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Book Reviews
I started writing book reviews in my news/journal section but I realized they probably deserve a page of their own. Entries for each of the books will be added as I read them.
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"The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" by John C. Maxwell | A book given to me by Marie (my ex-boss and great mentor at Environment Canada) for x'mas 2005. She always encourages me to believe in myself and to reach for my full potential. Haha, maybe this book will teach me how? |
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阿濃-細說心語 | A book given to me by Rita for x'mas 2005. 阿濃 is my all-time favorite author and I believe his writings had a big influence on who I am now. |
"The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" by John C. Maxwell
July 26, 2007
I finished reading this book LONG time ago but never got around to completing this list here... Let me quickly wrap this up:
12th law of leadership: "The Law of Empowerment - Only secure leaders give power to others." "The only way to make yourself indispensable is to make yourself dispensable."
13th law of leadership: "The Law of Reproduction - It takes a leader to raise up a leader."
14th law of leadership: "The Law of Buy-In - People buy into the leader, then the vision."
15th law of leadership: "The Law of Victory - Leaders find a way for the team to win." "When the pressure is on, great leaders are at their best. Whatever is inside them comes to the surface." "Leaders who practice the Law of Victory have no Plan B. That keeps them fighting."
16th law of leadership: "The Law of the Big Mo - Momentum is a leader's best friend."
17th law of leadership: "The Law of Priorities - Leaders understand that activity is not necessarily accomplishment."
18th law of leadership: "The Law of Sacrifice - A leader must give up to go up." " Sacrifice is an ongoing process, not a one-time payment." "When you become a leader, you lose the right to think about yourself."
19th law of leadership: "The Law of Timing - When to lead is as important as what to do and where to go."
20th law of leadership: "The Law of Explosive Growth - To add growth, lead followers; To multiply, lead leaders."
21st law of leadership: "The Law of Legacy - A leader's lasting value is measured by succession." "A legacy is created only when a person puts his organization into the position to do great things WITHOUT him."
April 4, 2006
Haven't written here for a long time. So I'll just quickly update the laws that I've read:
6th law of leadership: "The Law of Solid Ground - Trust is the foundation of leadership." The author says that character (inner strength) is the only thing that makes trust possible. But what actually gives a person inner strength? As we grow older, do we actually gain inner strength? Or does circumstances make us weaker and hide away from problems?
7th law of leadership: "The Law of Respect - People naturally follow leaders stronger than themselves."
8th law of leadership: "The Law of Intuition - Leaders evaluate everything with a leadership bias."
9th law of leadership: "The Law of Magnetism - Who you are is who you attract." Haha, I think this law sounds like one of the old sayings in Chinese. I suppose it's true in any kind of relationship, but I guess in the case of leadership, this law also makes it a bit difficult to hire people that can compensates each others' weaknesses.
10th law of leadership: "The Law of Connection - Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand." The author says that "the stronger the relatoinship and connection between individuals, the more likely the follower will want to help the leader." I find that to be VERY true from personal experiences. Unfortunately I think it's one thing that's missing from many managers in the real world.
11th law of leadership: "The Law of Inner Circle - A leader's potential is determined by those closest to him."
January 12, 2006
5th law of leadership: "The Law of E.F. Hutton - When the real leader speaks, people listen." "The real leader holds the power, not just the position... If you see a disparity between who's leading the meeting and who's leading the people, then the person running the meeting is not the real leader... People listen not necessarily because of the truth being communicated in the message, but because of their respect for the speaker." The author says that people become real leaders because of several reasons: character, relationships, knowledge, intuition, experience, past success, and ability. He also suggests that in order to find out who the real leader is, look to who the group members look up to when decisions are being made. I tried to recall the meetings that I had for the past 8 months, was there a consensus in who we all looked up to? I don't know if there was such a person... and maybe that's the problem of the whole situation.
January 8, 2006
4th law of leadership: "The Law of Navigation - Anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course." "A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others do." The author talks about a process that leaders go through during planning in order to give the the task the best chance of success:
"The secret to the Law of Navigation is preparation."
"It's not the size of the project that determines its acceptance, support, and success. It's the size of the leader."
January 7, 2006
3rd law of leadership: "The Law of Process - Leadership develops daily, not in a day." The author stresses the importance of persistance in the life-long process of developing leadership skills, and that no matter where we're starting from we can get better. He talks about the four phases of leadership growth (which I believe are true for any kind of learning):
January 6, 2006
Second law of leadership: "The Law of Influence - the true measure of leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less." The book talked about five myths about leadership:
January 5, 2006
Here's the first law to share with you: "The Law of the Lid - Leadership ability determines a person's level effectiveness."
April 4 , 2006
Haven't written for a long time, so I'm going to put some of the passages that I've read during this time all at once.
馬拉松
人生的道路是一個賽程極長的馬拉松﹐無需為起步的一刻過分緊張。
一生中有許許多多的機會﹐讓自己發力﹐衝刺﹐超前。
I think this is a passage that all of us should read (I'm assuming most of the people coming to this page are new graduates just like me). We've all stressed over a LOT of things in our life, but if we take a step back and think about it, most of us are only in our early twenties... We still have so many years ahead of us filled with adventures! Why stress over all these little problems we have?
路
只要我們積極地走我們的人生路﹐最後能到達哪裡﹐也不必去計較了。未走完的路﹐就讓後來者繼續走下去。
但別忘在旅途中好好欣賞周遭的風景。
This passage is also very meaningful. I think many of us have too many dreams that we want to achieve: lots of money, great career, loving gf/bf, etc etc, and we easily get depressed over what we don't currently have. If we can just slow down and look around us, we should realize what a beautiful life God has given us.
燃燒
當我們想給別人更多的溫暖時﹐自己會燃燒得更光亮。
Imagine a world where everyone wishes to give warmth and love each other... I'm sure that will be a very very bright world! And even if most of the world is not doing it, why not brighten up this little corner around us?
玩
原來人人到喜歡玩。這很正常。不喜歡玩的人﹐我看有點不正常。
Haha, this passage is put here for my friend (you know who you are!). Or maybe for all of you who say I don't play enough. Looks like at least somebody else support what you think! Hahaha.
出賣
我不出賣朋友﹐不論他可以賣多少錢。
I read this passage and thought for a long time... Is there any friend I know that I'm willing to sell for money or anything? Hmm, I guess if there is, I won't be friends with that person in the first place. So, my friends, don't worry!
January 12, 2006
校服
校服是可愛的﹐如果它的款式不太古怪﹐不太老土。到有一天﹐我們終將除下校服時﹐就會覺得依依不捨。
Hmm, haven't wore school uniform ever since I left HK 11 years ago. But the saying still sounds somewhat familiar. When I was at Waterloo, I used to say something like... if there's no exam or assignment, then school is great. But now looking back, I guess I don't even mind going through exams and assignments if I can only go back to that simple school life. Haha, I guess just like everything else, we don't know the value of it until we experience life without it.
January 7, 2006
童言
我愛聽五歲以下兒童講話的聲音﹐不論他們說的是何種語言﹐都覺得清脆甜美﹐相信天使的聲音正是這樣。
People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." (Mark 10:13-15)
I don't remember how I was like when I was five years old... but I'm sure the perception of the world was much simpler and that's probably the kind of world that God created in the first place. I guess when the person's perception of the world is beautiful, everything the person says can only be beautiful.
January 6, 2006
哭
從想哭便哭﹐到要忍住不哭﹐是一個人成長的代價。
What is the price of growing up? For sure it's not only holding on from crying... It's holding on from showing all kinds of emotions: happiness, anxiety, anger, sadness... It's ironic that as we learn more about the world, we have less and less courage to face and show our feelings. We often say that it's all because we've grown more considerate of others and know the consequences of showing our true feelings... But isn't it ironic to claim that in order to love other people, we have to lie to them by not showing our true selves?
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