Thanks again to Stephanie Nannan for her guest post a couple days ago. There was some great comment interaction. You can check it out here.
I’m on vacation for a few days here in the desert, which means I’ve been able to do a little extra reading. I started Cadillac Desert which has already made me feel guilty about using any water whatsoever, read some blogs and other stuff, but the highlight was finishing Orbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon Mackenzie.
My friend Mike has been recommending this book to me for probably 4-5 years, but I finally got to read it this past week or two. It’s clever, creative, and genius. It’ll end up on my top-five at the end of the year for sure.
It’s about a former Hallmark exec’s struggle with nurturing creativity and the human soul in the midst of organizational dynamics, pressures, and realities. I won’t offer more of a summary, but will rather say that I thought that the author illustrates some of the key elements of systems theory while also providing insights on how to inspire and steward creativity and meaning in whatever context you find yourself in.
All my favorite themes seem to be present in this book – differentiation, homeostasis and the pressures of conformity and stability, prophetic communication, adulthood, dealing with backlash and feedback, security of identity and power in leadership, and many others.I have plans to use this in an upcoming project of mine and will become an evangelist for this book. It’s short. It’s illustrated in creative and unconventional ways. It’s awesome. And I’ve already ordered copies so my team can go through this this fall.
