{"id":90,"date":"2010-11-21T21:36:44","date_gmt":"2010-11-21T21:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blackaby.net\/members\/?p=90"},"modified":"2010-11-21T21:36:44","modified_gmt":"2010-11-21T21:36:44","slug":"shift-how-to-reinvent-your-business-your-career-and-your-personal-brand-by-peter-arnell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackabyleadership.org\/bmiapp\/2010\/11\/21\/shift-how-to-reinvent-your-business-your-career-and-your-personal-brand-by-peter-arnell\/","title":{"rendered":"Shift: How to reinvent your business, your career, and your personal brand by Peter Arnell"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/em>[rating:3]<\/p>\n

(New York: Broadway Books, 2010)<\/em><\/p>\n

208 pgs.<\/em><\/p>\n

I admit that this is an unusual book. Two things particularly intrigued me when I saw it. First, it is written by a premier marketer, Peter Arnell who is discussing the subject of \u201cbranding\u201d which is something I have become interested in. Second, Arnell weaves his personal pilgrimage of losing 256 pounds and going from 406 pounds to weighing 150. At this time I am on a quest to lose some significant weight myself, so I was intrigued to read how he did it.<\/p>\n

This book is about branding. Arnell says \u201cbranding at heart is about making connections and associations with people and things\u201d (28). Arnell takes products like Pepsi, McDonalds, fire extinguishers and fashion brands then makes them appealing to people. Of course, there are great products on the market that people don\u2019t know about or have no connection with. Arnell is a master at helping people feel a connection to a product. He also takes well known products that have grown stale or are losing people\u2019s interest and rejuvenates them by giving them a makeover. What gives this book appeal is that he weaves his own story of how he decided to rebrand himself from someone who was obese, to someone who was thin. He rebranded himself and the way people viewed him.<\/p>\n

This book is a secular book. Arnell found the power to lose weight in part from his own choices and willpower but especially from oranges<\/em>. He eats as many as 50 of them every day! <\/em>He is not pushing oranges on people but is arguing that if people will shift <\/em>their attitude, they can bring about significant change. He notes: \u201cTrue change springs from an idea whose time has come. It is powered by dissatisfaction with the way things are\u201d (18). He urges: \u201cLook for your own oranges . . . The \u2018orange\u2019 can be anything you want it to be. For my daughter, it was a new tattoo\u2014a symbol of spiritual power to her\u201d (19). Some of you won\u2019t like this book. It doesn\u2019t cite Scripture and may be a bit too \u201cNew Age\u201d for some. As I read this book, I had to get past the fact he was not writing from a Christian perspective and see what I could glean from it. After all, he does know people and he does know how to connect them with particular products. I also realized that he trusted in oranges and lost 256 pounds while I am a believer in Jesus, the true God, but I, like a lot of other Christian leaders, still need to lose a lot of weight!<\/p>\n

Arnell said, \u201cI made the decision to remove the barriers to change I had created for myself\u201d (24). He also warns: \u201cDon\u2019t limit yourself or allow yourself to get stuck in the boxes others build for you\u201d (27). He also shares how he developed his own \u201cfan club\u201d to help him achieve his seemingly impossible goal. He notes: \u201cWe need to embrace the power of we. <\/em>Life is a collaboration\u201d (67). He also notes: \u201cI had to learn the power of failing. No matter what you know, what you don\u2019t <\/em>know always remains more important in your journey and progress\u201d (72). While he obviously does not discuss the incredible power of the Holy Spirit available in a believer\u2019s life to enable change, he does note that change begins with our choices. He notes: \u201cYour mind is the most powerful tool imaginable in bringing about change. Change your mind, and change your life\u201d (101).<\/p>\n

This is not a sophisticated leadership book. It does make you think, however, about your own life. I couldn\u2019t help thinking that here was a man who by sheer determination and a whole lot of oranges, accomplished an amazing feat. Yet I know a lot of Christian leaders who believe in God\u2019s almighty power but who experience defeat every time they encounter an all-you-can-eat buffet! I am one who is tired of standing before congregations preaching about victory in Christ in a suit that is fitting too snugly!<\/p>\n

I am also intrigued by branding. I know a lot of churches that cannot figure out why people in their community never visit or find their activities appealing. I think some churches need to be rebranded! Businesses are pragmatic enough to know that of they don\u2019t update their image they will soon be out of business. Churches, on the other hand, often remain locked in the past while wondering why no one seems interested in attending church anymore! For business leaders trying to succeed in a rapidly changing marketplace, this book may make you think as well. Arnell gives some simple tactics such as \u201cthink tiger\u201d and \u201cgo helium\u201d which are pretty basic. However, his own personal and professional track record suggests he knows what he\u2019s talking about.<\/p>\n

If you are someone who is tired of being overweight, or, you are someone who leads an organization that needs a facelift, then you may find this little book helpful. I don\u2019t read a lot of books like this but it came at a good time for me personally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[rating:3] (New York: Broadway Books, 2010) 208 pgs. I admit that this is an unusual book. Two things particularly intrigued me when I saw it. First, it is written by a premier marketer, Peter Arnell who is discussing the subject of \u201cbranding\u201d which is something I have become interested in. Second, Arnell weaves his personal … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Shift: How to reinvent your business, your career, and your personal brand by Peter Arnell”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackabyleadership.org\/bmiapp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackabyleadership.org\/bmiapp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackabyleadership.org\/bmiapp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackabyleadership.org\/bmiapp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackabyleadership.org\/bmiapp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blackabyleadership.org\/bmiapp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackabyleadership.org\/bmiapp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackabyleadership.org\/bmiapp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackabyleadership.org\/bmiapp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}