Earlier this week I read a book entitled "The Go-Giver" by Bob Burg & John David Mann. In fact, I read it in a couple hours one evening. Once I started, I wanted to finish it right away. This book is a parable and I love that. Too many books written in the business and leadership world lack creativity. This book is creative while it imparts some business and leadership principles that are excellent. Really the values this book suggests are life values. The book calls them the 5 laws of stratospheric success.I don't know much about either author. Whether this is a compliment to them or not, they have quite wonderfully captured a very real principle of the character of God within the pages of this book. The whole concept of the book is give of yourself generously and you won't be able to contain the results. While the immediate context of Luke 6:38 is speaking to judgment, it holds true to most of the rest of life as well: "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Jesus also instructs in Matthew 16:25: "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."
Whether it is money, time, knowledge, energy, experience, whatever; there is no substitute for generosity. Jon Acuff (@prodigaljohn) recently posted this Tweet: The lie is that you'll run out of ideas if you write all the time, the truth is you will if you don't. I would expand that to be true of most things in life. The lie is if you give more away you will have less when the truth is the more you give the you will have. That is one of the points of the parable of the talents that Jesus told in Matthew 25.
I recommend this book for everyone. It will inspire you. It will challenge your thinking. It will entertain you. It will give you and opportunity to take a good look at yourself and the way you handle relationships and people.
If people would live life how this book proposes, the results would be nothing short of amazing across society.
The cover has the line, "A little story about a powerful business idea." It easily could read, "A little story about a powerful life value."
Buy it on Amazon here.
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Dear Pastor Hart,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your kind and complimentary review of John David Mann's and my book.
It is truly an honor for me, and I'm passing along the link to John; I know he'll be delighted, as well.
Best regards,
Bob
Dear Pastor Hart,
ReplyDeleteI am moved by your insightful review of "The Go-Giver" by Bob Burg and John David Mann. I too found it to be very spiritual in its message. I'm delighted that a movie of the book is in development so that people can experience its wisdom through another medium.
Thank you so much for sharing it with your flock.
Best wishes,
Fiona.
Good Sir —
ReplyDeleteAs the last of the triumvirate to weigh in, I want to add my thanks, and to say that, in answer to your question, Yes indeed, it IS a compliment to the authors to say what you said: "Whether this is a compliment to them or not, they have quite wonderfully captured a very real principle of the character of God within the pages of this book."
I also LOVE the tweet from Jon Acuff: so true.
Warm regards,
John
P.S. You just have to love a pastor who has Seth Godin in his blogroll!
Thank you.
ReplyDelete