Self Renewal

“The only stability possible is stability in motion.”—John William Gardner In his classic treatise Self-Renewal, John W. Gardner examines why great societies thrive and die. He argues that it is dynamism, not decay, that is dramatically altering the landscape of American society. The twentieth century has brought about change more rapidly than any previous era, and with that came advancements, challenges, and often destruction. Gardner cautions that “a society must court the kinds of change that will enrich and strengthen it, rather than the kind of change that will fragment and destroy it.” A society’s ability to renew itself hinges upon its individuals. Gardner reasons that it is the waning of the heart and spirit—not a lack of material might—that threatens American society. Young countries, businesses, and humans have several key commonalities: they are flexible, eager, open, curious, unafraid, and willing to take risks. These conditions lead to success. However, as time passes, so too comes complacency, apathy, and rigidity, causing motivation to plummet. It is at this junction that great civilizations fall, businesses go bankrupt, and life stagnates. Gardner asserts that the individual’s role in social renewal requires each person to face and look beyond imminent threats. Ultimately, we need a vision that there is something worth saving. Through this vision, Gardner argues, society will begin to renew itself, not permanently, but past its average lifespan, and it will at once become enriched and rejuvenated.

Unplanned careers affect everything and everyone. They can lead to frustration, negativity, and apathy at a time when we need to be focused, energized and motivated. Though your library career might have started “accidentally,” you can overcome organizational restructuring, changing job titles, and shifting responsibilities by cultivating a mindful existence in the library workplace. Building on the simple and fun approach that have made her previous books bestsellers, Hakala-Ausperk offers up a DIY-style program for revisiting personal values, understanding your options, identifying skill gaps, and creating plans for growth. Whether you’re a library veteran who’s feeling burned out, a new LIS grad just starting out, or somewhere in mid-career, this book will introduce methods to help you examine your individual interests, desires, and goals;show you how to understand your workplace’s priorities and culture, and offer tips for identifying where there’s either a match or a gap;demonstrate how you can improve your current position;prepare you to move forward through the creation of a personalized strategic professional plan that addresses professional development, gaining additional experience, and other options for growth;include tips for effective self-marketing, networking through colleagues and friends, and acing an interview;present ways to stay happy and engaged in a new role or position; andoffer guidance for sharing your skills and experience through mentorship, and retiring with grace. Ideal for both self-paced study and team-based staff development, this six-step plan will help readers renew themselves, their careers, and their organizations.

Lessons for a new generation of leaders on teamwork, meetings, conversations, free food, social media, apologizing, and other topics. When designer and computer scientist John Maeda was tapped to be president of the celebrated Rhode Island School of Design in 2008, he had to learn how to be a leader quickly. He had to transform himself from a tenured professor—with a love of argument for argument's sake and the freedom to experiment—into the head of a hierarchical organization. The professor is free to speak his mind against “the man.” The college president is “the man.” Maeda has had to teach himself, through trial and error, about leadership. In Redesigning Leadership, he shares his learning process. Maeda, writing as an artist and designer, a technologist, and a professor, discusses intuition and risk-taking, “transparency,” and all the things that a conversation can do that an email can't. In his transition from MIT to RISD he finds that the most effective way to pull people together is not social networking but free food. Leading a team? The best way for a leader to leverage the collective power of a team is to reveal his or her own humanity. Asked if he has stopped designing, Maeda replied (via Twitter) “I'm designing how to talk about/with/for our #RISD community.” Maeda's creative nature makes him a different sort of leader—one who prizes experimentation, honest critique, and learning as you go. With Redesigning Leadership, he uses his experience to reveal a new model of leadership for the next generation of leaders.

Providing clinicians with advice consistent with the current emphasis on working from strengths to promote renewal, this guide presents a holistic approach to psychological wellness. Time-tested advice is featured from experts such as Craig Cashwell, Jeffrey Barnett, and Kenneth Pargament. With strategies to renew the mind, body, spirit, and community, this book equips clinicians with guidance and inspiration for the renewal of body, mind, community, and spirit in their clients and themselves.

Nurturing, supportive, and empowering, this year-long guide featuring monthly themes, inspirational stories, and soul-searching exercises, focuses on enhancing balance and emotional well-being in mothers' lives.

Body Renewal: The Lost Art of Self-Repair presents a comprehensive natural solution to chronic disorders including aging itself. Jay Glaser provides the tools, the motivation, and a simple step-by-step guide to the prevention and repair of the persistent disorders nearly everyone gets. In these pages you will be guided on a colorful, humorous, lyrical, but no-nonsense adventure in the self-repair of chronic problems.

A collaboration between Native activists, professionals, and scholars, Re-Creating the Circle brings a new perspective to the American Indian struggle for self-determination: the returning of Indigenous peoples to sovereignty, self-sufficiency, and harmony so that they may again live well in their own communities, while partnering with their neighbors, the nation, and the world for mutual advancement. Given the complexity in realizing American Indian renewal, this project weaves the perspectives of individual contributors into a holistic analysis providing a broader understanding of political, economic, educational, social, cultural, and psychological initiatives. The authors seek to assist not only in establishing American Indian nations as full partners in American federalism and society, but also in improving the conditions of Indigenous people world wide, while illuminating the relevance of American Indian tradition for the contemporary world facing an abundance of increasing difficulties.