A Cup of Leadership CaffeineNote from Art: want to light a fire under yourself…make a big goal public.

My long list of life-goals includes a few that are underlined and even circled to connote priority. Write one book per year is one of those that is double-underlined, circled and highlighted for emphasis.  It’s high time that I quit thinking about this personal and professional Big Hairy Audacious Goal, and started executing.  So, after too much thought and not enough work, I am excited to make public my next project: Leadership Caffeine-The Book. (Expect the title to evolve a bit.)

For those of you astute enough to notice that I write a weekly Leadership Caffeine feature, you are to be excused if you immediately think, “Oh no, here comes another book of compiled blog posts.”  I’ll give you credit for at least being partially correct.

The goal in all of my work is to inform, educate, entertain, inspire, challenge and ideally, drive improvement, and that is the focus of this new project.  The posts most definitely will provide the core of the content, although they will be organized, edited and integrated into a format that both glues them together and adds value to ample new material, including cases, vignettes and more suggestions for turning ideas into actions and results.

They sit today on the website and in the blogosphere as discrete essays without a framework, and without continuity.  The book will add that value.

Why Base the Book on the Themes in the Posts?

For several reasons:

  • Tom Peters offered a statement in a recent interview with David Meerman Scott that suggested something to the effect of (I grossly paraphrase): the first draft of a book based on blog posts is a heck of a lot better than the first draft of a book without them. Consider me in complete agreement.
  • Many of the posts have great comments and suggestions that further strengthen or that challenge the core premises.  What remarkable feedback that serves to make the next iteration all the more valuable!
  • This weekly category of posts are reserved for the topics that I believe are the most important in leading and driving performance.  Why not leverage those thoughts and points?

Why Write About Business: Leadership, Management, Strategy, Quality, Projects etc.?

I’ve long since given up on wondering what compels me to write about business topics.  I grew up loving fiction and wanting to be a novelist, and somewhere during this journey, I fell in love with everything about the pursuit of great performance in managing and leading.

I also write, because I believe that I have some things to say, and because my wife and kids and colleagues prefer that I direct my passion at a bigger audience and give them an occasional break.

What I Will Ask of You:

By making this goal public, I’m on the hook for results.  I like that!  Accountability is a good thing and I’m driven in part by the compelling need to live up to my words.  I expect you to keep me honest and active.

Frankly, I want an opportunity to leverage the power of this great new world of social networking and media, and I will frequently solicit input as well as seek out examples of great performance and performers that you are willing to share.  Stay tuned.

Next Steps:

I could not be busier at this time, serving clients as part of my consulting business and teaching and training in a number of venues.  In fact, I hope to continue this trend and add to an already rich schedule. Nonetheless, I plan on executing this project during the summer months. The goal is to be able to show you what I did on my summer vacation.

This will be difficult, but of course, most things worth doing have a hefty difficulty factor.  I’m truly thankful for my good friends and colleagues that have not only encouraged this effort, but have agreed to take on some of the editing work. This will be a better product because of their support.

Thanks for letting me share the goal and I’ll keep you apprised as things progress.

-Art