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A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good. By Colin Woodard

Wow, forget the state lines and borders to understand the differences in our country. Colin shows us how our country is actually divided into eleven distinct regions with underlying differences in each how people perceive the importance of individual liberty and the belief in the common good for all.

This is the view of our country from 20,000 feet that really gives some insights to how people think and act across our nation and some understanding of why. I could not help but think about a high school friend of mine, Dave M. whose parents were from the south and had moved to our suburb of Detroit Michigan. Wow! I finally understood who Dave was / is and why he said and did things.

This book also gave me a better understanding of slavery as he describes how the Caribbean slave holders outgrew their country and could not pass on any more land to their sons, so moved their slavery and work model to the south. I had a lot of “aha” moments throughout this book.

If you liked the movie, The Irishman, by Martin Scorsese, you’ll love the book. Originally published as I heard you paint houses, (mob lingo for killing someone), but I am sure he sold another 100,000 copies of the book after the movie and needed to change the name 🙂

This inside look at the Mafia still astounds me. Jimmy Hoffa was playing with the mob and Frank Sheeran, the Irishman, found his way into the mob as the enforcer. To think that “Jimmy Hoffa was as powerful as the President of the United States ” is dumbfounding. He didn’t get that powerful without the mob.

Sheeran not only painted houses, but he is also a carpenter. That means he disposes of the bodies too. Holy crap!! This guy was heartless, but at the same time you grow to like him a bit (just like in the movie).

Having grown up in the Detroit area, I had read about Jimmy Hoffa a lot…he was in the news a lot. But no one could ever find the body or figure out “who did it”. Well you find out who did it here…and in the movie.

The more amazing tidbit that comes out is the role of the mob in killing JFK and his brother Robert. Whew… truly mind-boggling what was going on underground.

I read at night and I read until I fell asleep. Even when I was tired, I had a hard time putting this book down.

A great read.

This book by Spencer Niles, Norman Amundson, Roberta Neault, and Hyung Joon Yoon is a timely book filled with examples of case studies from people dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.

The authors introduce the Hope Action Theory which focuses on Self Reflection first with a number of activities provided in the book, then moves to Self Clarity, again with case studies and worksheets you fill out to help you clarifies what is important to you.

Visioning is next followed by Goal Setting & Planning, then Implementing and Adapting. All of this is centered around HOPE. Each section is easy to read as it is written for the end-users in mind. This is a very practical book walking people through the entire career development process with real cases of people, many of whom have been affected at work by the pandemic, so it is extremely timely.

It is chock-a-block full of activities that help make the point they are exploring and really help the person explore each of the components of the Hope-Action Theory.

When I interview Spencer, “Skip”, Niles this summer (watch now) he emphasized that “hope” without “action” is not nearly as helpful as “hope” with “action” when we are trying to move forward in our career development.

This is a well-thought out, practical book for the consumer who is struggling with their careers for any reason. The authors walk the readers through step by step on how to create hope in their own career development.