Friends,
Here is a short update on a great book. Hope you will take a look.
It has been 19 months since Dr. David Stevens, CEO of The Christian Medical and Dental Associations and Bert Jones, President of GO InterNational, first published the book Leadership Proverbs, which they co-wrote.
Leadership Proverbs is written just like the book of Proverbs in the Bible. "There are 31 chapters, yet each verse is filled with leadership wisdom. The book is a collection of wise sayings on the subject of leadership and management. What we hear that people love about the book is that they can read one proverb and chew on it or read a chapter at a time," Bert said.
According to Dr. Stevens there is no other leadership book of its kind. "There is a forest of leadership books aimed mainly at businessmen. The sheer number is overwhelming," Dave said. "Knowing everyone needs leadership skills because leadership is influence, we went into the forest, tapped the richest trees and boiled down the most important principles into memorable proverbs. These sweet nuggets not only help the reader but are easily transferable so they can teach or mentor others."
The book is being read by a variety of people, business leaders, teachers, doctors, pastors, coaches and students just to name a few. Some people read it daily as the book recommends, others use it to teach or mentor someone. The book can be used in staff meetings, with a "10 Minutes for Leadership," handout , which can be found on the website at www.leadershipproverbs.org.
"I've been surprised at the response we have gotten from others that teach and promote leadership. There has been a lot of enthusiasm and great sells. The leather like cover and presentation box has been a big hit. I've seen people buy 20+ copies as Christmas gifts for friends and family," Dr. Stevens said.
"Through Dave's influence, many national christian leaders have received copies of the book. It has been encouraging to see the emails and letters that we receive from these influential leaders on how much they love the book and how valuable it has been to their own life and leadership," Bert said. Many tell us that they keep it on their desk and read it every day.
Both Bert and David enjoyed working on the book together. "It was Bert's great idea to write the book. He asked me to edit it," Dr. Stevens explained. As Bert produced the work for edit, Dave got excited and inspired to write proverbs as well. "Often on trips while my wife, Jody, was driving. I would bounce them off her asking, 'How does this sound?' I then would send my creations to Bert for his feedback and editing. It was fun but hard and tedious work to write close to 1,000 original proverbs."
"It was great working with Dave who has a double connection in my life. His father, Maurice Stevens was the founder of the ministry I currently lead, GO InterNational and Dave has been my leadership mentor over the years. His involvement and investment in this project has taken this book far beyond what I had originally imagined." Bert said.
When asked whether there will be future editions, Jones replied, "The answer is, Lord willing. I have a vision and am working on the content for a possible "More Leadership Proverbs". As God continues to give us leadership insights, we keep on writing them."
Leadership Proverbs is now in its third printing and between GO and CMDA over 6,000 books have sold. The book has a Kindle edition and is also available in Spanish.
When asked "what brought the greatest joy in this project?, Jones replied, "That's simple. The way God has used the sales of this book to provide for mission projects and ministry all around the world."
Get a copy of this book. It will challenge and encourage!
Ron Houp
Sr. VP, GO InterNational
To order the book or for more leadership materials please go to www.leadershipproverbs.org. or call the CMDA at 888-230-2637.
Reporting by staff writer Whitney Ward
