This website (quick, dirty, and nothing fancy) is the home of information on my writing projects. The menu above provides links to these items, summarized below.
The AGAR–M2M Project is a pair of professional development books covering the subject of commercialization engineering; that is, engineering design with the bookends of problem understanding on the front end and selling on the tail end (and throughout, actually). Throughout, I emphasize the need for, and application of, our human side. Further emphasized is the importance of our human side in working with others and for others, where communicating and teaming are across-the-board foundational enablers.
The other book — Surviving and Thriving — is more personal in nature, though it draws significantly on my professional commercialization-engineering (business) adventure sharing the substantive personal humbling and growth the struggles have produced. This personal growth, and my growth in faith in particular, may be the greatest reward for those efforts. It is published here as a free, short e-book on getting through tough stuff in life.
When it comes to leadership I am not talking about the “buzzword” that “leadership” sadly seems to be turning into. I am talking about meaningful, intentional, dedicated, authentic, caring, knowledgeable, and skilled (MIDACKS) leadership. MIDACKS leading is a journey of regular, practical, non-theoretical study matched with continual implementation toward continual improvement. The “K” word is emphasized/bolded since continual study of the subject is needed to continually grow your knowledge of the subject. That knowledge is foundational to sound practice of the subject, which is where the “S” comes in — skills. And the knowledge, and I mean non-theoretical, practical knowledge, is also a feeder to the leadership mindset. Mindset is about “how” you think, not “what” you think, and knowledge provides a basis for what you think about within the framework of how you think. Knowledge is learnable, and skills are learnable based upon the underlying knowledge; so, we all can learn to lead and do so soundly.
And the world around you, whether in your family, community, church, or company, is hungry for just that — sound leadership. We all depend on it and benefit from it; as quoted from John Maxwell, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” Despite its importance to the world in which we all live together, leadership often seems so absent or weak — or worse yet, present and strong but in unhealthy directions. But we all can help satisfy the hunger, and do so with healthy leading.
Yes, “we all can”… regardless of standing or station in life, we each may encounter a need to lead at some point in some facet of life, personally and/or professionally. A natural and beneficial-to-all byproduct of becoming a better leader, I have found, is that by better understanding leadership and becoming a better leader, I have become a better follower in those areas of life where others are called to lead. I wish for those same two outcomes — better leading and better following — for my children, for my students, and for any others who are willing to prepare for when the call to lead comes a callin’.
On my Leadership page here I offer a selection/shortlist of books that I have found very helpful in my formal, intentional study and growth as a leader, as well as an excerpt from my scratch-the-surface writings on the subject.
wjendres.com 