Moments Of Impact

Moments of Impact is a book on a mission: to eradicate time-sucking, energy-depleting workshops and meetings. In our fast-changing world, organizations have important challenges and opportunities to address—and no time to waste. Moments of Impact delivers the single most useful resource for managers and leaders who need better strategic conversation—now—to shape the future of their organizations. Moments of Impact is an essential guide for ambitious leaders who get assigned the hardest and most vexing strategic issues in their organizations, for entrepreneurs trying to manage board expectations, for social change agents pioneering new business models for community impact, for hopeful educators and healthcare practitioners trying to transform slow-to-change industries, and for enterprising students committed to tackling global challenges. Drawing on decades of combined experience as innovation strategists, Ertel and Solomon articulate the purpose, principles, and practices of well-designed strategic conversations. They weave together a lively and compelling mix of social science theories and research, interviews with more than 100 thought leaders, organization leaders, and practitioners, as well as dozens of anecdotes and practical cases from diverse organizations. The book also includes a sixty-page Starter Kit with diagnostic questions, best practices, tips and suggestions, and recommended readings to enable you to put the ideas to work immediately.

The New York Times bestselling authors of Switch and Made to Stick explore why certain brief experiences can jolt us and elevate us and change us—and how we can learn to create such extraordinary moments in our life and work. While human lives are endlessly variable, our most memorable positive moments are dominated by four elements: elevation, insight, pride, and connection. If we embrace these elements, we can conjure more moments that matter. What if a teacher could design a lesson that he knew his students would remember twenty years later? What if a manager knew how to create an experience that would delight customers? What if you had a better sense of how to create memories that matter for your children? This book delves into some fascinating mysteries of experience: Why we tend to remember the best or worst moment of an experience, as well as the last moment, and forget the rest. Why “we feel most comfortable when things are certain, but we feel most alive when they’re not.” And why our most cherished memories are clustered into a brief period during our youth. Readers discover how brief experiences can change lives, such as the experiment in which two strangers meet in a room, and forty-five minutes later, they leave as best friends. (What happens in that time?) Or the tale of the world’s youngest female billionaire, who credits her resilience to something her father asked the family at the dinner table. (What was that simple question?) Many of the defining moments in our lives are the result of accident or luck—but why would we leave our most meaningful, memorable moments to chance when we can create them? The Power of Moments shows us how to be the author of richer experiences.

In the first half of the twentieth century, Jack Trice, Ozzie Simmons, and Johnny Bright played college football for three Iowa institutions: Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, and Drake University, respectively. At a time when the overwhelming majority of their opponents and teammates were white, the three men, all African American, sustained serious injuries on the gridiron due to foul play, either because of their talents, their race, or, most likely, an ugly combination of the two. Moments of Impact tells their stories and examines how the local communities of which they were once a part have forgotten and remembered those assaults over time. Of particular interest are the ways those memories have been expressed in a number of commemorations, including a stadium name, a trophy, and the dedication of a football field. Jaime Schultz focuses on the historical and racial circumstances of the careers of Trice, Simmons, and Bright as well as the processes and politics of cultural memory. Schultz develops the concept of “racialized memory”—a communal form of remembering imbued with racial significance—to suggest that the racial politics of contemporary America have generated a need to redress historical wrongs, congratulate Americans on the ostensible racial progress they have made, and divert attention from the unrelenting persistence of structural and ideological racism.

Tom Wilson recounts the plane crash of which he was the sole survivor, and discusses ways to make the world a safer place.

A Prophetic Anointing for Today Defining Moments is a fascinating look at the remarkable ways in which God has used ordinary people to change history. But it is about more than history alone—it illuminates the present and unveils the future. Prophetic in nature, the book reveals how God wants to work in each of our lives to fulfill His purposes—today, tomorrow, and in the years to come. The stories in this collection of God-encounters carry a prophetic anointing for all who have ears to hear. Author Bill Johnson highlights the significant traits and contributions of many well-known revival leaders, including John Wesley, Charles Finney, Dwight L. Moody, Maria Woodworth-Etter, Carrie Judd Montgomery, Smith Wigglesworth, John G. Lake, Evan Roberts, Rees Howells, Aimee Semple McPherson, Kathryn Kuhlman, Randy Clark, and Heidi Baker. He explains the impact these leaders can have on us today as we respond to the life-changing truths revealed through their life stories. There is power in knowing the testimonies of men and women who experienced God in a defining moment and said yes to His unique call on their lives. It is a power that inspires us to hunger for God in such a way that we, too, will have an encounter with Him that launches us into the world of the “impossible,” enabling us to fulfill a greater measure of our destiny. Read this book with a sense of readiness, and watch what happens.

Now a Wall Street Journal bestseller. What if the games we played as children were the greatest gift to helping us achieve more today? Before stage fright, impostor syndrome, emotional baggage, and the other dubious gifts of adulthood, everyone pretended to be a superhero, a favorite athlete, an inspiring entertainer, a nurse, a firefighter, a lion, or whatever else captured our imaginations. And yet, that natural creativity is slowly squeezed out of us because we think it’s childish or it’s “time to grow up.” Now Todd Herman—backed by scientific research and countless stories from the real world—will show us how to tap into the human imagination to unleash new versions of ourselves, ready-made to kick ass. Herman has been coaching champions in every field for over twenty years, and he’s helped them bring out their Heroic Self to transcend the forces pulling them into the Ordinary World. Anyone attempting ambitious things faces adversity, resistance, and challenges, but Herman confronts these obstacles with a question: Who or what needs to show up to make success inevitable? In The Alter Ego Effect, Herman presents countless stories from salespeople, executives, entertainers, athletes, entrepreneurs, creatives, and historical figures to illustrate how to activate the Heroic Self already nested inside each of us. And he reveals that we may not be using those traits in the moments when we need them the most. From the creative entrepreneur who resisted their craft, to the accomplished military officer who wanted to be a warmer dad at home, Todd Herman’s clients have discovered there is no end to the parts of their lives they could improve by using Alter Egos.

In the first half of the twentieth century, Jack Trice, Ozzie Simmons, and Johnny Bright played college football for three Iowa institutions: Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, and Drake University, respectively. At a time when the overwhelming majority of their opponents and teammates were white, the three men, all African American, sustained serious injuries on the gridiron, either because of their talents, their race, or, most likely, because of an ugly combination of the two. Moments of Impact tells their stories and examines how the local communities of which they were once a part have forgotten and remembered those assaults over time. Of particular interest are the ways those memories have manifested in a number of commemorations, including a stadium name, a trophy, and the dedication of a football field. Jaime Schultz focuses on the historical and racial circumstances of the careers of Trice, Simmons, and Bright as well as the processes and politics of cultural memory. Schultz develops the concept of "racialized memory"--a communal form of remembering imbued with racial significance--to suggest that the racial politics of contemporary America have engendered a need to redress historical wrongs, congratulate Americans on the ostensible racial progress they have made, and divert attention from the unrelenting persistence of structural and ideological racism.

The Moment of Impact serves as an inspirational guide to personal change. It offers compelling stories, teaching moments, and an introduction to the Power of Three, the practice of using self-management, clear thinking and mental strength. These help prepare you to take more effective action in the face of adversity, to overcome moments of uncertainty and flux, and to make the most of opportunities, both obvious and hidden. The detailed stories and teaching moments presented in the Moment of Impact help you develop the inner strengths of mental toughness, perseverance and grit. These essential qualities aid you in becoming more inner- directed rather than surrendering control to any outside situation that is only momentary or to the opinion of others. The Moment of Impact offers you strategies you not only can use but also bring about the results you want in effecting personal change.