A Revolutionary Way to Lead the Many and the Few — Beginning with YOU
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Shape-Shifting Leadership for These Times!
Quicksilver: A Revolutionary Way to Lead the Many and the Few—Beginning with YOU is the exciting new book from Dr. Michael O'Brien and Larry Shook that is winning raves from reviewers.
Whether you lead a nation, a great organization, a team, an important relationship, or just your own life, Quicksilver gives you a proven formula to continuously summon your infinite inventiveness in response to every challenge. That's quicksilver—your perfect capacity to meet the perfect mystery of change.
"Having had the opportunity to read many leadership development and executive coaching books and articles, I think this book is the best... I am certain to apply [Quicksilver] in both my work and personal life." —JIM GAUSS, CEO, Witt/Kieffer
From Quicksilver's Introduction...
Quicksilver was the nickname given to liquid metal mercury, the shiny stuff used in old-fashioned thermometers. Quicksilver became a metaphor for suddenness and unpredictability. If you ever saw mercury skitter across the floor from a broken thermometer, you know why.
The quicksilver in this book's title refers to two aspects of our world, two sides of the same coin.
One face of that coin seems alarmingly unstable. There you find the unprecedented pace of change of modern life.
Opposite, however, is a scene of almost blindingly bright hopefulness. There you glimpse the infinite ability of the human brain to both respond to change and create change.
One obvious cause of the disorienting change now blurring around us is the basic machine of our times, the computer. Its heart is the microchip. According to Moore's Law, the microchip doubles in power about every eighteen months. Imagine that happening to every other machine in your life—your toaster, your car, the reading light on your nightstand. Year after year. Decade after decade. It wouldn't be long before your toaster would be a nuclear reactor; your car a rocket; your reading light a little sun incinerating anything within millions of miles.
Computers may not be quite that destabilizing, but they're not far from it...
"Quicksilver is an inspiring read for both established
and novice leaders. Dr. Michael O'Brien offers a
critical and sound analysis of the all-too-human
emotional and cognitive blind spots that impair
the effectiveness of leaders. —RICHARD G. AZIZKHAN, MD Surgeon-in-Chief, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
The Quicksilver Promise
We're taught that "normal" thinking is good. Quicksilver shows why it's increasingly dangerous. Especially for leaders.The catch: we're all leaders; no one leads our lives but us.
"Normal" thinking grows evermore dangerous, because technology changes our world in ways that don't match pictures in our brains. Result: a distorted image of actual circumstances.
Quicksilver argues that financial meltdowns, the implosion of entire industries, massive taxpayer bailouts are all caused by distorted perception, not stupidity.
The good news is that the brain has the power to continuously correct this distortion. Learn to use your brain properly, and you'll make your life better in every way.
Quicksilver shows you how. That's the Quicksilver promise.
"A very clear, concise guide to improving one's leadership skills. Theoretically grounded and yet powerful in its application. This is more than a book for business."
—MARK JAEGER, Engineering manager at one of the world's largest consumer products company
referred to as "The fierce urgency of now." It is not simply about formal leadership; it is about being fully aware in an unprecedented time of change and opportunity." —DENNIS TIRMAN, Tirman Consulting, LLC
Download these excerpts to sample highlights of the book:
• Table of Contents
• List of Practices
• Introduction
• Chapter Openings
• Authors' Bios
"The economic debacle of the 21st century's first
decade is an elegant lens in which to reflect on the nature of true leadership, and how our leaders let us down. Real leadership requires intellectual honesty and rigor, paying attention to the right things, connection to higher values, courage, and decisive action. All these themes of leadership and recent history are brilliantly explored in Quicksilver." —NEIL STROUL, Ph.D., Founding Faculty Member Georgetown University Leadership Coaching Program
One obvious cause of the disorienting change now blurring around us is the basic machine of our times, the computer. Its heart is the microchip. According to Moore's Law, the microchip doubles in power about every eighteen months. Imagine that happening to every other machine in your life—your toaster, your car, the reading light on your nightstand. Year after year. Decade after decade. It wouldn't be long before your toaster would be a nuclear reactor; your car a rocket; your reading light a little sun incinerating anything within millions of miles. 
"Normal" thinking grows evermore dangerous, 
