Comments

"That is, we hardly imagine that you'll breathlessly read the whole thing from start to finish. Instead, I imagine you'll look at this idea or that—and I obviously hope that a few will be compelling enough to induce you to take action."

One of my current students said the greatest piece of advise she ever received was to "Don't talk about it...be about it! I'm thinking if more folks would follow her advise...stop freakin' talking about about leadership and go freakin' be one...how rewarding, productive and profitable our personal and professional lives would be. One of the words I have always used when describing Tom's work is "actionable"...it's what makes him the BEST in the industry and separates him from the rest of the industry! So you have a great roadmap (at a terrific price) sooooooooo...what are we waiting for? Yeah...it really is that simple!

Looking forward to reading the new book for sure!

Posted by Dave Wheeler at February 22, 2010 11:41 PM

Here's an idea. Rather than buying it from Amazon or wherever, how about a deal where regular posters here can buy a signed copy direct from TP.com?

Posted by Mark JF at February 23, 2010 6:50 AM

Gurus, thoughtfulness and excellence. All nominalisations. We can/must each put our own interpretations of these words for them to make any sense to us.How much of this blog is akin to discussing how many angels can pontificate on the point of a pin and how much of this blog discusses what we can do now to make a difference. It has its value, to look forward to reading the book, is it not better to be looking forward to putting into practice the insights Tom refers us to?

For some of us, simply getting a job is the pursuit of wow, for others, creating jobs that are evolutionary/chaordic rather than entropic is the pursuit of wow.

Hitler was thoughtful when he considered the so called final solution, Mother Teresa was thoughtful when she went to work with the poor in India. Each no doubt thought they were doing the best they could in light of their understanding. Yet most people, as do I, applaud Mother Teresa and decry Hitler. Which is the better, to agonise to the core of your being over the dropping of a bomb that would kill untold thousands and then, determining it to be the better good, to order the bomb to be dropped, or to mindlessly spray bullets around a school playground killing maybe one or two children? Or vice versa?

Tom, I am a family solicitor dealing with ordinary folks going through the problems of family breakdown. I deal with distress purchases. No-one wants to see the minimal family assets shared amongst the lawyers, rather than going to support the children of the family. I read the pursuit of excellence some time ago now and have read your other works since. I was inspired and your thoughts have constantly prompted me to ask whether what I am doing at work is the best(heck, another nominalisation) I can possibly do for my clients. You then prompted me to go further - Am I the best I can possibly be for my clients? When I can look at myself in the mirror and say yes, I can justify the money I take away from the children as I know it is money well spent.

Be the change you want to see in the world. As I insist on being the best lawyer I can be for myself, my client, the lawyer for the other parent and the other parent, the court, my community, your influence, Tom, ripples on and on.

A Guru/leader/master is not judged on how many followers he has, but rather how many more Gurus/leaders/masters he makes.

In and around me there are a lot of people who have never heard of you but who, thanks to your work, have had the transition from distressed partners and parents to functioning parents made much much easier.

I guess what I'm saying is that Tom your influence may be reaching way beyond what you get direct feedback on. And whilst I get a bit narked by the navel gazing that goes on in the blog, maybe we need a bit of it from time to time. Though I would love to hear from others concrete examples of how, for example, a moment of thoughtfulness transformed their day.

So..... Today .....oops, can't think of anything particularly thoughtful I've done for my clients. Thanks for the reminder Tom, I'll stop blathering on and get on with some thoughtful work.

Posted by Andrew Baines at February 23, 2010 1:20 PM

Dave Wheeler and Gerson Barbosa -
We've been trying to contact you via email to give you a heads up about some good news. Please contact us at tom@tompeters.com so that we can share it with you. Thanks!

Posted by Shelley Dolley at February 25, 2010 10:27 AM

Mark JF
Thanks for your suggestion. We've been discussing it and hope to have a plan in place that addresses your request soon.

Posted by Shelley Dolley at February 26, 2010 8:54 AM