Less is more

How do you do a book reading and signing "virtually"? Here is how! Join us 11/12 or 12/2

Last week we did it! And we will have it again on 11/12 and 12/10. It is a book reading and signing webinar for The Accomplishing More With Less Workbook which we released recently at Amazon.com. The webinar starts with an intro about the book and how it developed, and proceeds into selected readings about a variety of topics which include:

• The Myth of Multitasking
• Filing messages
• Working strategically
• Starting the day with intention
• The Immediately Priorities Matrix™
• Managing stress

How does the “signing" part work? You might ask!

For those who purchase the book before or during the lunch & learn webinar from Amazon, and e-mail me their info, I "mail" (the good old snail mail) to them a signed card and include a signed gift certificate that would allow them to attend one of the People-OnTheGo online live workshops this Fall (or in Q1 2010 when the schedule is available) at no charge. It was a nice blend of the virtual and real worlds!

The recording of the last book reading is available on Facebook

If you cannot make the live webinars, and you're interested in learning more about The Accomplishing More With Less Workbook and hear about the topics listed above, visit the "Accomplishing more with less" group in Facebook and see the video!

Check out the book reviews on Amazon!

Lunch & Learn Webinar: What Fixed and Growth Mindsets Can do!

In this session, you learn about the fixed and growth mindsets--the belief that abilities and talents are fixed as opposed the belief that abilities and talents can be developed. Our guest speaker is Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at Stanford, and author of the book Mindset (published by Random House, and which has been widely acclaimed and is being translated into 17 languages).

 

Carol shows us how the fixed mindset creates a need to look and feel like a genius, whereas the growth mindset puts the premium on challenges and learning. She goes over the three Mindset Rules and based on the latest research, she discusses how each mindset creates its own psychological world, one that promotes arrogance and defensiveness and one that fosters growth. She also discusses how today's business climate requires a growth mindset. Then she turns to the issue of how mindsets can be changed and presents research from educational, sports, and business settings on the effects of teaching a growth mindset.

The recording of this lunch & learn is now available

To view the recording, please login to Facebook, and search for the "Accomplishing more with less" group on Facebook, then join the group, and scroll to the videos section at the bottom of the group page, and click on See All Videos. You will then be able to view Carol's webinar recording.

The slides from the webinar

Please download the slides and get the details of the presentation, Nigel Holmes' diagram that Carol mentioned, and to learn more about Brainology:

Download Lunch and Learn Slides--Mindset

Download Nigel holmes' diagram

Join us in future sessions

Get your brown bag lunch (or snack) ready, and join us online every Thursday at 12:00 noon Pacific Time for 45 minutes to learn the latest and most innovative tips and techniques for individual and team productivity, and get the latest updates about important workplace and productivity issues.

Brought to you by People-OnTheGo!

Lunch & Learn: Publishing Your Book--tips from the trenches

Last Thursday's Lunch & Learn webinar session was particularly exciting, as we got insights and advice from a panel of professionals with first-hand experience in the publishing industry. The panel made it clear that whether a person is interested in sharing their experience with others, marketing their products and services, and/or helping their team or company get publicity, publishing a book is an exremely effective way to accomplish all of these things. People-OnTheGo's Pierre Khawand moderated the panel discussion and pointed out that publishing a book is productivity at its best, as one creates a tool to reach a broad audience.

Through a panel discussion and an exciting open Q&A session, lunch & learn attendees gained valuable insights into the process of book publishing and into the options that one needs to consider when embarking on their writing project. The discussion opened with publisher Mitchell Levy, writter of eight business books and CEO and publisher of Happy About (http://happyabout.info). Mitchell gave his insights into the advantages to and motivations behind choosing a traditional publishing process versus the quick2market process which efficiently completes books in a 2-4 month time frame.

The panel discussion then moved to agent Leanne Sindell, owner of literary agency Thought Leaders Intl./Intellectual Property Management (www.thoughtleadersintl.com). Leanne explained the purpose of and advantages to having an agent and also gave valuable advice about the importance of an author's developed platform. She discussed how one should go about choosing an agent and highly recommended Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents as a resource for connecting with the right book production team.

Author, Debbie Gisonni, then gave insights from her personal experience both self-publishing her first book and then using a publisher to produce her national best seller The Goddess of Happiness. She also gave lunch & learn attendess advice on hiring a publicist.

Author Stephanie Losee completed the panel, offering insights from her experience forming a impressive platform and publishing her books through the conventional publishing route. Stephanie had interesting stories to tell about the often challenging process of publishing her co-authored book Office Mate which The New York Times called "a kind of 'The Rules' for the office."

To learn more about each panelist's books and companies, as well as People-OnTheGo's upcoming events and offers, check out the slides from yesterday's webinar presentation.

Download Lunch_and_Learn_Publishing.pdf

Also, take a look at the book publishing resource matrix where we've compiled all of the panelists' recommended book publishing resources for your convenience and use. 

Download Book_Publishing_Matrix.pdf

Join us for our upcoming free lunch & learn session!

Working together effectively: Using Myers-Briggs to help teams collaborate (on Thursday November 6, 2008 from 12:00 noon to 12:45 pm Pacific Time)

Register for Working together effectively: Using Myers-Briggs

Our lunch & learn program description and registration

Get your brown bag lunch (or snack) ready, and join us online every Thursday at 12:00 noon Pacific Time for 45 minutes to learn the latest and most innovative tips and techniques for individual and team productivity, and get the latest updates about important workplace and productivity issues.

Review program and register for our lunch & learn webinars

Helpful hints for reducing stress and relevant books and resources still keep coming…

Thanks to everyone for your great suggestions!  Another important recommended strategy is changing one’s mindset – Action (or stress) can be attributed to 99% re-action to our environment and the people around us.  If we can re-act with more flexibility and insight and less gut-level anger or frustration then we can begin to reduce our stress triggers at the workplace and in life.

More book recommendations for reducing stress in the workplace and beyond:

The Truth About Burnout by Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter
The focus of this book is organizational interventions to address stress and burnout. 

Banishing Burnout by Michael P. Leiter and Christina Maslach
The focus of this book is what individual employees can do while they're waiting for their employer to get around to reading the first book. 

How To Want What You have by Timothy Ray Miller

A California cognitive psychotherapist, Miller establishes three principles-compassion, attention and gratitude-that must be employed lifelong for change to be lasting.

The 7 Habit's for Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey

Same timeless principles, but written in a fun way that adults will stick to plus use it with their teens.

Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma

Read the story of a successful man in pursuit of a more meaningful existence.

People, process, and technology, as the formula for success for collaboration

As we continue to get deeper into the collaboration topic at People-OnTheGo, we continue to release workshops and webinars about the topic (see list below), and we continue to keep an eye on the latest best practices and on what the thought leaders in this area are saying.

What caught my attention last week at a Silicon Valley event is "Collaboration 2.0" which is a recenly published book about "technology and best practices for successful collaboration in a Web 2.0 World" by David Coleman & Stewart Levine--published by HappyAbout.info

The book is full of valuable insights into the collaboration space, and I am likely to post some addtional information and reviews about it. For now, what caught my attention is the concept of "People, Process, and Technology", and how these three factors are critical to the success of any collaboration effort, especially when virtual teams are concerned. It is usually the "people" factor that is not paid attention to, especially when the collaboration initiative is led by technologists alone, which usually ends up being the cause for the failure of technology deployments.

I see this excitement to dive right into the technology and process, without as much attention to the people factor, among the various audiences that I talk to about collaboration technologies such as blogs, wikis, and Microsoft SharePoint. As part of our effort in educating technology and business leaders about the "people" factor, we spend a lot of time getting the "people" to agree on the purpose of a blog or wiki for instance, and only when an agreement is reached, we get to the technology and process part, at which point things fall into place.

In Collaboration 2.0, David and Steward emphasize that the importance of the "agreement" which is the critical part, and without which collaboration is lacking and even unproductive.

For more information about the related People-OnTheGo workshops, please visit:

- "Emerging Collaboration Technologies: Blogs, Wikis, and SharePoint"

- "Effective meetings: online and offline"

- "Microsoft SharePoint Techniques"