The Sixth Sense

Author Interview: Joseph Michelli

 

As I mentioned on Tuesday, Joseph Michelli has very kindly agreed to take a few questions linked with his new book ‘The New Gold Standard’. Enjoy!

1) Thanks Joseph for agreeing to be interviewed for The Sixth Sense. Why don’t you start by telling us a bit more about who you are and what you do?

I am an author, professional speaker, and business consultant.  I work to enhance leadership skills, customer service, and employee empowerment worldwide.

2) Your latest book is called ‘The New Gold Standard’ (published by McGraw-Hill). Tell us a bit about what the book is about and why you wrote it.  

The book is a behind the scenes look at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company.  The hotel chain began through the inspiration of Cesar Ritz more than a century ago and has maintained a legendary position in customer service excellence.  Despite its storied history, no one had been permitted to write a book about this iconic brand and fortunately I was given that opportunity. 

3) Whilst your book is presumably primarily geared to the business audience, many of my readers are involved in other social enterprises, non-profits, churches, etc. How would they benefit from the principles in The New Gold Standard?  

I have been surprised and pleased by the broad markets in which my books have gained traction.  I think principles of human service should transcend time, geographic boundaries, and even applications often narrowly prescribed to business.  A concept like “it’s not about you” which I present in The New Gold Standard, can serve as a reminder for how to build great marriages, outstanding places of worship, and dynamic community organizations.

4) Why should anyone part with their hard earned cash and precious time to read your book? Sell it to us!

Well I know cash is tight and for many of us time is as tight - if not more so.  I think books like mine can be idea starters, prompting and inspiring people to reach for greater impact in the way they lead and serve.  I invest my time to write these books in the hope that others will invest theirs to benefit from the wisdom of tried-and-true leaders.

5) What books/magazines/websites are you reading at the moment and, more specifically, what would you recommend?

Well The Sixth Sense of course….I also read the classics like Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Businessweek.  In fact, Businessweek has kindly done a featured video curriculum about my books and the art of customer experience creation which can found here. I also love John Maxwell’s Leadership Wired newsletter and Warren Bennis’ Leadership Excellence newsletter.

To find out more about Joseph, you can visit his website: www.josephmichelli.com.

Tags: Author Interviews, Books, Leadership

Author Interview: Eric Bryant

Following on from yesterday’s introduction, here is the short interview I did with Eric Bryant recently.

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Thanks Eric for agreeing to be interviewed for The Sixth Sense. Why don’t you start by telling us a bit more about who you are and what you do?

I live in Los Angeles with my wife Debbie and two children (Caleb and Trevi).  I serve at Mosaic, a diverse and creative community of people who believe we can change the world.  :)

Your latest book is called ‘Peppermint Filled Pinatas: Breaking Through Tolerance and Embracing Love’ (published by Zondervan). Tell us a bit about what the book is about and why you wrote it.

I wrote a book to Christians about learning to embrace the people Christians “love to hate.”  In essence, my goal was to help people discover they can actually develop meaningful and beautiful friendships with people who look, act, and even believe differently.

Is there a specific group of people you’’d really like to see having a copy of this book in their hands? 

Anyone who wants to create a more diverse, missional, and loving world.  Tolerance and Racial Reconciliation aren’t good enough.  We need to create a reconciled and diverse community!

Why should anyone part with their hard earned cash and precious time to read your book? Sell it to us! 

You really want to help me sell this, huh?!  I have received lots of feedback from people saying they see the world differently after reading my book and laughed while reading it.  Erwin McManus, our lead pastor at Mosaic, wrote the Foreword in which he compared my book to a combination of “Saving Private Ryan” meets “Nacho Libre.”

What books/magazines/websites are you reading at the moment and, more specifically, what would you recommend?

Besides The Sixth Sense?  :)  I have really enjoyed Core Magazine there in the UK plus Outreach Magazine here in the U.S. in terms of magazines.  In terms of books, I am enjoying Dust Off Their Feet by Chris Seay plus The Black Swan and MicroTrends.  In terms of websites, we work hard to have a great deal of valuable free content up at www.mosaicalliance.com and www.ericbryant.org as well.

Thanks again for your time, Eric. We really appreciate you taking the time to answer our questions.

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If you are based in the UK you can buy the book here. If you’re from the US you can get your hands on it here.

Any thoughts, comments, or questions?

Tags: Author Interviews, Authors, Books, Culture

Introducing Eric Bryant

One of the privileges I have had since Mosaic here in Sheffield connected to Mosaic in Los Angeles has been getting to know Eric Bryant. Eric serves as an elder, speaker, and navigator overseeing the leadership team at Mosaic in Los Angeles.

I once heard Erwin McManus (leader of Mosaic LA) describe Eric as being the guy who helps to ensure that Mosaic actually exists outside of his own head! If you want to get to know the ins and outs of how Mosaic LA functions, he’s definitely the guy to speak to.

He is a very gifted and talented guy who is a real inspiration. He is a great speaker and, on top of that, now a great author too. 

Speaking of which, I recently got to interview Eric and ask him a bit about his new(ish) book “Peppermint Filled Pinatas: Breaking Through Tolerance and Embracing Love”. You can read that interview tomorrow, but for now I just wanted to give a few comments of my own on the book.

Perhaps a good way to express how good a book this is is to tell you about my wife, Rachel. Now, I know this may shock some of you, but Rachel hardly ever goes near Christian books. She struggles to read them, finds them very samey, and hardly ever starts let alone finishes one.

BUT, she picked up Eric’s book at my prompting and that was it. I barely saw her for the next couple of days. She not only started it but finished it. I was surprised and amazed and asked her why she liked it so much. Her response was, ‘I loved it’s wooiness’!

Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the Gallup StrengthsFinder assessment, both Rachel and Eric share a talent theme called ‘Woo’. It means they love meeting new people, working the crowd, etc. And for Rachel, she just loved sensing the ‘woo’ flowing through the book. Making friends, building relationships. That feels so real and natural to her compared to all the theoretical stuff that gets tossed around in so many Christian books.

From my own reading of Eric’s book, I just loved the emphasis on friendship and relationship. It is amazing how much easier it is to journey through differences of opinion when we choose the path of friendship and love. And from reading Eric’s book I was really encouraged to keep building relationships with all kinds of people - not people just like me!

So yeah, I give Eric’s book a BIG thumbs up. You should definitely go and pick up a copy if you haven’t already.

Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for the interview with Eric!

 

 

Tags: Author Interviews, Authors, Books, Eric Bryant

Author Interview: Gerardo Marti

Following on from yesterday’s introduction, here is the interview with Gerardo Marti.

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Thanks Gerardo for agreeing to be interviewed for The Sixth Sense. Why don’t you start by telling us a bit more about who you are and what you do?

Anything for you, Sam!  I am a sociology professor at Davidson College, a small liberal arts college in North Carolina. Before that, I taught classes at several colleges, universities, and seminaries including “Race and Religious Faith” and “The Sociology of Hollywood” while serving on pastoral staff at several churches in Southern California.  Classes at Davidson are typically very small, so I have lots of opportunity for rich discussions on intriguing topics with really smart students. I use time outside of class to accomplish my own writing and research, share what I know with scholars and church leaders, and spend time with my family.

Your first book is called ‘A Mosaic of Believers’ (published by Indiana University Press). Tell us a bit about what the book is about and why you wrote it.

I remember an afternoon in June 2001, I had been busy around my office in Los Angeles answering phone calls, returning email and looking through letters and came to an abrupt realization. A steady stream of calls, letters and emails came from church planters, seminary students, sociologists, journalists, pastors of churches of all sizes, church consultants, and professional Christian researchers. In the previous few years, aspects of Mosaic LA appeared in book chapters, articles and newspaper stories.  The lead pastor and other staff members were solicited for conference speaking and church consultations.  Even our lay leaders were accustomed to being spontaneously interviewed at our Sunday services and made themselves available throughout the week for guests wishing to learn more about the church.  Mosaic had become an important resource for a new generation of church leaders.

I realized I was at the center of this unique phenomenon. A Mosaic of Believers gives an inside view on how this church pursues innovation while negotiating ethnic and racial differences along the way. Mosaic LA is still one of the most creative and diverse churches in the United States. Before the book, I and other church leaders always answered questions openly, honestly, and with as much detail we had available.  Yet, the hunches we carried with us in day-to-day ministry had not been examined systematically.  The in-depth research carried out for the book is the most extensive ever done.

Is there a specific group of people you’d really like to see having a copy of this book in their hands?

You may know that sociologists once believed that modern technology would kill religion.  They were wrong.  Now, no one denies the continued strength and importance of religion. If you want to understand the relationship between religion and social change, you should read this book.

Why should anyone part with their hard earned cash and precious time to read your book? Sell it to us!

One reviewer wrote, “Clearly, Mosaic is spiritually compelling. Its members are on fire with their faith…. Its leaders take risks that most pastors would not dare.”  A Mosaic of Believers gives a close look at a church with a vibrancy most people find hard to believe — and then often wish they could experience for themselves.

Are there any new projects you’re working on now?

I’m thrilled to have a new book coming out this summer called Hollywood Faith: Holiness, Prosperity and Ambition in a Los Angeles Church.  http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu/acatalog/Hollywood_Faith.html  It’s about negotiating the tension between pursuing faith and pursuing fame: How do people pursuing careers in Hollywood’s entertainment industry maintain their religious devotion without sacrificing their career goals? It’s the first book to provide an in-depth look at religion among the “creative class” and previews a possible future for religion in the 21st century.

What books/magazines/websites are you reading at the moment and, more specifically, what would you recommend?

There’s a fascinating blog on religion in American history found at http://usreligion.blogspot.com/.  There’s always an interesting discussion happening at the Generous Orthodoxy Think Tank http://www.generousorthodoxy.net/thinktank/.  Then, of course, I keep up with the world through your blog, The Sixth Sense.

On books, I’m reading David Smilde’s Reason to Believe: Cultural Agency in Latin American Evangelicalism, Brian Cowan’s The Social Life of Coffee, and Drew Gilpin Faust’s This Republic of Suffering.  I’m reading some fiction as well, including Evidence of Things Unseen by Marianne Wiggins, Birds without Wings by Louis de Berneires, and The Year of Jubilo by Howard Bahr.

Thanks again for your time, Gerardo. We really appreciate you taking the time to answer our questions.

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If you are based in the UK you can buy the book here. If you’re from the US you can get your hands on it here.

Any thoughts, comments, or questions?

Tags: Author Interviews, Authors, Books, Culture, Leadership

Coming soon (Why you should keep reading!!)

Here at The Sixth Sense, I’m really looking to expand and diversify both the content and reach of the blog in the coming weeks and months.

As part of that, there are several features that I’m going to be adding which I hope will enhance your experience as both a reader and participant.

Interesting Links

The first feature was actually mentioned last Friday. And that is simply a plan to have a regular ‘Interesting Links’ post that lots of different people contribute to. This will be a selection of items on the web that would make for an interesting read. If it makes the list it means someone thinks it’s definitely worth your while having a read! 

The Big Five: Author Interviews

Another feature I’m introducing is a set five questions that various different authors will answer to give you the low down on their book and why they think you should read it. You’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions in the comments box. Should be fun!

Guest Columnists

Whilst I’m sure most of you could never grow bored of my posts (!), I am asking a variety of different people from very different places and perspectives to become occasional guest columnists here at The Sixth Sense. I’m excited about having lots of different voices contribute, I think they’ll add a lot.

They’ll be other new features coming soon, but that’s all for now. Let me know any thoughts or suggestions you may have too.

And, as part of broadening the audience of this blog, please feel free to mention it to friends, add it to your blogroll, and just generally point people this way! Thanks!

What do you think?

Tags: Author Interviews, Guest Columnists, Interesting Links, Site News