Extraordinary Ordinary People

This is the story of Condoleezza Rice that has never been told, not that of an ultra-accomplished world leader, but of a little girl--and a young woman--trying to find her place in a sometimes hostile world, of two exceptional parents, and an extended family and community that made all the difference. Condoleezza Rice has excelled as a diplomat, political scientist, and concert pianist. Her achievements run the gamut from helping to oversee the collapse of communism in Europe and the decline of the Soviet Union, to working to protect the country in the aftermath of 9-11, to becoming only the second woman--and the first black woman ever--to serve as Secretary of State. But until she was 25 she never learned to swim, because when she was a little girl in Birmingham, Alabama, Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor decided he'd rather shut down the city's pools than give black citizens access. Throughout the 1950's, Birmingham's black middle class largely succeeded in insulating their children from the most corrosive effects of racism, providing multiple support systems to ensure the next generation would live better than the last. But by 1963, Birmingham had become an environment where blacks were expected to keep their head down and do what they were told--or face violent consequences. That spring two bombs exploded in Rice’s neighborhood amid a series of chilling Klu Klux Klan attacks. Months later, four young girls lost their lives in a particularly vicious bombing. So how was Rice able to achieve what she ultimately did? Her father, John, a minister and educator, instilled a love of sports and politics. Her mother, a teacher, developed Condoleezza’s passion for piano and exposed her to the fine arts. From both, Rice learned the value of faith in the face of hardship and the importance of giving back to the community. Her parents’ fierce unwillingness to set limits propelled her to the venerable halls of Stanford University, where she quickly rose through the ranks to become the university’s second-in-command. An expert in Soviet and Eastern European Affairs, she played a leading role in U.S. policy as the Iron Curtain fell and the Soviet Union disintegrated. Less than a decade later, at the apex of the hotly contested 2000 presidential election, she received the exciting news--just shortly before her father’s death--that she would go on to the White House as the first female National Security Advisor. As comfortable describing lighthearted family moments as she is recalling the poignancy of her mother’s cancer battle and the heady challenge of going toe-to-toe with Soviet leaders, Rice holds nothing back in this remarkably candid telling.

"Great teams are comprised of ordinary people that are empowered and inspired. They are empowered to solve hard problems in ways their customers love yet work for their business. They are inspired with ideas and techniques for quickly evaluating those ideas to discover solutions that work: they are valuable, usable, feasible and viable. This book is about the idea and reality of "achieving extraordinary results from ordinary people". Empowered is the companion to Inspired. It addresses the other half of the problem of building tech products?how to get the absolute best work from your product teams. However, the book's message applies much more broadly than just to product teams. Inspired was aimed at product managers. Empowered is aimed at all levels of technology-powered organizations: founders and CEO's, leaders of product, technology and design, and the countless product managers, product designers and engineers that comprise the teams. This book will not just inspire companies to empower their employees but will teach them how. This book will help readers achieve the benefits of truly empowered teams"--

In her delightful and moving memoir, Sissy Spacek writes about her idyllic, barefoot childhood in a small East Texas town, with the clarity and wisdom that comes from never losing sight of her roots. Descended from industrious Czech immigrants and threadbare southern gentility, she grew up a tomboy, tagging along with two older brothers and absorbing grace and grit from her remarkable parents, who taught her that she could do anything. She also learned fearlessness in the wake of a family tragedy, the grief propelling her "like rocket fuel" to follow her dreams of becoming a performer. With a keen sense of humor and a big-hearted voice, she describes how she arrived in New York City one star-struck summer as a seventeen-year-old carrying a suitcase and two guitars; and how she built a career that has spanned four decades with films such as Carrie, Coal Miner's Daughter, 3 Women, and The Help. She details working with some of the great directors of our time, including Terrence Malick, Robert Altman, David Lynch, and Brian De Palma-who thought of her as a no-talent set decorator until he cast her as the lead in Carrie. She also reveals why, at the height of her fame, she and her family moved away from Los Angeles to a farm in rural Virginia. Whether she's describing the terrors and joys of raising two talented, independent daughters, taking readers behind the scenes on Oscar night, or meditating on the thrill of watching a pair of otters frolicking in her pond, Sissy Spacek's memoir is poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, plainspoken and utterly honest. My Extraordinary Ordinary Life is about what matters most: the exquisite worth of ordinary things, the simple pleasures of home and family, and the honest job of being right with the world. "If I get hit by a truck tomorrow," she writes, "I want to know I've returned my neighbor's cake pan."

Brings to life the breathtaking and often heartbreaking stories of the workers who built New York City in the Twentieth Century Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives tells the stories of the men and women who built the City—of towering structures and the beam walkers who assembled them; of immigrant youths in factories and women in sweatshops; of longshoremen and typewriter girls; of dock workers and captains of industry. It provides a glimpse of the traditions they carried with them to this country and how they helped create new ones, in the form of labor organizations that provided recent immigrants, often overwhelmed by the intensity of New York life, with a sense of solidarity and security. Astounding in their own right, the book's photographic images, most drawn from seldom-seen labor movement photographers, are complemented by poignant oral histories which tell the stories behind the images. Among the extraordinary lives chronicled are those of Philip Keating, who, seven years after a fellow worker photographed him painting the Queensboro Bridge in 1949, plunged to his death from another worksite; William Atkinson, who broke the color bar at Macy’s and tells of fighting racism at home after fighting fascism abroad during World War II; and Cynthia Long, who fought gender barriers to become, in the late 1970s, an electrician with International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3. With narratives at the beginning of each section providing historical context, this book brings the past clearly, emotionally, and fascinatingly alive.

Extraordinary performance from ordinary people is a must read for the high performing manager with the ambition to reach corporate leadership status. The book is as practical as it is exciting. How to succeed and which personal qualities are required from those who display the capability for great responsibility, are the themes that run throughout. The book focuses on both the key value adding activities and disciplines for driving through change and the styles of corporate leaders that attract success Extraordinary performance from ordinary people highlights how the leaders of the company, as a corporate team, can adopt and adapt the four value creating styles. It emphasises how to recognise which leadership framework suits the challenges of particular competitive environments. This insight nurtures a confidence to act decisively adopting an approach to communication which harnesses the energies of the organisation to achieve stretching performance targets. It concentrates on how leaders make a difference by what they do. Diagnostic models that show what really works and under which circumstances are core to this book.

Michael Strangelove provides a broad overview of the world of amateur online videos and the people who make them. He describes how online digital video is both similar to and different from traditional home-movie-making and argues that we are moving into a post-television era characterized by mass participation. --from publisher description.

What is it in the behavioral makeup of ordinary people, operating in the course of ordinary daily living, that lends itself to participating in horrendous activities — and doing so at times with zeal, at times with joy, at times without duress? Katz demonstrates that we do not need any special behavioral equipment for doing evil. The very same behaviors can take us in both directions for either living humanely and decently or for doing evil. This book demonstrates how some of these processes work, and sensitizes us to the potential for evil in our ongoing daily activities. This knowledge about ordinary behavior can empower us to take charge of our own direction, and help us turn away from beguilings of evil when they come our way.

In today's world we need Christians and churches willing to break out of the normal patterns of religion and tradition to impact and reach the world. Ordinary People, Extraordinary Power gives a strong case for the apostolic culture as a criterion for change in the church today. A culture is a way of life of a group of people—the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next. An apostolic culture is simply the ways, beliefs, behavior, and values of God's people. It is a culture of power and the Holy Spirit. Apostolic leaders will impart power and authority to the members. Believers need to be activated to heal, deliver, prophesy, and preach. They must be activated to demonstrate the kingdom. The apostolic culture includes worship, deliverance, apostolic teams, prophecy, ordaining, establishing, pioneering, evangelizing, prayer, teaching, helps, governments, missions, healing, the Gifts of the Spirit, holiness, impartation, and church government. All of these will be discussed in this book in order to help leaders and believers move in apostolic power and authority.