The Solace of Fierce Landscapes

The Solace of Fierce Landscapes, by Belden Lane, is one of the best books I've read in the last 5 years. It is a very moving reflection on the tradition of desert and mountain spirituality in the Christian tradition, interwoven with the author's personal experience of watching his mother die slowly in a nursing home. It has been particularly powerful for me because my own mother is towards the end of a very long and slow decline into incapacity in a care home not far away from where I live.

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Words That Change Minds

I've been reading this fascinating book by Shelle Rose Charvet (that's her) about how language patterns are clues to how we behave and respond in different contexts, and how to learn to recognise language patterns and so tailor our own communications to fit better with other people's mindsets and world views.

It's a great book, and I won't regurgitate it here, but I will quickly show you one example of tailoring a communication towards a specifc type of person after some initial profiling work had been done to establish the qualities required for a job. Below are two advertisements for a position as Production Manager, the first one written by the entrepreneur who was doing the hiring, the second written by Ms Charvet after the profiling exercise. 

1. Private fast-growing engineering company manufacturing high-tech quality machinery for worldwide export has immediate opening for decision maker to manage production division. Production to double within the next year necessitates efficient co-ordination of rapidly expanding department. Right candidate must have minimum 10 years related experience. Emphasis on organization, planning, and purchasing. Candidates must have excellent people-management and leadership skills.

2. Immediate opening for a proactive Plant Manager who will grow with this engineering company, which manufactures high-tech quality machinery for worldwide export. The right candidate will manage the production division, solving technical, people and governance-compliance issues by following procedures and developing new ones when necessary. You will set standards and assure they are consistently met, even under the pressure of ambitious delivery targets. You are highly experienced and skilled in project and people management and purchasing, and can prove it. The first step is to call now for all the information you need.

Subtly different, and a great example of how goal-oriented entrepreneurs sometimes get things wrong when they assume that everyone who works for them, or who buys from them, ought to be like them!