Shawn M. Finch, DVM

Next in the leadership series…

How to Win Friends and Influence People

by

Dale Carnegie

Since I am only reviewing leadership books of the Veterinary Economics suggested reading list to which I can give five stars, I think I will start each review the same way…I loved this book!  Five stars!

And I did.  How to Win Friends and Influence People was published in 1936 and I absolutely LOVE Dale Carnegie’s writing style.  He wrote as if he were wearing a top hat.  Unfortunately, I read a rereleased edition that Mrs. Carnegie published in 1981.  She updated some of the stories and language.  So every time I read a story in the first person that occurred after Mr. Carnegie passed away in 1955, I would do a double take - a sort of “I-just-saw-a-ghost” jump and yell.  The lessons in this book are invaluable and timeless.  I will buy it for sure if I can find an original edition.

Bunny Trails Several times, when Mr. Carnegie needed an especially pure or great example, he would turn to a story of a dog.  What struck me was his emphasis on the effectiveness of positive reinforcement training (which he did not word in that way of course, as it is a relatively new term, though not as new of a concept as I had assumed.)  When he wanted to emphasize how kind words are more effective than harsh words, he would remind the readers how much more quickly our pets learn when we train with kindness and rewards.  I began to think it would be very fun to trace the history of animal training.

Of course, as far back as the Old Testament, Balaam was reprimanded by an angel of God Himself for mistreating his poor donkey.  But I had until now assumed that “Positive Reinforcement Training” as a replacement for “Negative Reinforcement Training” had just tipped into favor in the last few decades.  Apparently wise, successful people knew all along that kindness and compassion are the best way to treat anyone, whether human or animal, and just did not have a nifty name for the concept yet.

Also, of course, I would like to read the other books Dale Carnegie has written.  He had an engaging writing style, and fun stories with solid morals.  And while he was a great man in his own right, he also seems to have been one or two degrees from every famous person of his time, which also makes for a fun read.

Next in the leadership series…

Start-Up Nation, The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle

by

Dan Senor and Saul Singer

I LOVED this book…five stars!

I have a special place in my heart for Israel, and the multilayered reasons for that do not even fit in the “What in The World Does This Have to Do with Pets?” section of this website.  That would be another website entirely!  The history contained in this book is fascinating, and has changed the way I view world history overall.

But this is not a book about heart or emotions or passion.  It is a book about achieving success against seemingly insurmountable odds, which is a theme that I absolutely love.  It is a book about Israel, which I have already told you I love, and it is a book about entrepreneurs and start-up companies, especially those in the technology sector, which, until this past week, I did not care one bit about.  In fact, I had to open the book and change every single vowel in my spelling of entrepreneurs, as I am quite sure I have not ever used the word before today.

And I love that about the book too.  I found myself caring very much why start-ups are successful or not, why Israeli start-ups tend to be SO successful, and even caring about the details of the businesses profiled in the book.

I suppose most of all I love a book that can make me care about things I did not know I would care about.  And in that regard above all, this is a great book.

Bunny Trails: The publishing company of this book intrigues me.  The book was published in November 2009 by Twelve.  They publish at most one book a month and invest in the long term success of the books they publish.  When I have time, I will read the other books published by Twelve.  Theoretically, if I can catch up with what they have published so far, I should be able to keep up by reading one book a month.  Woo!  I need another reading project!  Well, no I don’t.  But I am excited to have one.

Next in the leadership series…

Blink, The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

by Malcolm Gladwell

I liked this book very much, maybe even more the second time than the first.

Five stars.  I told you that I am not a good reviewer.  But that’s what I’ve got.  Also, I took careful note of the cover on this one.  White like the rest of his books.  Classy white, not boring white.  I love it.

Bunny Trails: Now I want to go back and read Tipping Point, Outliers and What the Dog Saw again.  Malcolm Gladwell may very well be my favorite author.

More Bunny Trails: Click here to see a video of my brother Dave Nelson and Matt Helt of Secret Penguin playing paddleball with Malcolm Gladwell.  That would actually lend itself better to a discussion of Tipping Point, but once again, that’s what I’ve got.  And how fun!!

I started working through my pile of leadership books I began piling after reading the July 2010 Veterinary Economics article, 25 Books for your Summer Reading List.  I have restrained myself and only started three books.  The first one I finished was

Freakonomics

by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Disclaimer:  I would be a horrible book reviewer, because the books I do not enjoy, I do not finish, and the ones I do enjoy I rave about.  So you get five stars or no mention.  This book gets five stars.

In case I am not the last person in America to read this book, I highly recommend it.  Things you would not expect to bother you will, and things you would expect to really, really bother you - so much that you may have avoided thinking much about them before now - will prove worth analyzing.

The first thing I noticed was the cover.  The names of the authors made me think of the scene in Benny and Joon where Joon gets Benny two goldfish whom she has named Steven and Stephen.  I DID like the cover as soon as I saw it (I assume because it reminded me of the Benny and Joon scene), so this is one book I actually bought instead of borrowing first to make sure I liked it.

My kids pointed out (after I had finished reading the book) the cool picture on the cover of an apple with orange innards (signifying I suppose that things are not always as they seem).  Maybe I should not judge a book by its cover, because I do not notice the things normal people notice.  But in this case, it turned out fine.

I expect much of this book to echo around in my head for a while.  The bonus material contains a very sad recounting from Steven D. Levitt’s own family life which will probably be the part of the book that stays with me permanently, even with all of the crazy, fun turn-what-you-thought-you-knew-on-its-head stories that make up the body of the book.

I will also remember the thirty second thing.  The authors point out in a subpoint to an argument mid-book that drowning can occur in thirty seconds.  When we were in Turks and Caicos for my brother’s wedding in 2007, my daughter went under water and lost consciousness.  My husband pulled her out, and she made a rapid and full recovery.  Those few seconds have changed us forever, and I read the second half of the book with a horrible stomach ache.  I did not know the thirty second thing.

The rest of the paradigm shifts, the ones the authors create on purpose, perhaps should have given me a stomach ache, but did not.  They were well-told, jarring in an entertaining way, and made me want to learn more about things I had not previously even given a second thought…sumo wrestling and real estate agent commissions among them.

I do not know whether or how this will make me a better veterinarian or leader, but maybe.  I still have some thinking to do.

Bunny Trails…Now I want to read SuperFreakonomics by the same authors and wander around their blog, Freakonomics, The Hidden Side of Everything, at the website of the New York Times.  I still have several leadership books to read, so I need to stay focused!  Next up…Blink by Malcolm Gladwell or The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell, whichever one I finish first!

Hmm.  Reading Veterinary Economics has become less passive and more active these past couple of months.  I can’t wait to see what the August issue has in store!

The July 2010 issue had an article about leadership books.  I just stared at the photographs of the books and said, “Yes, Veterinary Economics journal!  I will read the twenty-five books you suggest!”

Click this link to see the article that made me want to put down my Stephen King and Bible in a Year and switch to a leadership kick for a while. (Just kidding Stan! Still reading.)

McFerson T. 25 books for your summer reading list. Veterinary Economics 2010;51(7):18-24.

Tom McFerson got four other veterinary field related professionals together, and they each listed their five favorite leadership books and challenged us to read them all.

So far, I have asked 11,758 people to read with me and Russ has said yes.  Yay!  This will be fun.

Maybe I should NOT start a second pile of books…

If you have whipped through those, or previously read them…here’s some more suggestions…

From Russ:

Fish by Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul and John Christensen

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson

From Phil Barnes:

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey

Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne

What Clients Love by Harry Beckwith

From Me:

The Tipping Point and then everything else Malcolm Gladwell has ever written and will ever write, even if (maybe especially if) it is on the back of a napkin at dinner.  His brain just seems to think faster than even he himself can process - I love it!

The Referral of a Lifetime by Tim Templeton

The Loyal Customer, A Lesson From a Cab Driver by Shep Hyken (If you’re getting overwhelmed by this growing list, start with this cute little book.  My kid just read it in twenty minutes.)

The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren

From Dad*:

*I’ve been waiting for these suggestions.  Like Russ says, if you want to be a good leader, pay attention to what Bob does.  Bob Nelson is my Dad and he is the most successful person I know.  He was pretty excited to hear about this project, and here are the books he pulled off his shelf to add to my pile…

The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino

Soar with your Strengths by Donald O. Clifton and Paula Nelson

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum

Where Have All the Leaders Gone? By Lee Iacocca

I just wrote a blog post for dvm360 at the invitation of Veterinary Economics Editor Kristi Reimer.  Ok, so it was not a direct invitation, it was the introduction to the June issue of Veterinary Economics, sort of a “Draw This Turtle” for veterinarians.

I opened my June Veterinary Economics and read it from cover to cover like I always do.  The last thing I read (It was on the front page - I read magazines and journals from back to front - I think it’s a lefty thing) made me space off and dream for the rest of my lunch break.  Kristi said (to me!) “We’re on the lookout for user-generated content.”

Earlier in the year, Charity, who I work for at Carefresh, suggested I write a list of every company I would like to write with.  I already have my dream Mom-Veterinarian-Writer career.  Really, could it get any better??

I write HERE (which I LOVE - thanks Dave!!) and for Omaha.net (which I also love - thanks Jordy and Morgan!), Banfield occasionally asks for my input for their blog and journal (Thanks Nina!) and I had just accidently landed my dream job with Carefresh (Thanks Charity and Tom!)  Was it even OK to dream bigger?

But I do everything Charity tells me to do.  So I started writing out my dream list.  And at the very top of my list was dvm360-Advanstar Communications.  They are the team behind most of my favorite veterinary journals, behind DogFancy and CatFancy, even, I just learned, some automotive, dental and sports publications!  I knew it was just a dream, but sometimes dreams can become Real Life.  And writing lists is fun.

Thank YOU for coming with me on this crazy (good-crazy) adventure.  It has been fun, hasn’t it? : )

And look, they let me post this…Twitter for Veterinarians

It had to be said - When the world of veterinary medicine (eighty thousand+ veterinarians) intersects with the world of twitter (six million+ tweeters), it is such an amazing thing.  It just is SO uncommon!  (Four hundred sixty-two veterinarians/hospitals on twitter by my count)  I wanted to make jumping into twitter easier for vets.  So I hope it does.  If you don’t see more veterinarians posting on twitter in the next month or so, assume they are, as always, busy preserving and saving lives, not that they are unable to figure out twitter, because now I hope they will be!