Six Degrees of Steve

Book Report: Tony Dungy - Quiet strength

For my birthday last week, I told my wife not to get anything expensive for me.  I'm a pretty simple man, needing very little to keep me happy.  It also wasn't one of my "milestone" birthdays, so I didn't really feel like I needed to go all out.

Therefore, she lovingly heeded my request.  I can say her gifts were wonderful, a couple of CDs and surprisingly the book "Quiet Strength" by Indianapolis Coach Tony Dungy.  I was really excited to get it as I'm a huge fan of Coach Dungy, back to the days of Tampa Bay.  I get a lot of free time on my train trip to/from home into the city, so I threw the book in my bag and after reading my current book, I'm going to dive right into reading it.  I read about 12-15 books a year, but I am looking forward to this more than some of the others I have picked out.

I first heard Tony in an interview awhile back on the radio talking about the book and how it starts with his firing at Tampa Bay on January 14, 2002.  For someone who just won the Superbowl, it was the last thing I would think his book should start out about.  However, from the rest of the radio interview and through others who have read the book, I'm excited to see how his faith and his upbringing has helped him through both good and bad on and off the field.  From winning the Superbowl to the loss of his son.

In today's age, we admire the people on what they look like and do on the outside, but it is good to see how a life well lived on the inside is even more inspiring. 

If you have read the book, I'd love your perspective on it.  If you haven't, I've placed a link to amazon.com in the upper corner!

Hope everyone has a great week.

The Dip by Seth Godin

One of the things that I committed myself to do when I started my professional career was to continue reading to acquire knowledge that would help me both personally and professionally.  In today's busyness, we use google to acquire quick bits of knowledge, but don't take the time to dig into a good book to help us become better aware of ourselves and the world around us.

Personally, I love reading leadership and marketing books and I probably go through in a good year about 10-15 books on average.  Since, I know there are so many choices in books, so I thought I'd provide from time to time some recommendations from things I've read or are reading to help you cut down your time if you desiring to read good quality material.  I've also highlighted it above so that you can order it if you want.

The book I'm recommending today is a really short book, but good one called "The Dip" by Seth Godin.  If you haven't heard or read Seth Godin, I recommend him greatly.  He's funny, witty, pithy and gets to the point quickly.  He has a blog page that has a lot of good info as well.

The great thing about this book is that it only takes about 45 minutes to read.  It's premise is easy.  There are some things in life that are worth pursuing and if you can figure what that is to you, then commit yourself to get through the "dip" and see success on the other side.  If not, then quit now and save yourself the hassle.  Quitting now is better than quitting in the middle as that is what so many of us end up doing.

I like his use of the term "dip" as the focal point of the book.  He indicates that the longer the dip that you can survive, the better you are because very few people will be able to follow you through it.  They'll quit because they don't have the same vision or passion that you have, therefore, it's not worth it.

Those that survive are then positioned for success because the replication is so hard.  Think Abraham Lincoln or Thomas Edison.  Do you think you can stand all those failure before success as they did or would you have tossed in the towel long ago?

I'm currently in one of those dips right now and I've had to face whether I should quit or go on.  I've read the book twice and realize that if I can make it over this "dip" I'll be positioned better than I ever had and it'll help me long term.

Look at the world around you and you'll see this happening all over the place in corporate America and with people in the industry.  They have survived the "dip" and now are flourishing.  Will you be one of them?