Books
Shared Readings
Title: The Sedona Method, Your Key to Lasting Happiness, Success
Peace and Well-Being
Author: Hale Dwoskin
Has it gotten to the point where unrelenting stress and anxiety are considered by too many to be unavoidable and normal? Our reading selection excerpts this month helps us learn how to let go of any emotional discomfort. If you feel you still have blocks to your “greatness,” and are looking for a breakthrough in living a life that is richer and more meaningful without having to work so very hard for it, this book is a practical guide for you. Come as a trial member to one of our November Optimal Level meetings featuring your issues and excerpts from our reading selection, “The Sedona Method, Your Key to Lasting Happiness, Success, Peace and Emotional Well-being” by Hale Dwoskin. “The Sedona Method is a unique program for making positive changes in your life…your fear and anxiety will gently slip away.” – Cheryl Richardson, New York Times best-selling author of Stand Up for Your Life.
Title: Eat, Pray, Love
Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
Did you every just want to run away, take-off, fly away to foreign lands? Did you ever want to explore your own personal landscape by traveling to other countries? The author of our reading this month did just that. She examines three aspects of her nature: “pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divide transcendence.” This is a warm, funny book and through one woman’s introspection, we discover facets of ourselves and our spirituality.
“If a more likable writer than Gilbert is currently in print, I haven’t found him or her…Gilbert’s prose is fueled by a mix of intelligence, wit, and colloquial exuberance that is close to irresistible.” – The New York Times Book Review
Title: Basic Black, The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life)
Author: Cathie Black
Almost every professional woman looks for an expert, compassionate mentor. Now, every woman can have her own mentor with this month’s powerful reading. As successful as this month’s author is she has risen to the top and taken her share of tumbles. Now, she helps others with balancing the everyday demands of a busy life, with pragmatic insight into the traits of great business leaders, and with practical tips on handling typical workplace situations. Learn life and business lessons with “tell it like it is” frankness, humor, and tales that lead to personal contentment combined with professional accomplishment.
“If you think it, you can create it. Cathie’s career is living proof of that, and her experiences, both professional and person, make for fascinating reading.”…Suze Orman, Author of Women and Money and the 9 Steps to Financial Freedom
Title: Influencer: The Power to Change Anything
Authors: Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler
In this month’s reading selection, the authors promise you will learn to “Identify a handful of high-leverage behaviors that lead to rapid and profound change, apply strategies for changing both thoughts and actions, marshall six sources of influence to make change inevitable.” There are so many times in our lives in which we wished we had more power to influence others in our lives. However, most times the challenge seems overwhelming so we give up or rationalize. Now, this book gives us tools and strategies to effect powerful change in our lives.
“Whether you’re leading change or changing your life, this book delivers.” …Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Title: Standing Tall
Author: C. Vivian Stringer (Head Coach of the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights)
“Love, honesty, respect, integrity: If you use these ingredients to build strong character – there you have C. Vivian Stringer’s story, and so beautifully written.”-Bill Crosby. All of us have our challenges and our dreams. C. Vivian Stringer had more than her share of challenges and lives her dream. This month’s author inspires us with her example, touches us with her strengths and courage, and teaches us some important life lessons. As written on her book cover “Given her history, it was no surprise the she led her team to respond to Don Imus’s slurs with dignity and courage.”
“What a story!” In a way that touches me very personally, I see in Coach Stringer a mother’s love—and I know that love is the kind of leadership that can change the world.”--Michael Jordan
Title: How Successful People Win: Using “Bunkhouse Logic” To Get
What You Want In Life
Author: Ben Stein
This month’s selection is for those of you who see your dreams receding, who know you could be more than you are, who take pride in your actions, and who see no reason why should not have all that you want. Ben Stein, a somewhat strange, but very successful and extremely bright author, economist, lawyer, and entertainer, uses the life of the cowboy and his behavior as he leaves his bunkhouse as its central metaphor. Strange for a business and professional women’s forum? Not really, as it is based on a lifetime of examination of successful men and women and how they got that way. The choice to reach success at the level you seek is yours – start exercising that choice.
Once you are a member of Optimal Level, you will be able to borrow any of the fabulous, inspiring, and helpful books on the Optimal Level booklist, which is posted in the Resource: Blog section on this website. You will be able to take home books such as:
The Velveteen Principles, A Guide to Becoming Real
Minding the Body, Mending the Mind
The Six Fundamentals of Success: The Rules For Getting It Right For Yourself and Your Organization
Crucial Conversations, Tools For Talking When Stakes Are High
Mars and Venus in the Workplace, A Practical Guide for Improving Communication and Getting Results at Work
Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office, Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers
