Margie Warrell

Success has to do with a mindset that playing safe really means standing still, not taking risk and growing. You may fail but in the process benefit from the experience. Margie Warrell has taken this concept and expanded it mainly for the workplace but the tips and insights apply equally well to daily life. In the first three chapters, she lists core courage with purpose, character and mindset. Then in the next four chapters, she explores working courage or CALL (confront, adapt, leverage and lead), then wraps it all up in the final chapter. Her message is clear: we must change and adapt. Being safe means not looking beyond the obvious but doing what has always been done, which for organizations, is stagnation. We can’t do things because we’ve always done it that way. With the changes in technology, the average worker will need to change jobs and gain skills as a lifelong project. The other important message is that all of us need to be honest and fair in our dealings. There are steps in this book to help and stories of the famous and not-so-famous persons and their experiences with courage, resiliency and strength.

To make the book easy to study, the author has several sidebars. The first has a key symbol and highlights strategies that Warrell believes will help the reader; the next includes questions and other written work to assess where you are and where to go next. This courage challenge uses the exclamation point as symbol. When the author tells about different persons and their experiences, the text is in a gray sidebar. At the end of each chapter, there are key points which solidify the high points of each chapter. It is easy to go back and review this last sidebar for a quick refresher. (I must point out here that I commonly call areas of the text separated from the main narrative as sidebars, even when they are not to the side and they are not in this book.) The illustrations added to understanding of the text. There is an excellent index. Although Warrell does not provide a bibliography, she does mention helpful material in the text that an interested reader can consult for further information.

I am no longer working but, had I read this during my work experience, it would have helped in my management skills. I also find I do not like change and the author’s hints for overcoming this were very helpful. We’ll have to see about the clutter! I can recommend this book to anyone who wants to grow and live their professional and personal lives to the fullest.… (mehr)