leadership Archives - Dad of Divas

Teaching #Leadership to Our Kids at #DadChat – #Giveaways

January 26, 2015 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Where will our kids learn about leadership? From our leaders? Okay, that was a rhetorical question. From our celebrities? Another rhetorical question. From parents that are not present or work all the time? You know the answers to all these questions. There’s a vacuum and those of us still doing parenting must fill it – at least for our kids. We can’t count on schools to do much of anything other than teach a politically correct agenda. So, #DadChat has brought on two experts in this area to help us figure it out and learn how to teach leadership (to our kids). Alli Polin and Karin Hurt will be our guest hosts this Thursday, April 29 at 6:00 p.m. PT/9:00 p.m. ET. We will be giving away THREE copies of Karin’s book, “Overcoming an Imperfect Boss: A Practical Guide to Building a Better Relationship With Your Boss.”

Karin Hurt is a keynote speaker, leadership consultant, and MBA professor. A former Verizon Wireless executive, she has over two decades of experience in sales, customer service, and HR. Named on Inc’s 2015 list of 100 Great Leadership Speakers For Your Next Conference and 2015 Top Thought Leaders in Trusted Business Behavior by Trust Across America, Karin improves business results through deeper trust & connection. She knows the stillness of a yogi, the reflection of a marathoner, and the joy of being a mom raising emerging leaders. Ultimately, it’s about Confident Humility.

You can download their FREE ebook, “Parent’s Guide to Leadership” as well as a FREE ebook, Talking Teams (easy leadership exercises you can do with your team) here http://letsgrowleaders.com/publications/

Alli Polin per her Twitter Bio: I help people engage more purposefully at the intersection of life and leadership. Coach, Speaker, Blue Sky Dreamer. Mom Extraordinaire. You can learn more about Alli on her website – http://breaktheframe.com/meet-alli/

Some questions to consider:

What are the top three leadership skills for kids to develop?
How can kids learn to be assertive without being a bully?
How have you helped your children to grow in their leadership?

Please invite your community to join #DadChat with these suggested tweets:

How have you helped your children to grow in their leadership? #DadChat, Thursday
What makes someone a leader? Who teaches our kids to lead? #DadChat, tomorrow!
How can kids learn to be assertive without being a bully? Teaching kids #Leadership TONIGHT at #DadChat

Chick-fil-A Leadercast Blog App

April 4, 2013 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Chick-fil-A Leadercast is a one-day leadership event broadcast LIVE from Atlanta, GA to hundreds of locations around the world on May 10, 2013. Strengthen your leadership by simplifying your life. SIMPLY LEAD.

Full. Our lives are full of things that we think will grow our businesses and increase our influence. We are busy – and that may, unknowingly, be holding us back. What if there was potential impact in simplifying our lives so our leadership could thrive? Leading in a complex world requires simplicity to cut through the clutter. Saying NO to what may seem good could help increase your capacity to live your life to the fullest. Join us at Chick-fil-A Leadercast as we learn to Simply Lead.

2013 Chick-fil-A Leadercast Promo from GiANT Impact on Vimeo.

Speakers for this year’s event include:
•    Jack Welch, Former Chairman and CEO of General Electric
•    Andy Stanley, Best-selling leadership author and communicator
•    Mike Krzyzewski, Head men’s basketball coach, Duke University and Team USA
•    John Maxwell, Best-selling author and leadership expert
•    Dr. Henry Cloud, Best-selling author and leadership consultant
•    LCDR Rorke Denver, Navy SEAL and star of the 2012 movie Act of Valor
•    Sanya Richards-Ross, 2012 London Olympic gold medalist, track & field
•    David Allen, Best-selling author of Getting Things Done and productivity expert
•    Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State (2005-2009), via exclusive Simply Lead video interview

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Book Review – Generation IY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future

September 23, 2010 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

About the Book
In this new book, best-selling author of Habitudes and leadership expert Dr. Tim Elmore describes the tangible, negative aspects of the “I” world (the world of the Internet) on the youngest segment of millennials, or Generation iY. Unlike other books of this genre, Elmore identifies not only the problems, but the solutions required to help fix this stressed, ill-prepared generation. Generation iY, Our Last Chance to Save Their Future is based on current research combined with Elmore’s experiences of working with more than 300,000 students, faculty, and staff on hundreds of campuses across the country.

Generation iY, Our Last Chance to Save Their Future defines for the first time the parenting styles that help create this incredibly narcissistic generation. He defines Dropout Parents, Groupie Parents, Dry Cleaner Parents, Karaoke Parents, and other parenting practices that have led to the entitlement and self-absorption of their children. Elmore identifies the unique paradoxes that lead to the increased stress of Generation iY, and outlines the guidance they will need to succeed in today’s workforce.

About the Author

Dr. Tim Elmore is the founder and president of Growing Leaders (www.GrowingLeaders.com), an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization created to develop emerging leaders. Since founding Growing Leaders, Elmore has spoken to more than 300,000 students, faculty, and staff on hundreds of campuses across the country, including the University of Oklahoma, Stanford University, Duke University, Rutgers University, the University of South Carolina, and Louisiana State University. Elmore has also provided leadership training and resources for multiple athletic programs, including the University of Texas football team, the University of Miami football team, the University of Alabama athletic department, and the Kansas City Royals Baseball Club. In addition, a number of government offices in Washington, D.C. have utilized Dr. Elmore’s curriculum. From the classroom to the boardroom, Elmore is a dynamic communicator who uses principles, images, and stories to strengthen leaders. He has taught leadership to Chick-fil-A, Inc., The Home Depot, HomeBanc, and Gold Kist, Inc., among others. He has also taught courses on leadership and mentoring at nine universities and graduate schools across the U.S. Committed to developing young leaders on every continent of the world, Elmore also has shared his insights in more than thirty countries-including India, Russia, China, and Australia.

My Take on the Book

I have read most of Dr. Elmore’s books and have loved all of them! They are insightful, down to earth and reach out to you on a level that you can truly understand. This book is very similar in that regard. Dr. Elmore has done a great job at in helping us as parents, mentors, and overall adults in understanding what makes the 22 year old (and their generation) tick.

I work with this aged population all the time, so this book was especially relevant to me, but I know that there are many others of you that may have adult children that just don’t seem to get it. Instead you may find yourself frustrated and angry that they don’t see things the same way that you do.

The book provides a clear and insightful look at this generation and provides quality resources and ways to engage them in becommong the leaders that they must become in society today. The book though also does a wonderful job at making it clear that simply understanding them is not enough, instead it is also the steps that we take to help lead them toward the future that is important as well.

As I mentioned I work with this age of students daily as I work in a graduate level program at a college, and I too am seeing these types of issues in the students that I am working with. I have to say that I was impressed with some of the great nuggests that I was able to take out of this book that will assist me in selecting new people for some of the programs that I work with as well as coming to a much better understanding about where these individuals are coming from as well as the world view that they embrace which makes them who they are.

If this book sounds like something you would like in your own library you can find it on Amazon!

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Book Review – Transformational Leadership

September 17, 2010 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

About the BookNo one is immune to these rocky economic times. Innovative businesspeople all over the country are adapting their organizational structures to survive, profit, and compete in today’s unreliable market. The practical and relevant advice in Transformational Leadership: A Blueprint for Real Organizational Change (Parkhurst Brothers) by Randy Dobbs can be applied to major corporations and small businesses alike, as well as to non-profits, universities, hospitals, and other institutions.
Transformational Leadership differs from often dry and notoriously boring business books – it reads like a novel. In it, Dobbs provides a step-by-step guide to improving the internal structure of any organization. Effective and common sense how-to advice is supported with concrete examples of the principles at work. His leadership insights will help sharpen the skills of beginning entrepreneurs as well as veteran moguls.
His twenty-five years in leadership positions and extensive CEO experience at three companies makes Randy Dobbs a true leadership expert. As CEO of GE Capital, IT Solutions, he was awarded General Electric’s Turnaround Business of the Year Award. Now the secrets of a successful executive are compiled into a readable, practical guide for all types of leaders. Transformational Leadership is available at local bookstores, Amazon, and other online bookstores.

My take on the BookDoing what I do for a living, I read a lot of leadership books. Some are good books and some are great books. This book is one that I would call great! Mr. Dobbs does a wonderful job at taking a subject and really making it come alive. Transformational Leadership is a topic that you are starting to hear more and more about today, and this book makes that change both tangible and possible. One thing that I really appreciated about the book was that it gives down to earth examples of what you can do to make sustainable change within an organization that will definitely remain in place for years to come.

If you are a leader in today’s society, then this book is one that you should have in your collection as it will definitely give you the tools to make you succeed in any change effort you are attempting.

If this book sounds like one you would like in your own collection, you can find it on Amazon!

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Book Review – Lead Like Ike

June 12, 2010 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

About the Book

Dwight Eisenhower’s leadership methods during the most daunting project in history, the D-Day Invasion, provide invaluable strategies for today’s business person.

No modern CEO has ever led such a large organization—the immense Allied military forces of the U.S., Great Britain, and Canada—in the face of such crushing pressure to succeed. Lead Like Ike begins with Eisenhower reporting for work as the CEO of D-Day Inc., facing a ridiculously tight timeline, having to create an executive staff and company, and then managing D-Day Inc.’s early projects, the invasions of North Africa and Sicily. By analyzing military operations as business operations, and the commanding general as CEO, Lead Like Ike finds management lessons for modern corporate executives.

My Thoughts on the Book
This book takes a unique approach to leadership, analyzing the different points in the career of Dwight D. Eisenhower and his leadership style into that of being a CEO or manager of a business. Some of the analogies within the book included:

Determining the mission
Risk management
Handling the board of directors: FDR, Churchill and the Combined Chiefs of Staff
Building and leading an executive staff
Creating the company: Making the Allied military into a single force that could fulfill its mission
Understanding the competition and the market: Hitler and Occupied Europe
Preserving his stakeholders: Eisenhower was loathe to waste his soldiers’ lives on anything less than complete success.

I found the book itself to be fluid and easy to read. I was intrigued to how the author intertwined Ike’s life with the everyday management decisions that I and others like me make. I found this approach to be refreshing and I found it to be an interesting way to teach and share leadership principles.

Overall, I was impressed with this book and I think you will be as well!

If this book sounds like something you would like in your own library you can find it on Amazon!

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site’s Terms of Use for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

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The Three Ingredients Needed to Raise a Successful Child

May 23, 2010 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

The Three Ingredients Needed to Raise a Successful Child
by Gary M. Unruh

A think-tank study* reveals the secret: tough love is made of three ingredients — a confident parent(s), warmth, and consistent discipline.

After forty years as a child mental health counselor, I enthusiastically agree with this study’s conclusions, and you probably do too. But how do you mix these three ingredients in just the right way? That’s the trick. After working with 2500 clients, I’ve seen a recipe emerge that really works.

Let’s start by understanding warmth, consistent discipline, and confident parents, then get to the mixing-the-ingredients part.

Warmth toward your child is the result of well-developed parental love, which I call “unleashed” parental love. Unleashed parental love focuses consistently on the good within a child during good times as well as difficult times. Warmth means acceptance — a child’s fundamental need. It’s a parenting skill that needs to be learned. With practice, warmth happens consistently and your child’s belief of “I’m good,” “My mom and dad accept me” will be firmly established.

Discipline is teaching and training from the perspective that your child is fundamentally good and that unacceptable behavior needs to be continually changed. The best training occurs with consistent firm limit setting (tough love), delivered with respect (warmth). The key discipline point to impart to your child is this: You are more than your behavior. Your child must believe, “My behavior is only a part of who I am. I am fundamentally good, acceptable even when I make a mistake.” With this belief in place, self-confidence flourishes.

Parental confidence comes from successful results. Your confidence builds when your discipline results in your child’s (1) behavior consistently improving, (2) self-confidence flourishing, (3) independence increasing, and (4) bond with you remaining solid.

So, how are these ingredients combined for the best result? First some general guidelines and then several tried and tested mixing tips.

General Guidelines:
· Your most important job is to establish “I’m good” within the center of your child. This is a child’s life essential need — it is the foundation for flourishing self-confidence for your child to feel “I’m accepted.” But how is this done? Always validate and focus first on your child’s feelings and thoughts and then on their behavior. Why? Feelings and thoughts are the direct line to your child’s core of “who I am.” Validating feelings validates your child. The result? A feeling of “I’m acceptable, I’m good, no matter what.”

· Warmth and discipline need to happen at the same time. It’s typical for warmth to be absent from discipline (“I’m sick and tired of your always being late.”) Warmth during discipline is a learned skill; parents aren’t born with it. Once learned, discipline sounds like this instead: “You’re having trouble with your eleven o’clock curfew. Let’s find a way that will help you stick with it.” There’s no flexing on the curfew time, but it works because it opens a discussion. You listen, you validate feelings, and you come up with a plan that works for both of you. That’s warmth and discipline combined.

· Discipline (teaching, training) needs to be clear and firm (tough) — NO means NO. The behavior is unacceptable and needs to stop. Action needs to reinforce the words, consistently. The eleven o’clock curfew mentioned above is handled like this. First Eva was allowed to share her frustration with Dad validating her feelings. Then Dad made the point, “You need to be home at eleven o’clock every time.” Then a deal was struck: “If you follow the curfew for a month, the time will be extended for thirty minutes, just as you requested. No excuses during the next month. If you break the rule, your car is gone for two weeks.” Eva starts to argue. Dad responds as he walks away, “Discussion’s over.”

Finally, here are some tried-and-tested mixing tips:

– Start with your child’s feelings and thoughts, not yours.
– Deal with behavior only after feelings and thoughts have been
  validated.
– Set initial expectations for 98 percent success. Success is a huge
  motivator for change.
– Avoid judging.
– Delete negative comments.
– Be calm. Walk away if frustration gets too much. Too much anger
  leads to “I’m bad.”
– Listen 75 percent of the time and talk 25 percent. Keep talking to a
  minimum; make yourself understood with only one or two points.
– Ask questions during the 25 percent talking time.
– Admit your mistakes.

What’s the take-home lesson?

Teaching and training your child with consistent, firm limit-setting in a warm caring way gives you and your child outstanding results. You will become a confident parent. And your child will establish self-confidence (“I’m good”), feel accepted, be successful, and establish great character traits.

Gary M. Unruh, MSW LCSW, is a child and family mental health counselor with nearly forty years of experience. He is the author of Unleashing the Power of Parental Love: 4 Steps to Raising Joyful and Self-Confident Kids (www.unleashingparentallove.com).

(* Demos think tank study released 11/10/09 – www.demos.co.uk/blog/children-of-character.)

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Book Review & Giveaway – U.N.I.Q.U.E. Kids: Growing My Leadership Garden

February 24, 2010 by dadofdivas 39 Comments

About The Book

“Be the change you want to see in the world” is one of the most well-known leadership quotes in history. Considering children will lead the world in another two decades, Gandhi’s words carry significant weight for parents, grandparents and educators responsible for fostering the desired change. Debra Slover, grandmother and founder of Leadership Garden Enterprises, LLC, takes this responsibility seriously, providing educational tools for parents and grandparents including the children’s book, U.N.I.Q.U.E. KIDS: Growing My Leadership Garden.

Written as a classic fable, U.N.I.Q.U.E. KIDS: Growing My Leadership Garden is an illustrated book that empowers children, steers them toward positive patterning, and shows them how to plant and nurture the seeds of good leadership while ridding their metaphorical gardens of the “weeds” (negative qualities that can harm children’s self-esteem).

The main character, a sheep named Hugh, suffers from low self-esteem, stemming from an environment where he was often criticized and never appreciated. When he stumbles into Leadership Farm, where a more open and loving way of being is the norm, he learns from human farm staffers as well as other animals how to develop his own leadership qualities and how to tend his own Leadership Garden.

The acronym U.N.I.Q.U.E. stands for Understanding, Nurturing, Inventive, Quality, Unstoppable, Expression. One letter at a time, Slover walks children through harnessing the six qualities together to form a “Leadership Garden Legacy” based on mutual respect, cooperation, teamwork, and other values.

The book is designed as a learning aid with the active participation of adults who can read the book with a child and reinforce the concepts. Grandparents particularly enjoy using the book as a way to take an active role in developing their grandchildren’s leadership potential.

“Time spent developing a child’s leadership is priceless in both time and money,” says Slover. “It’s an investment that pays great dividends, now and in the future.”

About The Author

Debra Slover established Leadership Garden Services (formerly Synergy in Motion) in 2003 out of a commitment and passion to empower the unstoppable leader in each of us.

Little did her parents know that they sealed the fate of the child they raised and named Debra – a name that stands for “bee” – as the pollinator of the world’s Leadership Garden.

When Debra was 23, she lost her mother to suicide. Transcending her loss, she applied her passion, creativity, and quest to thrive to her vision of empowering leadership greatness.

In 2006, Debra formed Leader Garden Press, and wrote U.N.I.Q.U.E.: Growing the Leader Within to articulate her passion and commitment to empower true leadership with a unique purpose and aim.

An outgrowth of this effort was the formation of Leadership Garden Enterprises, LLC as the parent company of her two business entities. Debra’s ultimate dream was to provide funding, support, and recognition of leadership greatness efforts where working cooperatively makes a positive difference locally and globally.

In 2008, Debra achieved her dream and established the Leadership Garden Fund. She now spends her time pollinating Leadership Gardens.

She is the proud mother and grandmother of five children and five grandchildren. Her greatest joy in life is nurturing her blended family Leadership Garden.

Debra lives in Albany, Oregon with her husband, Terry, and dog Mooko.

Background:

Debra earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Health Education from Oregon State University in 1975 and has spent more than 32 years working with youth and adults in developing leadership capacity, both at the state and national level.

She has an extensive background in custom program design, tailored curriculum development, small and large group facilitation, and leadership coaching. Debra is highly skilled in event planning having implemented over 20 youth-led statewide conferences, two national conferences, and over 39 youth/adult leadership camps.

Her experience includes 20 years as Director of Oregon Student Safety On the Move (OSSOM), a statewide youth leadership program promoting safe and healthy communities operated out of Oregon State University, and seven years teaching in public schools.

Throughout these years, Debra has been a presenter at numerous national, statewide and local conferences, meetings, and seminars and served two terms as President of the National Association of Teen Institutes and eight years on the Board of Directors. She has been a member, as well as chair, of numerous statewide and local committees focusing on safety and health concerns. She served one term as the Chair of the Oregon Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking and several years of the board.

My Take On The Book

I read this book to my five year old and I didn’t know if she would comprehend the concepts listed within it or not, but I was surprised that she did enjoy it and I have to say that I also enjoyed the message itself that it shared with the reader.Being a fairy tale, the author has woven a tale that children will connect with and which will leave a lasting impression in their mind. She explains that the child’s mind has great potential and she parallels it with that of a leadership garden. With the idea of the mind being a garden, it must be cultivated so that the child can find the leader that is within him/herself.

I know that Diva-J probably did not understand everything as Slover states that the leadership concepts are explained with a vocabulary appropriate for ages 8 to 12. As Slover states, “It is an ideal book to be read aloud and discussed over eight sessions at home, in school or in youth groups.”

The book itself uses great imagery to push the reader’s imagination. The book works to tap into the innate ability within a child. The book is not a quick fix and change, as always, takes time and effort, but the author is working to empower the reader to truly hone their inner leader and with this, their garden grows and flourishes.

If this books sounds like one that you would like to add to your own collection, you can find it over at Amazon!

Giveaway

How would you like to win a copy of this book? I will be giving away 1 copy to a lucky reader! All you need to do is let me know why you would have an interest in this book to be considered. The contest will run for one week and will end on March 3, 2010.

Bonus Entries:

Blog about my Giveaway by linking back to this post (1 entries per blog post. Please leave each entry in separate comments with your URL link in order for it to count)

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Share this giveaway on Twitter, Facebook or any forum, including the name of the prize and a link to this post. Here I’ll make it easier on you, copy and paste this:” @dadofdivas is giving away 1 copy of U.N.I.Q.U.E Kids – http://dadofdivas.blogspot.com/” (Then leave the link to your post. One entry per place per day)
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Make sure you comment separately for each task after the required entry task so you will get credit for each one ~ and leave your e-mail where you can be contacted.

This contest will run until March 3, 2010 at approximately 11:59 pm Eastern.

Winner must be a resident of the U.S or Canada.

Winners are chosen at random, if you want all your chances counted, make sure you leave individual comments, not all of them in one!

Winner has 48 hours to contact me or another name will be chosen.

Book Review – Blast Off!

January 20, 2010 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Allison Maslan, author of “Blast Off!”. All opinions are 100% mine.

About The Book
Leading Life and Career Coach, Allison Maslan will guide you to personal transformation and professional success.

Are you where you want to be, doing what you want to do, attaining your goals, and feeling fulfilled?
Do you want to be in the same place you are now in ten years, or even five years?

The truth is that you may be asking yourself that same question in another decade if you don’t take action now. There is a completely fulfilling life just waiting to be claimed as your own. The next questions: “What are you waiting for? and Isn’t it time for change?”

Blast Off! is a powerful book that will inspire you to envision your biggest dreams and fondest desires—your Big Picture Visions—and wholeheartedly go after them. Blast Off! provides the guidance and structure you need to stay on course and rapidly reach your intermediate goals. Blast Off! will give you the encouragement and skills necessary to assist you in designing the necessary changes while eliminating any roadblocks or obstructions. Finally, Blast Off! will share step-by-step strategies to achieve your ultimate life visions.
Blast Off! is a proven personal and professional life changing system invented by life and career coach, Allison Maslan. Allison has been the catalyst to help thousands of individuals reach their potential and attain a fulfilling personal and love life, inspiring career and healthy way of living that they never thought possible.
A successful serial entrepreneur for the past 25 years, Allison reveals her failures, successes, and the obstacles she overcame throughout her life with determination, passion, and purpose, and how she became the “supersonic” woman she is today. Allison has done—and continues to do—everything she advocates in this book.

Allison has been committed to supporting her clients’ dreams and helping them realize personal and financial goals, and also cultivate their human spirit and inner peace for their most abundant and prosperous life.
She shares the secrets that brought her and her client’s success in every aspect of life, and then outlines a clear-cut guide to infuse this prosperity in your own career or business, finances, relationships, health, personal fulfillment and spiritual life.

About The Author (From the author herself)
My first exposure to the business world was through my father, who ran one of the largest privately owned women’s clothing chains in the United States in the 1970’s. I used to accompany him as he traveled from store to store studying and absorbing the nuances of his art of business. His entrepreneurial spirit must have rubbed off because I carry his same capacity to manifest and create success. He made it look so easy, so I grew up believing it was. It has been this deep belief that anything is possible, which has been the number one secret to my accomplishments.

With this gift and my years of experience as an entrepreneur, I began to see that my formula for success fit into an incredible framework. From this winning structure that I was duplicating over and over again to manifest the visions in all areas of my life, I created my unique Blast Off! To Success System. I have now incorporated this unique paradigm into 3 dynamic programs that are transforming hundreds of peoples personal and professional lives.

My first business venture, Expressions by Ali, began in college when I was hired by fellow classmates to write personalized poetry for special occasions, such as birthdays, anniversaries, Mother’s Day, etc. I moved to Atlanta and the demand for these poems grew. I naively thought, “I can make a living at this!” Reality set in when I realized that at $25.00 a poem, I was going to have to be writing and selling furiously day and night to cover the rent. So I decided to mass market them as greeting cards and as fate would have it, I was hired to design thank you cards for MCI nationwide. The business evolved and I began accepting requests to designing brochures and buying media even though I had no background or knowledge in advertising.

My motto was, take the work, surround myself with experts in the field, then figure out how to make it happen. I moved to San Diego, took on a partner and developed a full service Advertising/ Public Relations Firm that handled many national accounts including Charlotte Russe, Supercuts, Charter Hospital and Ben and Jerry’s. During my spare time I also co- opened a beauty salon and a scuba diving shop that still thrive today. After ten years of building these business’, I realized that even though I had gained the monetary and creative rewards, something was missing on a much deeper level in my life.

In my soul quest for a more meaningful direction, I discovered the transformative abilities of the 200- year-old system of medicine called Homeopathy. I sold the agency and salon and decided to go back to school. After becoming a Nationally Certified Professional Homeopath and Licensed Holistic Health Practitioner, I opened my own private practice in Encinitas, California. For the past 14 years, I have consulted with thousands of clients to help them lead healthier, more fulfilling lives. Then, in 1999, I built The Homeopathic Academy of Southern California, a Three Year Homeopathic Training Program in San Diego to create more awareness for the science in this part of the world. HASC is known worldwide as one of the most comprehensive and successful homeopathic school in the United States.

After years of helping people lead healthier and happier lives, my clients began observing my entrepreneurial spirit with all the business ventures I was continuously involved in. They began asking me to guide and support them to develop new paths in their career, help them develop businesses and show them how to bring more fulfillment in their personal lives. This was the birth of Blast Off.

My favorite part of Life and Career Coaching has been enthusing people to follow their dreams while witnessing the dynamic changes that occur when people get out of their own way. What I have learned over the past several years as an entrepreneur is that the fulfillment does not come from money and achievement alone. It is about finding a way to operate from the unity of knowledge, logic, the heart and the soul and learning to draw from the serendipitous guidance of my intuition and my inner voice. This deliberate choice to lead a passion filled life has helped keep my feet on the ground, my mind focused and optimistic, even in the most challenging personal and business scenarios. The financial rewards have been the icing on the cake!

Personally Speaking
I was a single mom for 12 years. Three years ago, when I finally applied the same powerful principles that I had used to create successful businesses into my love life, I married my true love, my dearest friend and soulmate. Yes I did! I also raised my lovely daughter who now is in college. I continue to run a multitude of successful businesses and lead a very fun and fulfilling life.

My favorite sport is the Flying Trapeze. Yes, just like in the circus! Similar to the real world, Trapeze can be challenging, exciting and at some point, you have to trust and let go! My passions are my family, my three dogs and cat, laughing, building long term working relationships with my clients, and keeping my eyes open to create the newest business venture.

The Blast Off Vision
Through my years of working with clients and students, I have come to understand how and why human beings create their own personal limits in every aspect of their lives, including: relationships, personal joy, career, health, prosperity and spirituality. I have learned to identify these self-applied roadblocks and teach my clients how to release them; and then gives the tools to become proficient in living abundant, richer and freer lives. My greatest hope is that you have every opportunity to benefit from my Blast Off! system to achieve love and happiness, success and fulfillment in all areas of your life now, today.

My Take On The Book

I love reading books that are movitvational and get you willing to move forward toward your own success. For me, I have a lot of ideas in my own life, some of them are currently realized, and others are still to be realized. One thing that I particularly liked about the book itself was the practical nature of the book and how the author uses her life experiences to motivate the reader to succeed as well.

The book uses humor to make the reading flow easily and draws the reader in even further to the important content of the book itself.

To be honest I am usually a pretty motivated person, but there have been some things in my own life that I have help back on, and I think this book will definitely give me the motivation to move forward and start achieving the goals that I have for myself!

Don’t take my word alone. Check out Allison’s website and read about the book for yourself and see if it can make a difference in your own life.

Where Can You Find the Book
The launch date for the book is January 19th, 2010 on Amazon, Borders, Barnes and Noble websites. It will also be available in all other major bookstores! The book costs $24.00, but in looking around I did find that it is available for less over at Amazon.com. If you are trying to find a copy for yourself, look at the below links.

Book Review & Giveaway – E is for Ethics: How to Talk to Kids About Morals, Values, and What Matters Most

December 21, 2009 by dadofdivas 32 Comments

About the Book:

Parents are thirsting for ways to imbue strength of character and compassion in their children, and are searching for help and ideas on how to give their kids a head start on the journey to becoming well-adjusted, responsible, and perceptive adults. An entertaining family discussion book for parents to read with their kids, “E is for Ethics” serves as an essential tool for parents to teach their kids how to be strong, moral adults.

Beautifully packaged, the book has 26 simple, clear stories that feature Elliott and his little sister Lucy. Each story centers on a particular positive ethic, such as honesty, kindness, charity, and integrity. Each story culminates in a series of questions that will foster discussion between parents and their children about the ethic and its implications. It’s a lively and charming book that is designed to be read and discussed as a family.

About the Author:

Ian James Corlett has had years of experience in communicating with young children—not only is he a father of two, he’s also an award-winning animated film maker in his native Canada, writing for such shows as Rolie Polie Olie, Rainbow Fish, and The Adventures of Paddington Bear. E IS FOR ETHICS is his first book. R. A. Holt is a Canadian-based illustrator, designer, and artist.

Praise:

“Corlett, a veteran in children’s television programming, hits a home run with this small (but pricey) gem of a book. Using 26 one-page stories, accompanied by darling full-color illustrations, this read-as-a-family book presents common and realistic situations where children are faced with an ethical dilemma, such as fairness, forgiveness, tact, etc. Instead of resolving the circumstance, however, the stories end with discussion questions, e.g., “How could Lucy show forgiveness?” or “What might have happened if Lucy hadn’t forgiven Elliot?” It is incredibly difficult to write these books without pontificating, and any kid’s spidey sense will tingle at the mere hint of pedantry, but Corlett avoids that trap with ease. Enthusiastically recommended.”

– Library Journal, starred review

“When their two children were young, kids’ TV writer and animator Corlett and his wife initiated a weekly family after-dinner discussion to explain and foster ethical and moral values. Admitting that he is a plain old dad and not a Ph.D. in ethics, Corlett nonetheless felt obliged to address the void in moral education left as school and even Sunday school curricula stopped routinely teaching ethics for “it seems no one wants to touch the subject of right and wrong anymore.” He developed two charming and lovably humorous characters—Elliot and his sister, Lucy—and 26 story situations that take place in families, at school, in team sports and in the community, each of which demonstrates a different ethic ranging from honesty and understanding through forgiveness, courage and perseverance to loyalty, gratitude, fairness and acceptance…this charming, interactive little book is appropriate for kids preschool to tween age and their parents.”

– Publishers Weekly

My Take on the Book

Being that I have taken ethics courses in the past, I always have questioned how to best teach my kids about thinking and acting ethically. Granted my girls are still young, but I think it is never too early to try to help my girls to understand these concepts. So what I started reading this book, I was pleased to see how well the author had made ethical concepts that effect kids simple. He uses down to earth examples which kids will relate to and understand.

The book is also full of great illustrations that my eldest daughter loved to look at.

Overall, I came to find that each chapter had a lot to say, and that the chapter and stories were great starting points to a larger conversation that I could have with my kids (especially Diva-J, my eldest).

I encourage all of you to consider this book for yourself or as a book for others. You will truly love the concepts that are found within and you will come to find the book to be a pseudo-text for ethical principles that we all should embody in our everyday lives.

Giveaway
How would you like to win a copy of this book? I am giving away two copies of this book. All you need to do is let me know why you have an interest in this book. The contest will run for one week and will end on December 28, 2009.

Bonus Entries:

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Book Review – Living Life in the Zone

December 21, 2009 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

About the Book

Living in the zone—that state of mind when almost everything seems to be working for you—is every man’s desire. But how does a man live in the zone as a Christian

This 40-day spiritual journey is a sports-filled prescription designed to remove stress and give men confidence to embrace their daily adventure. The book, divided into four sections—Marriage, Children, Work, and Faith—is:

Designed to strengthen both churched and unchurched men

Brief enough for men to enjoy but with spiritual depth
Filled with issues that are real but often not discussed in church
Concentrated on a daily spiritual to-do list

Divided into four sections: Marriage, Children, Work, and Faith, each daily reading includes:

thought of the day
words of wisdom on a particular subject
biblical perspective
insight for living it out
questions to ponder
today’s call to action
prayer requests

Real life stories focusing on the faith journey of famous athletes, coaches, businessmen, and other public figures encourages men that they too can handle adversity, walk in faith, and live in the zone.

Includes input from celebrities such as Tony Dungy, Lee Corso, Chris Mortensen, Bobby Bowden and more.

My Take On The Book

As a person that is church-going, I am continually looking to find ways to draw myself closer to God. Some days it is not always easy! This book though has a lot of great ideas and is written in such a way that any man could easily relate to it. The book does not hit you over the head with scripture, but instead allows you to step back and see how biblical teaching touches your life daily and how you can incorporate scripture into your life daily.

I truly liked the daily journey that the book takes you on. It allows you to take a few minutes out of the day to reflect on how you can be a better person and a person that God would want you to be. While I am not through the 40 days, I do plan to continue reading this book, and do feel that though I am reading this by myself, that this book would be a great read for a men’s group as well.

I also liked the consistency of each chapter. As I mentioned above, each chapter is broken down into sections that are consistent. I looked forward to reading the Coach’s corner in each chapter that I read to see what the “coach” would have to say!

So I would definitely recommend this for men out there that are trying to connect with God in some way, the journey is worth it!

If this book sounds like one that you would enjoy you can find it on Amazon, Thomas Nelson Publishers.

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site’s Terms of Use for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

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