Growing @ the Speed of Change: Your Inspir-Actional How-To Guide for Leading Yourself and Others Through Constant Change

Growing @ the Speed of Change Author: Jim Clemmer Published by TCG Press - 2009 ISBN 978-0-981-3364-0-4 Growing @ the Speed of Change has a very "today" feel that's more than just using the @ symbol in the title. Reading it give you a sense speed is the norm. At times you get tired trying to keep up with all the quotes and references. However, the quotes, stories, and references also spur you on. Jim Clemmer is obviously a lifelong learner. He shares his passion for learning with stories, quotes, and insights. His insight is based on 25 years of work as an innovator in leadership training. Clemmer moved from the corporate world to training, first with Zenger Miller and then with Achieve Global. In 1994 he formed the Clemmer group to focus on the practical application of timeless leadership principles for personal, team, and organizational success. His years of developing world-class products are reflected in this new book. Growing @ the Speed of Change is Clemmer's seventh book. At times he draws on his other books to reference pertinent material and demonstrate how effective leadership is a continual learning process. To quote Clemmer, "leading employs persuasion rather than the power of position." The quotes, stories, and information are compiled to persuade leaders to stop wallowing and step up to a new reality. As he puts it, "there are no shortcuts or quick and easy solutions that require little effort or personal change. There is only the hard work of building basic habits." I marvel at Jim's capacity to recall events and his foresight to take notes -- continually. You don't collect the diverse quotes and stories in an afternoon on Google. Clemmer weaves information from business leaders, political leaders, common folk, and Aesop's fables into a compelling book. He bills it as an Inspir-actional How-To Guide. What impresses me, a chronological reader, is how I can open any page and learn instantly. I suspect you could read this book from back to front and come out a winner. Two snippets of information that resonated are "I don't have the authority," and the "Tips and Techniques" exercise. "I don't have the authority" is number two of Jim's Tempting Ten Wallowing Words. As a fellow leadership trainer, I too am tired of hearing that excuse. The other nine tempting tips on the list are a summary of real errors and attitudes demonstrated by many. The "Tips and Techniques" exercise must be tackled by all of us, continually. It might seem very "airy-fairy" for some pragmatic leaders, but I challenge you to try it. Visualization is a strong leadership tool, rarely used effectively. Clemmer reminds readers "leadership is an action, not a position." Even in the opening pages when he's recounting his own growth path, you learn the value of focus, consistency, and vision. The first few pages of his book are quite different from traditional layouts. Jim gives his own history and mixes it with pertinent leadership insights. Thriving in Turbulent Ti

Those accustomed to judging a book by its cover might be (rightly) skeptical of Jim Clemmer's Growing @ The Speed of Change. Jim's photo dominates the cover alongside a cheesy tagline proclaiming the book "your Inspir-actional How-To Guide" for leading through change. Underwhelmed, I almost failed to make it past this horribly cliché cover. That would have been a mistake. While I'm typically wary of this genre, Clemmer's writing is packed with wonderful nuggets. He quotes Keats alongside FDR. He combs history, science, and culture to offer readers an eclectic, practical, and actionable set of worthwhile thoughts. A few examples: * He invokes Irving Fisher's 1929 prognostication that "stock prices have reached... a permanently high plateau" as he urges readers to challenge the conventional wisdom about the impact change will inevitably have upon their organization. * He provides a précis of Daniel Goleman's research on leadership and emotional intelligence, challenging the conventional wisdom about intellect in Malcom Gladwellesque fashion. * He offers tools and worksheets to provoke the reader into self-assessment. One tool measures how effective the reader is at managing tools such as email. Clemmer adroitly blends the inspirational, the philosophical, and the actionable. How many management gurus quote new age spiritual guru Eckart Tolle alongside Mark Twain and Nietzche, before then asking the reader to fill out survey gauging their organization's attitude toward conflict? Growing @ The Speed of Change surpasses the typical product in this genre. While sometimes, I felt like I was attending a motivational (should I say "motiv-actional"?) speech, there is value in each section. If you have a Mark Victor Hansen book sitting around the house, replace it with Clemmer. You may not read it cover-to-cover, but each section will provide energy, inspiration, and substance.

I recently reread Growing @ the Speed of Change by a friend of mine, Jim Clemmer. When I say I recently reread it, I actually read it before it was published to give comments to the author. The subtitle is Your Inspir-actional How-To Guide for Leading Yourself and Others Through Constant Change. One thing I love about Jim Clemmers' books (and he is a prolific author), is his liberal use of quotations, such as: "knowing is not enough, we must apply, willing is not enough, meanwhile we must do.."Goeth 1749- 1832 The basic theme of the book is how to thrive in turbulent times. The first third of the book discusses and tries to convince you that change is actually happening at a great rate. One of the early chapters is even titled I Predict...More Unpredictability. One concept that he uses is wallowing, this is complaining that it's not the good old days and wishing there was no change. "Following" which is characterized by cynicism, skepticism, cautious and helplessness The ultimate goal which is leading, which includes optimism, positive outlook, courage, hopeful, proactive, gets results, etc. This is interesting dichotomy the book I recently reviewed that said positive thinking was killing America. I love the chapter on "I don't have authority". The gist of that message is even though people don't specifically have the authority, there are lots of things they can do to still bring about change. The book could be characterized as a positive thinking book, but it acknowledges that it requires a lot of action to get things done. At the same time, he provides a lot of tools on how to think and be positive to your advantage. It was an enjoyable read.

There is no doubt, change is a constant. However, what we need today is transformational change -- change that produces profound personal, organizational, and even global results. Jim Clemmer's newest book "Growing @ the Speed of Change" can help both individuals and organizations achieve the level of remarkable change they desire. This book chalk full of helpful advice, proven theory, and practical application. In a world in need of transformational change agents, Jim is your guide, and this book is your roadmap to a better future.

In keeping with his tendency toward excellence in writing, Jim Clemmer has produced another outstanding book that educates and motivates the reader. Also, as usual, he manages to elegantly combine essential ideas on change, performance, leadership and personal growth into a single cohesive package. He takes what might otherwise seem like only tangentially-related pieces of a huge life-puzzle and styles them, explains them and compacts them into a very related, smoothly flowing whole. And, as you read, you'll find he has the additional magic gift of entertaining you while teaching you. In Growing@ the Speed of Change, you will learn how to cope with change and unpredictability. How to think about reality. How to deal with negativity -- your own and others'. How to choose positivity. How optimism and happiness is easily within your grasp. How to make your life and work full of purpose and value. How and why to be a leader. Compassion. Connection. Courage. Flexibility. Adaptability. Good humor. More. As with his prior book, Growing The Distance, Jim Clemmer has written something that you can't read straight through, no matter how much you want to try. And you do want to try to keep reading, because each section is so compelling you don't want to stop. Nevertheless, every section is so densely packed with ideas, anecdotes and examples that you are forced to stop and reflect upon what you are reading by the time you've finished only a few pages. Furthermore, the exceptional formating of his content works to assure you will stop and think and perhaps even take some action. The book is almost a collection of related articles. Almost a magazine. Almost a training manual. Almost a series of tutorials. All of these in one. And more. Where you need to break and think, what direction you need to take, what more relates to the current content and why it's all so important -- all are connected by and obtain their flow through the formatting. The book's underlying structure is also rather like a well-formed college-level class syllabus (if professors presented syllabi so stylishly.) Perhaps when you finish the book, you'll feel as if you have obtained a diploma in personal and professional change management.