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Greetings!

We’ve been asked by many of our customers for periodic, no-nonsense emails with just-in-time information for managers and knowledge workers on how organizations work. This is our 48th issue and we hope you enjoy it. Past issues are available on our website.

What We're Reading

The 8 Dimensions of Leadership; DiSC® for Becoming a Better Leader, by Jeffrey Sugerman, Mark Scullard, Emma Wilhelm. Berrett-Koehler, 2011.

This book is written by three of the leaders of Inscape Publishing and if you're one of those people who have dismissed DiSC® in the past, I urge you to take another look at it. This is a new DiSC and the appendix of this book has the research explained in layman's terms. I have been distributing Inscape products for a number of years now and am very impressed with their ability to innovate.

This book is yet another example of an up-to-date product that is incredibly useful to the overwhelmed leader. Essentially, they have tied the DiSC® model to current interpersonal competencies. You can take a free assessment to identify your primary leadership dimension at www.8DimensionsofLeadership.com. You will receive a one-page printout pointing you to the chapters in this book which will explain your primary style and the chapters with the 'leadership lessons' most relevant to you. It's not the kind of book you sit down and read cover to cover; instead you get your 'prescription' and read what it applicable to you.

The 'Leadership Lesson' chapters are wonderful illustrations of why this book is useful. Each of the chapters gives three concrete examples of what actions you could take to implement that lesson. This is the kind of information busy people want: just-in-time, realistic and focused help. It's like having your own personal coach. For example my map pointed me to Lessons from Deliberate Leaders, mainly because I lack many of the strengths of these leaders. So the three essential lessons in this chapter are:

1. People can't read your mind,
   
2. The dots won't magically connect themselves, and
   
3. Leaders are responsible for ensuring that processes run smoothly.
   

This is feedback I've had most of my career. I connect dots in my head but rarely do so out loud and it frustrates those who are depending on me to make a point concretely. My style also is one that allows my thinking to sometimes get ahead of the facts. I'm summarizing and paraphrasing the advice in the book, but it is on target; slow-down, do your homework, show you've done your homework, present one idea at a time, make sure your idea will stand up to hard questions and explain it with lots of examples. Yes, if I had in fact done this on several occasions I would have avoided some serious mistakes. If in fact I do this consistently I will have less frustrated audiences... yes, I'd say this fits me completely. I'd love to hear what your experience with this is.

We'll be carrying copies of this book for a limited amount of time so you can order it from us at an introductory price of $17. Retail is $22.95.

The Thin Book of® Naming Elephants On Sale!

The 8 Dimensions of Leadership: DiSC® Strategies for Becoming a Better Leader is also a good fit with the Everything DiSC 363®, the 360-product Inscape introduced last year. The 363 uses these 8 dimensions so you have an instant resource to give any manager to augment the suggestions in the report.

Inscape is again offering a free DiSC 363 trial until August. If you have an interest in trying it out, contact me at sue@thinbook.com. There are some rules such as, you have to work for an actual organization or government agency and need to have direct reports. If you think your organization qualifies, contact me directly. There are many other innovative features, it is extremely cost effective and has unlimited raters in 4 rater categories. Customers who have used it in the past year have been extremely impressed.

Weekly TrustTalk™ Podcasts Continue

• Don't forget, every Wednesday, you'll find a brief, free podcast giving you a tip about team trust taken from TrustTalk™.
  

• Podcast #15 will be available this week. These podcasts are not sequential, so you can start listening at any time!
  

• Each podcast will only be available for one week starting each Wednesday.
  

• More.

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Thanks for your interest and support!

Sue Annis Hammond
email: info@thinbook.com
phone: 888.316.9544
web: http://www.thinbook.com