Gopnik on perfect writing versus sincere storytelling: Moth

Adam Gopnik is a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine.  He has also given several talks at Moth events.  One story was recently featured on the Moth Radio Hour.

In the introduction to the story, Gopnik reflects about how telling stories on stage has affected his writing:

"I sensed in myself that I had become in some ways, and doubtless still am in every way, an unduly fancy writer. That the curlicues and ornamentation of erudition had begun to drown out my ability to simply tell a tale about what had happened. But I think writing is a business of perfection. You want every sentence to be as perfectly polished as you can possibly make it. Every sentence should glow and shine, have its own little balance and structure and charm. A story is not like that. A story can tolerate a lot of rough stuff in the course of it being related as long as what is being related is significant. You can’t write that way. Readers are unforgiving of imperfection. But don’t you think listeners are totally unforgiving of insincerity."

A link to the story:  http://www.prx.org/pieces/103186-1107-freddy-hubbard-charlie-ravioli-and-the-monk

Find Opportunities: Simple Cases

"Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat."
Napoleon Hill

Leaders often focus on the opportunity side of challenges.  Not all these cases are a major challenge or  major crisis.

Today, I missed my usual subway stop.  My first thought was to get off at the next stop, move to the opposite platform, and come back one stop.

Then I thought about which stop was next.  It was along the bus line that I transferred to, so I could still catch my usual bus, just one stop earlier.

Also, this was one of the only stops along the subway line that I have never used.  So, this small misfortune gave me a chance to explore a new transfer point.  Find the subway exit. Find the bus stop.  Look around the area.  

Leaders should look for the simple cases to practice finding the opportunities in a misfortune.  Travelling provides a lot of these, whether construction, traffic, detour, flight delay, wrong turn, wrong exit, or wrong stop.

LinkedIn Discussion: Leadership Book List

On th LinkedIn group Linked 2 Leadership, Michael Barker had a discussion "What's the best book on Leadership you've ever read?"

Here is a list of the books mentioned, in order of mention.

Culture Making by Andy Crouch
Launching a Leadership Revolution by Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady
Leadership is an Art by Max De Pree
An Integrative Approach to Leader Development: Connecting Adult Development, Identity, and Expertise by David Day, Michelle Harrison, and Stanley Halpin
Positive Intelligence by Shirzad Chamine
Leading At A Higher Level by Ken Blanchard
The Leadership Challenge by James Kouzes and Barry Posner
Developing the Leaders Around You by John Maxwell
On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis
Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun by Wess Roberts
The Functions of the Executive by Chester Barnard
How to Grow Leaders by John Adair
Oxford Leadership Handbook by Michael G. Rumsey
Christian Reflections on the Leadership Challenge edited by John Kouzes, Barry Posner, and John Maxwell
Leadership From the Inside Out by Kevin Cashman
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell
Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in A Chaotic World by Margaret Wheatley
The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley
Appreciative Leadership by Diana Whitney
Be My Best Boss - 11 management tips from your employees by Florian Borgeat
The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership by Steven Sample
Leadershift by Orrin Woodward & Oliver DeMille
Wild at Heart by John Eldredge
10 Must Reads on Leadership edited by Harvard Business Review
Five Levels of Leadership by John Maxwell
The Power of Now by Eckart Tolle Why We Make Mistakes by Joseph T. Hallinan
Blunder, Why Smart People Make Bad Decisions b Zachary Shore
Transforming Leadership by James MacGregor Burns
Linchpin by Seth Godin
Making Yourself Indispensable: The power of personal accountability by Mark Samuel
The Maverick Way by Bill Wilson and Richard Cheverton
Leadership Practices Inventory by John Kouzes
The 360 Degree Leader by John Maxwell
Cyropadeia by Xenophon
Maxims by Ptah-Hotep
The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli
The Missing Piece in Leadership by Doug Krug
1776 by David McCullouth
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
The Radical Leap by Steve Farber
Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Employees First Customers Second by Vineet Nayar
Winning by Jack Welch
The Bible
Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman
Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan
The Art of Captaincy by Mike Brierley
Management of Organizational Behavior Leading Human Resources by Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hersey What It Takes To Be Number One by Vince Lombardi Jr.
Up The Organization by Robert Townsend
Change The World by Robert Quinn
The PAUSE Principle by Kevin Cashman


Link to the LinkedIn discussion: http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=77155&type=member&item=265443960&qid=24b45637-dc68-4840-b058-478eb7358638&trk=groups_search_item_list-0-b-ttl