This is a book with a simple message: develop a true sense of urgency or suffer the dire consequences. Defined against the complacency and false sense of urgency, the true sense of urgency is when urgent action is not created by feelings of contentment, anxiety, frustration, or anger but by a gut-level determination to move, and win, now. It’s not the product of historical successes or current failures but the result of people, up and down the hierarchy, who provided the leadership needed to create and recreate this increasingly important asset.

How to increase the true sense of urgency: one strategy and four tactics:
Strategy: Give people important facts -> Winning hearts and minds
Create action that is exceptionally alert, externally oriented, relentlessly aimed at winning, making some progress each day and constantly purging the low-value-added activities – all by always focusing on the heart and not just the mind.

Tactic 1: Bring the outside in: Reconnect internal reality with external opportunities and hazards. Bring in emotionally compelling data, people, video, sites, and sounds.

Tactic 2: Behave with urgency every day: Never act content, anxious, or angry. Demonstrate your own sense of urgency always in meetings, one-on-one interactions, memos, and email and do so as visbily as possible to as many people as possible.

Tactic 3: Find opportunity in crises: Always be alert to see if crises can be a friend, not just a dreadful enemy, in order to destroy complacency. Proceed with caution, and never be naive, since crises can be deadly.

Tactic 4: Deal with the NoNos: Remove or nutralize all the relentless urgency-killers, people who are not skeptics but are determined to keep a group complacent or, if needed, to create destructive urgency.

This book has simple messages and shouldn’t be hard for a senior executive or manager to figure out. But it’s hard to keep urgency up as fatigue sets in when urgency level is kept high for a long time. It’s not easy to sustain. Easier said than done.

What a wonderful book this is. John Robbins takes the readers from his memoir to the money psychology to ways to save money and live non-toxic life while drawing closer to nature. I enjoyed listening to his stories, and the great food recipes will doubtlessly come in handy. The natural cleaning recipes are worth trying to save ourselves from the toxic fumes of the household cleaners. John Robbins painted a pretty good picture of a “New Good Life.”

The book started out talking about author’s rich upbringing by one of the founders of Baskins Robbins. He decided against living the life of wealth and refused to be “bought” (in his Dad’s own term) and continued living a “better good” life. There was this sad story of his money being stolen by Bernard Madoff and started all over again.

Next he talked about the various money types that one must know himself to be: the saver, the innocent, the Performer, the Sensualist, the Vigilant, and the Giver. He went through the “shadowed-side” and the “evolved” version of each type. I like the poems (anonymous):

I asked for strength, that I might achieve.
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey…
I asked for health, that I might do great things.
I was given infirmity, that might do better things…
I asked for riches, that I might be happy.
I was given poverty, that I might be wise…
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men.
I was given weakness, that I might learn to care…
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life.
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things…
I got nothing I asked for — but everything I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.

I am among men, most richly blessed.

“Financial freedom is less about how much money you have and more about remembering — and fulfilling — your true purpose for being alive.”

Next, the author advocates four steps to financial freedoms:
1. Knowing your financial net worth.
2. Knowing your real hourly wage (taking into account of your costs (time & material) of commuting, clothes, meals, de-compression, other work life-related expenses.
3. Knowing where your money is going.
4. Knowing the value of your life.

The author offers 25 ways to reduce your housing costs while increasing the quality of your life. There is an entire chapter on cars and how to reduce car expenses or do away with cars. Another chapter covers the foods and cooking recipes. A few surprises like quinoa (“mother of all grains”), Flaxseeds (the “new” wonder food, in place of $15/lb salmon), and cabbage. And there are commonly known: nutritional yeast, sweet potato, pop corns, split peas, lentils, sunflower seeds, oats, carrots, and tofu.

One chapter on kids, the financial and eco-costs of raising kids. or raising kids. This is another poem by Mary Rita Schilke Korzan:

When you thought I wasn’t looking,
You hung my first painting on the refrigerator,
And I wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn’t looking,
I looked,
And wanted to say thanks
For all those things you did
When you thought I wasn’t looking.

This last chapter “Safe, Clean and Natural” on cleaning was all new to me – worth the book by itself. By replacing all the toxic bleach and ammonia-based household cleaners, capret cleaners containing PERC or TCE, antimicrobial soaps, oven cleaners, drain cleaners, fabric softener/dryer sheets, air fresheners, air purifiers/cleaners — with inexpensive, non-toxic, effective, and safe household cleaning products like castile soap (Dr. Bronner’s: 1 to 3 water), distilled white vinegar, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, washing soda, borax, cream of tartar. Recipes:

Dish soap: 1x Dr. Bronner’s castile soap and 3+ water.
General cleaning of kitchen and bathroom surfaces, counters, appliances, glass stovetops, cupboards, and tiles: 1x white vinegar, 1x water, 1/4 teaspoon of liquid castile soap. Tougher jobs: 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 2 teaspoons of borax, 1/2 teaspoon of liquid castile soap in 2 cups of hot water.
Kitchen and bathroom sinks: sprinkle baking soda on a damp sponge for a light scour then rinse.
Grout stains: 3% H2O2 and sit for 20 minutes. Scrub with toothbrush and rinse.
Disenfecting: spray with hydrogen peroxide, followed by vinegar spray.
To remove mold: 100% white vinegar or H2O2. Do not rinse.
For sluggish or clogged drains: 1/2 cup of baking soda into the drain, followed by 1 cup of heated white vinegar, followed with boiling water. If completely backed up, 1 cup of washing soda and sit, followed with boiling water, followed by 1/2 cup of baking soda + 1 cup of heated white vinegar, flush with boiling water.
Mirrors and windows: 1x white vinegar, 3x water.
Cleaning floor: 1 cup of vinegar + 1/2 teaspoon of liquid castile soap in warm water.
Laudry detergent: 1/2 cup each of borax and washing soda.
Fabric softener: 1/2 cup of vinegar + 1/2 cup of water in your rinse cycle. Place in Downy Ball.
Carpet cleaner: mix the vinegar. Add a teaspoon of castile soap per gallon of water.

At the end, the author advocates of the use of alternatives to the GDP like GNH (Gross National Happiness) adopted by Bhutan.

Wow, what a story!

The author skillfully narrated the story of Louie Zamperini, an Olympian runner: his entire life story from birth, to becoming a fast runner, to being drafted a B-24 Bombardier When his aircraft, Green Hornet, crashed into the Pacific Ocean. He and 2 other guys survived the crash and drifted on a raft and fought off sharks’ attacks for 47 days and ended up in an island controlled by Japanese and became an underground POW to be used as a propaganda vehicle. He later survived the sadistic abuses of the prison guard and the ultimate tormentor – Corp. Mutsuhiro Watanabe. Up until the end of the war for over two years, he was under the abuse and random acts of violence from the psychopathic “Bird.” The unbelievable amount of indignant injuries both physically and psychologically inflicted on Louie and many other POW’s in the camp left a deep scar on Louie and others even years after the wars ended. Louie was able to overcome his alcoholism and the nightly “Bird” demon through religion thanks to Bill Graham.

I must say Louie came across as the iron man, training for Olympics, winning the collegiate 1-mile championship after being sabotaged on the track, surviving the dog fight which killed several others in their “Superman” B-24, and then the crash of the Hornet, then overcame the thirst, hunger and the attack of sharks during his 47-day drift in the ocean, then surviving the POW camp, then fought off the demons and alcoholism upon his return. He’s now over 93 years old and still going on strong. Amazing. How true the saying goes, “What don’t kill you make you strong.”

This is probably the best autobiography book I’ve ever read – very inspirational. The facts were well researched and the author kept the readers going and wanting for more. The twists and turns of the stories trumps most fiction stories.

The atrocity of Japan military will go down as one of the most vicious and inhumane in human history. Let the story be the reminder of human cruelty of an extremist government and the people serving that government to advance its objective. It would be a major accomplishment of Louie Zamperini if his story prevents the history from repeating itself.

Paul Facella, an ex-McDonald executive, who started working as a crew in McDonald’s since 16 years of age, outlined the 7 leadership principles that drive break out success like McDonald’s. After reading this book, I got to understand the business model of McDonald’s a little better. By buying up the property and lease it to the operator, McDonald’s practically becomes the landlord that aligns its profit with that of the tenants. McDonald’s simple strategy of QSC also makes the execution easier. I was surprised by how much of a culture is needed to drive a successful company like McDonald’s. It’s an incredible “system.” More the 7 principles below:

1. Honesty and integrity: all the stakeholders stand to gain, making everyone feel like a true partner. Use of ombusdsman to audit the process.
2. Relationships: “To get to the heart of the person’s value system. It’s the very foundation of trust.” “Got relationships will allow others not only to approach with insights but also to challenge your thinking.” “I was tolerant of someone’s buckets of weakness as long as I could maximize on their strengths.” “Seek out and develop a network of individuals who you can rely on for good feedback and advice. Don’t react, don’t be defensive… Listen. Be in the present.”
3. Standards: never be satisfied. “Measurements always improves performance.” “Always insist that goals have key metrics. Define them. Measure them. Celebrate their achievement.” “Plan to Win” strategy boils down to five P’s: people, products, place, price and performance. (one more P to Marketing’s 4 P’s).
4. Lead by example. “You could never more out of people than you were willing to give of yourself to them.” “As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.” “Where there is no risk, there is no achievement and where there is no achievement, there is no real achievement.”
5. Courage: “People will respect you for having the courage to admit when you’re wrong.” “Have the courage to speak up calmly and in an organized fashion to present your perspective, even if it seems to go against the grain of your higher-ups.” “Welcome new ideas from your associates but challenge them to think through every step of their plan.”
6. Communications: “It’s OK to disagree, but don’t be disagreeable.” “A person who is genuinely and legitimately surprised by his or her annual performance appraisal provides grounds for dismissal of person’s boss.”
7. Recognition: “A little praise, some recognition, and I was ready to give my all to the company.” “Increasing employee recognition lowers turnover, raises customer loyalty, and increases productivity.” “Don’t just recognize the employee. Recognize his or her significant other.” “The system has always pushed for continuous learning and innovation.”