© 2010 by L. E. Boswell writing as Simon Silverback. All rights reserved.
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Squirrels for nuts contend, and, wrong or right, for the world’s empire kings ambitious fight. What odds? To us ‘tis all the selfsame thing: a nut, a world, a squirrel, and a king.
Here Skugg
Lies snug
As a bug
In a rug
—Benjamin FranklinThe trunk sways
The root’s deep
Safe are we
In our leafy keep
—Old Skugg
Foreword, by Robert L. Lorber
Preface
Introduction
1. Know why you are crossing the road
2. Know when to cross the road
3. Stick to your niche
4. Lead, follow, or get squashed on the road
5. Indecision is a decision with consequences
6. Too many quick decisions are worse than no decision
7. Doubt is as keen a sword as confidence
8. Old strategies often do not work for new situations
9. Stay the course?
10. A car changes all plans
11. Balance planning with action
12. Be a risk taker
13. Never be afraid to reverse a bad decision
14. Be persistent—to a point
15. Bury many nuts, harvest few
16. Surround yourself with ideas
17. Not all ideas bear fruit—or nuts
18. Invest today for payback tomorrow
19. Plan ahead, but not too far ahead
20. Every winter is a harsh winter
21. Adapt
22. Be prepared to deal with a lot of nuts
23. There are never enough nuts
24. Select the right nuts
25. Never count nuts while you gather them
26. Beware the nut-counters
27. Unity of purpose, not unity of thought
28. Let everyone wander around
29. Never be a leader in all things
30. Never be a leader at all times
31. Never eschew lesser tasks
32. Never fear failure
33. Never fear success
34. Never seek excellence in all things
35. Never attack a competitor’s strength
36. Be wary of traps
37. Know your strengths—and weaknesses
38. Compete!
39. Be opportunistic
40. Take advantage of competitor inefficiencies
41. Be wary of competitors
42. Avoid distractions
43. Be wary of easy pickings
44. Innovate!
45. You’re not in this alone
46. Maintain balance
47. Watch your back
48. Appear larger than life
49. See the forest—and the trees
50. Always put a tree between yourself and danger
51. Have lofty but achievable goals
52. Select the right tree(s)
53. Embrace change
54. Be flexible in all things
55. Integrate work and play
56. Seek and take advice
57. Retreat and replenish
58. Avoid dogs—and dogma
59. Accept an owl’s wisdom
60. Reject an owl’s wisdom
61. Beware an owl’s beak and talons
62. Avoid the rubber acorn
At first glance, you may think this book is not to be taken seriously, something you will look at briefly and put away without much second thought. A book written by a squirrel?
You’ve got to be kidding. Leadership is an important, serious subject in all aspects of our lives: business, government, education, sports, religion, and family.
Everyone has his or her own perspective on leadership, after all, so why should the perspective of a squirrel be less important? If there is even one acorn of wisdom here, even one idea makes us better.
I’ve been blessed to able to work with business leaders from all over the world. I’ve worked closely with hundreds of CEOs of corporations, senior business leaders at all levels, university leaders, a few country leaders, and community leaders, and most of them will love the fun concepts in this little book.
I know you are skeptical; there are thousands of books on leadership, and now one from a squirrel’s perspective? I was skeptical too at first. The manuscript was shoved under my door, no more than a loosely bound pile of leaves, with markings as curious and unintelligible as hieroglyphs, looking more like the work of a sudden gust of wind than the work of a leader and fellow mammal. But once translated, the book grew on me, as I hope it does on you. I love creative new ways at looking at how we can help become better leaders in all aspects of our lives.
You may not agree with everything you read, but I can guarantee that you will have fun, learn, and never think of leadership, or squirrels, in quite the same way again.
For me and most of the people I work with in my consulting practice, leadership is about serving others. I’m not just talking about CEO’s, presidents, and directors. I’m talking about anyone who is in a role that influences other people. Leadership is about making the world a better place for all of us, and my hope is that as you read some of the concepts in this book,, you will be a better leader in all aspects of your life.
Please enjoy this practical, quick read, and hey, it’s the best leadership book ever written by a squirrel.
You have seen us in the trees, scampering (as you would put it) from branch to limb, seemingly without purpose, one of nature’s furry wind-up toys. You have seen us chasing each other around tree trunks, like idiots (you would say). You have seen us frantically trying, and often failing, at the simple act of crossing a road. And you have seen us bury nuts and acorns everywhere, with little or no hope of ever finding them all again. You think us at best dull of brain and at worst a pest to be driven away or killed. We are the clowns on the lawn, the menace at the bird feeder, the kill on the road.
So why should you look to us for advice on leadership? I will spare you the long story, the one our parents used to tell us, ad nauseum, as the winter winds howled outside and we huddled with the others in our nest at the top of the great oak. The short of it is simply this: we are born to leadership, and you are not. What you humans know of leadership would barely fill an acorn cap, and you seem to jump from one theory to the next as deftly and as blithely as we leap from limb to branch. But where we have purpose you have only direction. So your first lesson is this:
Leadership without purpose is like a compass in the hands of a fool: any direction will do.
But I get ahead of myself. If you have picked up this book—or better yet, purchased it— you are probably a person who likes a little whimsy, or a little book, or both. Good, because the first thing a leader must be able to do is chitter—I mean laugh. And the second is to get to the point—quickly.
So let’s get on with it.
This little book focuses on leadership secrets that we squirrels use every day, and you humans so often ignore. As Part 1 so clearly points out, however, this is not a book about leadership theories, so beyond this brief introduction you will find nary a mention nor a footnote on Burns, Jago, Fiedler, Jenkins, Hegel, Weber, Carlyle, Smith, Machiavelli, Stogdil, Confucius, or Plato. Neither will you find mentions of path-goal, contingency, situational, or charismatic-leader theory and the like. No again if you expect mentions of recent books on leadership. I haven’t read them. I’m a squirrel for skugg’s sake. Most would crush me with their weight. And frankly, they don’t taste all that good, either.
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