After my presentation “If You Want to Sit at the Head of the Table, You Have to be Sitting There First,” at the national meeting of the American Health Information Management Association last October, several women from the audience asked me and if I had written a book about what I had discussed. I hadn’t written a book, and after repeated questions like this one throughout the convention, I knew what I would be doing in the weeks ahead! I’m happy to announce that the book, 52 Week Game Changer: How She Leads, is almost ready for unveiling!
Read the inside story about the making of the book and get a sneak preview of its contents in my four-week series that starts below. Checkout the book's trailer at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETKbdZ9FmC8
Finding Soul
The inside story of writing this book tells as much about it as the actual contents. And it is this journey that I want to share over the next four weeks, hoping that the story inspires and forges a deeper relationship with those who will embrace the “game changing” life in fulfilling their leadership potential.
During the days following the convention, my mind seemed like a whirlpool trying to capture the book’s essence. What is the vision? What is the purpose? The ideas circled round and round unendingly.
From my experience in climbing the professional and academic ladder and from research findings about women and leadership, I felt instinctively that the book-to-be must be more than a collection of lists, lessons, or rules. I believe that leadership doesn’t happen overnight, in a day, a week, or a month. Rather it is cultivated and developed over time. Lists, lessons and rules may be helpful guides, but its cultivation, the process of nurturing and promoting personal growth, that is leadership’s foundation.
Over the next few weeks, I took snippets of time to ponder the “soul” of my book-to-be. If I were to launch writing a book on women’s leadership, I had to believe that its content would help women move forward. It had to inspire women to believe in themselves. It had to serve as a companion, confidant, cheerleader, supporter, and sponsor and above all else it had to honor the individuality and values of every woman who turned its pages.
In this vision I had found the soul of my book!
Next week, “From Chaos to Inspiration.”
