditional business.
- First you have to start with WOW – you have to be generous with your readers and give them something of great value – consistently!
- Speaker Amy Porterfield spoke about how to give away a product and advertise it on Facebook to increase your email subscription. If you have a blog and you value increasing your email subscriptions, her site is must-see!
- Speaker Stu McLaren talked about how you can monetize your blog by having products to sell and having a monthly online subscription. Stu also has a wonderful non-profit organization that builds schools in Kenya. He is a great guy who is making a big impact. If you would like to learn more or donate to his cause, click here.
- Cliff Ravenscraft talked about how to build a podcast. Cliff is the one who helped me set up Aspire’s podcast.
I hope you’ve had a great week of learning and personal growth!
And I hope you are leading with passion!
Your friend,
