After showcasing her talent as the lead in her high schools production of Grease, Tasha Schuh began to dream of a career in theater. No one knew that the stage itself would steal her dreamand almost her lifeduring a rehearsal for the next big show. Just days before her opening night performance in The Wizard of Oz, sixteen-year-old Tasha took one step backward and fell sixteen feet through a trap door. On that day, Nov. 11, 1997, she landed on the concrete floor of the historic Sheldon Theater, breaking her neck, crushing her spinal cord, and fracturing her skull. She would never walk again. For the next three days, Tasha prepared for a surgery that would at best leave her a C-5 quadriplegic. Post-op complications turned Tashas struggle and ultimate triumph into an unbelievable journey. From loss and grief to self-discovery and achievement, Tashas faith, resilience, and honesty have allowed her to leave the old Tasha behind while she confronts the new Tashas life from a state of the art wheelchair. Discover Tashas remarkable spirit in My Last Step Backward, a poignant memoir that seeks to inspire you to welcome adversity and face your own trap door of opportunity.
How to find clarity amid the turbulence of work and life We all wish we had more time to pause and reflect about small decisions and big goals—and everything in between. But since we live and work in a vortex of tasks, meetings, decisions, and responsibilities, we rarely get the chance to step back. In this practical guide, bestselling author and Harvard Business School professor Joseph Badaracco argues that you don't need long periods of solitude and tranquility to reflect well. In fact, reflection can take place in the cracks and crevices of your very busy life, and these moments can help you understand your feelings, look at problems from different perspectives, focus on what really matters, and, ultimately, lead a better life. Building on candid interviews with over a hundred executives and professionals, as well as on the classic works of Marcus Aurelius, Michel de Montaigne, and Ignatius of Loyola, Badaracco offers simple, customizable principles and ideas for reflection that lend a gentle discipline to an otherwise nebulous process. Concise, smart, and pragmatic, Step Back is the guide you need to make reflection a positive force in your work and life.
After Ed Garrison's family falls apart, he finds himself alone in Northern California, burying his feelings in sports, writing, and romance. Sidelined by failure and betrayal, Ed realizes the only place to pick up the pieces is back home.
Have you ever experienced the way small moments can impact our lives? Have you ever wanted to participate in a movement to change our world? Jason Barger spent seven straight days flying 6,548 miles to seven different cities in the United States, living only in the airports. He studied 10,000 minutes of observations and reflected on how our airport experiences can teach us about our lives today. The airport metaphor leaps to life through profound anecdotes about an orphanage in Mexico, a summer camp in Ohio, climbing Mt. Everest, a hotdog grill, and much more. These funny and inspiring stories show us how to change our daily world through thoughtful and compassionate action.
In my search to find a career and to help others while so doing, I had to take a step back and realize my blessings, family and those who helped me along my journey. If I wanted to achieve my mission, I had to first reach the underserved population and help guide them in their financial journey. It is my belief in this mission that greatly influenced me to choose my financial planning career and write this book. My experiences and employment history could be repeated by many people who will not choose to pursue a career in the financial services industry but could benefit from the advantages of financial planning in caring for their families and community. My mission includes inspiring, motivating and preparing the next generation of financial planners, who truly care, to help others while pursuing a successful career.
Many strategic change efforts fail. And virtually all of them are harder than they need to be. Why is this? And what can we do to make change more likely to stick? Dr. Elsbeth Johnson, a former equity analyst and London Business School Professor now teaching at MIT, has spent a decade researching how to deliver strategic change in practice. Based on asking managers what they needed from leaders, rather than just asking leaders what they did, her resulting Step Up, Step Back approach challenges some of our most fundamental beliefs about how to lead change – and indeed, about what we even consider to be 'leadership'. The Step Up, Step Back approach suggests leaders need to step up and do more than they typically do in the early stages of the change – in specific ways and at specific times; and then step back and do less than they typically do in the later stages of the change – again, in specific ways, at specific times. The result is not only change that sticks, but empowered, motivated managers who can get on with delivering change, without needing ongoing input or cover from leaders. Using real-world examples of how to apply the science in practice, Step Up, Step Back gives you a roadmap for how to deliver strategic change in your organization.
How many lifetimes would you travel to find a love that lasts for ever? When single career girl Jo-Jo steps onto a zebra crossing and gets hit by a car, she awakes to find herself in 1963. The fashion, the music, her job, even her romantic life: everything is different. And then it happens three more times, and Jo-Jo finds herself living a completely new life in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. The only people she can rely on are Harry and Ellie, two companions from 2013, and George, the owner of a second-hand record store. If she's ever to return from her travels, Jo-Jo must work out why she's jumping through time like this. And if she does make it back, will her old life ever be the same again? Step back in time with this fabulously fun and feed-good comedy of time travel and romance, from the author of From Notting Hill with Love . . . Actually
Published originally as biweekly columns, the fifty essays in this collection bring the age-old practice of Zen to bear upon contemporary life. Whether their immediate subject be shoveling snow or baking bread, the virtues of solitude or the emotional dimension of social media, these lucid, graceful essays explore the manifold ways by which we might take the backward step, shifting our orientation from ego-centered thinking to selfless awareness. Wise and true, writes Roshi Joan Halifax of The Backward Step, this wonderful book transmits the essence of practice realization.
Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night and thought, “Where the hell is my life going?” All of us have been there and most of us struggle to find the answer to simple but difficult questions like “What do I really want?” and “How do I actually make it happen?” Patrick Mork, a former Google exec and serial tech marketer, hit that wall in 2017. After being fired twice in the span of 18 months at two different startups, he woke up one day terrified by the realization that what he had spent the past 20 years doing no longer excited him and that his passion for it was gone. Divorced, nearly bankrupt and teetering on the edge of depression, his life and career were in ruins. Fast forward 5 years. Patrick has become a highly sought after CEO coach and motivational speaker, built one of the fastest growing leadership development startups in South America, and moved to Santiago, Chile. He and his team have impacted 1,000’s of people and developed leaders and high performance teams for clients including Walmart, Liberty Media and regional unicorns like Xepelin and Betterfly. Step Back and Leap! Is an authentic, personal and raw series of stories that trace the author's life and challenges. From being bullied as a kid in Mexico, to flaming out in a startup destined for stardom in Silicon Valley. From starting a company at age 47 in a foreign country to surviving a near-revolution in the streets of Santiago, Chile. Each chapter recounts dramatic, real-life challenges Patrick faced and the 9 indispensable “keys” he used to systematically overcome each challenge. But it doesn’t require a fortune, an MBA from a top school or having worked at Google to make radical, profound changes in your life. Anyone can do it. With the right tools, support, perspective and hard work. Step Back and LEAP details 9 powerful keys to help you unlock your true self and live a life of purpose and meaning that is in line with your values. Each key is supported by a series of proven, practical exercises which will help move you from inspiration to action as you start to become the person you really want to be. “What might be possible if you could live a life of purpose and meaning?” Imagine the possibilities…. What readers are saying: “A powerful book to find courage to live life intentionally and with meaning. Patrick's life story is inspiring and his learnings can be applied to everyone. Through humanity, vulnerability and charisma, Patrick helps us reflect and find ways to face challenges and reinvent oneself. Worth reading!” Barbara Martin Coppola, CEO of Decathlon “An inspiring life story of making difficult professional and life changes. Patrick has assembled a worthy collection of life and career lessons, with plenty of humor, humility and vulnerability, and turned this into a practical set of insights and exercises that are really helpful for startups and larger company CEOs and executives alike.“ Matthijs Glastra, CEO of Novanta (NASD: NOVT) I’ve known and worked closely with Patrick for over a decade and know that many would benefit from this book which is a result of his deep self reflections and focus on constant, transformational change. Congratulations Patrick! Thank you for letting me be a small part of this amazing journey. Brad Bao, Founder and Chairman at LIME Part-autobiography, part self-help manual, "Step Back and Leap" is a captivating read from the get go. Patrick Mork has lived a rich, varied life and he's a strong storyteller, which might be why I found myself racing through this book in a single day. Mork is both open and unapologetic about his failures and successes alike, which makes the book refreshing and insightful. He articulates the classic problems of Marketing in Silicon Valley (and more broadly in tech), drives home the importance of purpose, and layers in a series of useful tips and exercises he's developed in his latest career as an executive/ corporate team coach. And when he takes you on the white knuckle ride of the Sequoia Century, you'll be hanging on the edge of your seat. As a three-time CMO on the cusp of (exciting) career change, I found myself scribbling down some of the bolder pieces of advice to take on my next journey. In the end, you may not agree with every square inch of Mork's approaches and philosophy, but you will exit the book entertained and inspired to be bolder in seeking your own truth. Leela Srinivasan, CEO at Parity, Board Member Upwork I can't recommend this book enough. From career to personal advice, this book taught me so much. I'm going through a pivotable time in my career as well as ending my 19 year marriage. I really took a lot of the advice to heart, especially around my values (and not deviating from them!), as well as learning from step backs in my career. Thank you Patrick for such sound advice! Erica M. Larsen - Gaming & CG&E Sales Coach at Google “I found it a fascinating (and unexpected) marriage of memoir and business. Sometimes I was so absorbed in the narrative that I forgot the book had business purpose, and then you would insert a pithy quote, an apropos reference, or an on-point exercise that grounded me in the lesson! “ David M.M. Taffet (serial entrepreneur and CEO) “The sustained narrative, of both your life and your career, moved me to tears on several occasions. If this book does not inspire others to live better, be better, lead better and just generally work harder on themselves, then nothing else will. You have created a treasure! Claire Harbour (Executive coach, Insead MBA, Former GM at LVMH)
