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Becoming a Genuine Leader by Marilyn Mason

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“Dr. Mason’s psychological insights are stunning. She illuminates the passage to authentic leadership.”
—Gail Sheehy, author of Passages

“The more we learn the better we lead, and this is a resource for success in all you do.”
—Jesse Fink, Cofounder, Priceline.com

“Over a lifetime, Marilyn Mason has guided the great and small through the portals of personal discovery into wisdom and freedom. In this fascinating, readable book she describes a path to genuine leadership.”
—Craig Barnes, author, lecturer, playwright, and radio host

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Marilyn Mason has spoken to audiences around the world and has helped hundreds of management teams find ways to operate at their full potential by identifying how their pasts are informing their present behaviors at work. Were you passed over for a promotion? Hate your boss? Do you find yourself screaming at your team to get the work done? Or are you a micromanager who doesn’t think anyone but you can do it the “right way”? Marilyn Mason’s new book, BECOMING A GENUINE LEADER: Renew Integrity at Work by Understanding Your Past (Hazelden Publishing; October 20, 2013; $14.95), can help you figure out how you can change yourself and your work life for good.

In her book, Mason uses personal stories of many executives she has worked with over the years who have been unable to break through the barriers impeding their pathway to success. She reveals how their “first families” have a major impact on how they operate in their “work families.” For example, the child who was the “hero” in a dysfunctional household carries that feeling with him as an adult. He may feel the need to make everybody happy at the exclusion of his own needs. In a management capacity, this person may have a difficult time being assertive. He might choose to make his boss happy over defending his team. And he might sugar-coat orders from the top in order to please his subordinates.

In BECOMING A GENUINE LEADER Mason also explains how shame and vulnerability affect how we interact with others professionally. Some of our “first families” have left us with scars that are covering up a tremendous amount of shame for how we couldn’t fix things or couldn’t measure up to our parents’ demands—for how we feel we have failed. In adulthood these feelings can cause us to behave ineffectively and inappropriately at work and even motivate us to work in emotionally unhealthy environments. Only by facing the shame in our past are we able to change the present. Allowing ourselves to be vulnerable and authentic, complete with all of our flaws and baggage, will improve how we handle situations and manage challenging relationships. It will also help us make informed choices about our work lives and will lead us to better opportunities and greater successes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Marilyn Mason is the president of Mason & Associates LLC and former University of Minnesota faculty member. She is an internationally recognized consultant and speaker on executive leadership development and coaching. Her prior books include Facing Shame, Making Our Lives Our Own, and Seven Mountains: The Inner Climb to Commitment and Caring.

ABOUT HAZELDEN:

Hazelden Publishing is part of the Hazelden Foundation, a national nonprofit organization founded in 1949 that helps people reclaim their lives from the disease of addiction. With 60 years of knowledge and experience, Hazelden offers a comprehensive approach to addiction that addresses the full range of patient, family, and professional needs, including treatment and continuing care for youth and adults, research, higher education, public education and advocacy, and publishing. It has facilities in Minnesota, Oregon, Illinois, Florida and New York.

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Donald Gross, author of The China Fallacy

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dongrosssite“Understanding the complexity, risk and opportunity of China’s rise will drive American opinions and policy making well into the 21st century. This book makes an important contribution to that end.” –Jon Huntsman, United States Ambassador to China from 2009 to 2011

“THE CHINA FALLACY is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand American policy toward China. Its thoughtful recommendations on improving U.S.-China relations should be weighed seriously by all concerned with the impact of China’s rise.” –Samuel R. Berger, United States National Security Advisor under President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001

In Febchina fallacy (426x640)ruary 1972, the United States and China ended more than two decades of hostility and laid the basis for normal diplomatic relations that continue to the present day. The American diplomatic strategy behind this transformation helped bring about the demise of the Soviet Union and facilitated China’s remarkable economic growth.  Now, former White House and State Department official Donald Gross argues in his controversial and thought-provoking new book, THE CHINA FALLACY: How the U.S. Can Benefit from China’s Rise and Avoid Another Cold War (Publ. Date: October 25, 2012; Pages: 256; Price: $34.95; Publisher: Bloomsbury), that it is time for the United States to once again embrace and pursue a new strategy that improves America’s relations with China.  “Realizing a new paradigm for U.S.-China relations would confer numerous security, economic and political benefits on the United States over the coming decades,” writes Gross.

Drawing upon his deep experience in developing East Asian diplomatic strategy, Gross challenges the conventional wisdom that China hawks and protectionists have preached over the past decade that China poses a dire security and economic threat to the United States.  Closely examining the current U.S. military buildup to contain China, which began during the George W. Bush administration and has been accelerated under President Obama, Gross shows that this strategy could lead to a new Cold War – and not bring stability to the region, economic prosperity to the United States, or human rights and democracy to China.

Instead, Gross calls for debunking the fallacy that China and the U.S. will inevitably go to war and that China’s rise is occurring at the expense of the United States.  He calls for the U.S to work closely with China to resolve the major security, economic and political conflicts now dividing the two countries.  Reaching agreements to sharply lower trade and investment barriers with China would make America more prosperous.  Resolving major security conflicts with China would help ensure a stable peace in the Asia Pacific.  And improving U.S. relations with China would allow Chinese dissidents to achieve greater human rights and democracy in their own country.

Sure to provoke controversy, THE CHINA FALLACY is critical reading for anyone who wants to understand past, present, and future U.S. policy toward China.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Donald Gross is a policy expert, strategist and lawyer who also serves as adjunct fellow of Pacific Forum CSIS, a non-profit research institute affiliated with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. A former State Department official, he developed diplomatic strategy toward East Asia and negotiated sensitive international agreements. Earlier, he was a counselor of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament agency and director of legislative affairs at the National Security Council in the White House.

Mind Without a Home by Kristina Morgan

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“I think I have stopped being afraid of the men and women in suits that have hung around for months. Mostly, I just hear them. Their voices are low, as if coming from the floor. I don’t think of hell when this happens. Clearly, they are from some other reality. . . . Sometimes I am glad they are here. They like being around me. I just wish they would take off their dark glasses. I can’t see their eyes, but I bet they’re flat, without fire.”

What is it like to hear voices as if a radio were playing, only to realize that nothing and no one is there?  Several years ago, in the Academy Award-winning film A Beautiful Mind, we saw a portrayal of John Nash, the famous mathematician who tried to control his genius in the face of schizophrenia, a psychiatric disorder that has perplexed the medical community for centuries. Now, in a new literary memoir, MIND WITHOUT A HOME: A Memoir of Schizophrenia (Hazelden Publishing; September 2013; $14.95; Original Trade Paperback), Kristina Morgan exposes the raw, harsh world she lived in, left alone with the voices in her head. She poignantly tells the story of how she tries to destroy herself and how she manages, through the power of a strong support system and the proper medication, to survive.

In MIND WITHOUT A HOME, Morgan talks about being born a tall, awkward, bookish girl, who began to notice the voices as a teenager. They assaulted her with comments such as “We’re your worst nightmare and your best friends.” Her inability to escape her demons led to her first suicide attempt at fifteen years old. Not knowing what to do, her family arranged for her to get plastic surgery on her nose and to take self-improvement classes, only accentuating Morgan’s already low self-esteem.

“During those nine months, I was careful not to talk about the hum that plagued me. I was certain that if the staff knew, they would put me on medication, tell me that no one should experience a hum. Nor did I tell them of my knowledge of other realities. Again, I was terrified at the thought of having to take medication—medication that would mess with my mind.”

At sixteen, she was modeling clothes while at the same time trying to break her arm with a hammer so she wouldn’t have to go to photo shoots. Eventually, Morgan, who had already discovered alcohol to self-medicate her symptoms, surrendered herself to her addiction. Her behavior became even more erratic—more suicide attempts and more hospital visits, residential treatment stays, and tattered relationships that only served to leave Morgan feeling even more isolated and hopeless.

When Morgan first struggled with schizophrenia, little was known about the disorder and how to treat it.  By the time she was well into adulthood, she had descended into full-blown alcoholism as a way to manage her life with the voices in her head.  Instead of getting her help, the people surrounding her viewed her as a threat:

“I let Joan know that I had schizophrenia in the same tone I used when explaining to friends how to bake a cake. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. This scared Joan. I could tell by the way she stiffened her body and leaned back in her chair. I explained to her that the reason I came to her was that I was getting signals from other realities. I just needed to ask someone other than my students if they heard them too. It was a way of checking whether or not I should take a day off. It was a way of learning the truth when my mind wanted to roam.”

Through the help of a program of recovery, the psychiatric community, family, and friends Morgan is now able to manage her illnesses and lives a fulfilling life. Her story in MIND WITHOUT A HOME is told in an intimate style that deepens readers’ connection to Morgan’s struggles and triumphs. Today there is so much more that we know about schizophrenia, yet it is still often misunderstood.  Morgan gives us rare and believable insight into the schizophrenic mind. We witness her courage as she shares her experiences and enlightens and inspires others who live with or are otherwise affected by mental illness.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kristina Morgan is a poet with a master of fine arts from Arizona State University. She is currently managing her co-occurring disorders (schizophrenia and alcoholism) with medication and Twelve Step recovery. MIND WITHOUT A HOME is her first book.

ABOUT HAZELDEN

Hazelden Publishing is part of the Hazelden Foundation, a national nonprofit organization founded in 1949, which helps people reclaim their lives from the disease of addiction. With 60 years of knowledge and experience, Hazelden offers a comprehensive approach to addiction that addresses the full range of patient, family, and professional needs, including treatment and continuing care for youth and adults, research, higher education, public education and advocacy, and publishing. It has facilities in Minnesota, Oregon, Illinois, Florida, and New York.

Found Objects by Peter Gelfan

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“Sexy, slyly funny, and highly readable”
—Fran Dorf, author of Flight and Saving Elijah

The ménage a trois has been portrayed in literature most famously in the David Garnett novel Aspects of Love, which also became a highly-touted Broadway musical.  In a new novel FOUND OBJECTS (Nortia Press, ISBN: 978-0-9848359-6-6; $15.95; Original Trade Paperback; dist. by Consortium; June 2013) by editor and author Peter Gelfan, a charitable offering of a place to stay for a woman and her two children creates a unique and sometimes troubled union that calls into question the definitions of family, morality, and values.

What man would not want Aldo Zoria’s life? A nice house in Vermont; a successful photography career; two women, Erica and Marie, who share his bed; and two children for whom he is not directly responsible. But when Marie’s children begin to attend school, and when her husband Jonathan arrives on their doorstep unexpectedly, the dynamic changes completely. Their idyllic relationship becomes suspicious to the town and it isn’t clear whether Jonah is accepting of their arrangement or if he’s come to reclaim his wife.  Will Marie leave Erica and Aldo with an empty nest? Or will Jonah take up permanent residence and turn their group into a quartet?

FOUND OBJECTS is a literary novel with complex themes, finely drawn characters and elegant prose. Enthusiastic early readers have chimed in, calling it “gripping,” “surprising, even shocking,” and “unputdownable.” Gelfan’s style and focus on his characters allows the story to unfold in an intimate way. The quiet conversations over brandy discussing politics, literature, and sex, and the self-examination each of the characters endures makes FOUND OBJECTS real for contemporary readers. Surely Gelfan’s novel, with its unique and sophisticated theme, will inspire many after-dinner conversations and book group discussions.

Peter Gelfan is a writer and a freelance book editor.  He lives in New York City, where he is working on his next novel.

Nortia Press is a boutique publisher based in Orange County, California. We focus on literary fiction and nonfiction with a global affairs bent, now under our Nortia Current imprint. Our catalog is handpicked and nurtured from inception to provide readers, booksellers and libraries with a select list of timely and engaging titles.

 

Love’s Attraction by David Cleveland

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Michael Collins, the protagonist in David Adams Cleveland’s latest novel, LOVE’S ATTRACTION (Winsted Press: July 2013; $24.95), has been obsessed with Thoreau and Concord since he read Walden as a young teenager growing up in nearby blue-collar Lowell.  His obsession led him to a scholarship at Concord’s prestigious Emerson Academy and his mother a waitressing job at the Concord Inn.  Later it brought him back to Concord in search—not just for the lost love of his schooldays, but for clues to the life of his great-great-grandfather, one James Collins, the itinerant Irish laborer who had a shanty along the tracks of the Fitchburg railway, from whom Thoreau bought the planks to build his shack at Walden Pond.  Michael is haunted by Thoreau’s poignant description of the destitute James Collins and his wife disappearing down the road with all their worldly possessions carried on their backs.

From literary Concord to the backwater canals of Venice, LOVE’S ATTRACTION takes readers on a tantalizing and thought-provoking journey as Michael Collins, a Washington political fixer facing an impending bribery scandal, is suddenly confronted with a past he never knew and a legacy of heartbreak and deception from which he failed to escape.

LOVE’S ATTRACTION is a mysterious, romantic novel that explores universal themes of identity: how memory, talent and intemperate desires—embodied in art as well as in our genes—are passed down through families to influence our hidden selves. The novel speaks to the role of metamorphosis in our lives and how the transforming elixir of love’s attraction makes us most fully human.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
David Adams Cleveland is a novelist and art historian.  His first novel, With a Gemlike Flame, drew wide praise for its evocation of Venice and the hunt for a lost masterpiece by Raphael.  His most recent art history book, A History of American Tonalism, won the Silver Medal in Art History in the Book of the Year Awards, 2010; and Outstanding Academic Title 2011 from the American Library Association; it was the bestselling American art history book in 2011 and 2012.  He and his wife live in New York where he works as an art advisor with his son, Carter Cleveland, founder of Artsy.net, the new internet site making all the world’s art accessible to anyone with an internet connection.