Oprah's Address

Oprah's address on the show is:

Oprah Winfrey
Harpo Studios
1058 West Washington
Chicago, IL 60607

I love Oprah and, apparently, so do people all over the world. Many people coming to my website were searching for Oprah's address (I posted it back in December when I sent her a copy of my book). I know this because of Google Analytics!

I also found that one person had come to my website searching for Opray. Which made me realize that I had misspelled it in an entry I made back in June. I started to go correct that, but then I realized that someone had found me because I mistyped it! I hesitated. I think I'll leave it that way!

If you came here looking for Oprah's address, you're welcome! I think you might like my book, my blog, and the rest of my website, too.

Thanks for visiting!

Mapstats and Google Analytics

You may have noticed a new feature on my blog, which is a list of the locations of the last ten visitors. It is a free tool available from Mapstats. The link is just above the list. This is a very cool tool, that also shows how they got to my site, if you look the same day as the hit. For about $5 a month, they will show the information for all the hits. I might try that after a while.

In the meantime, I signed up for Google Analytics, also free. This shows a map of the locations of all my visitors and over 100 other statistics. It's amazing! For example, I know that one of my visitors today searched for "management is doing a right thing", so I can provide this quote:

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
-- Peter Drucker

Wow!

Upcoming Book Events for Doing the Right Thing

Saturday, October 7, 2006, 3:00 to 5:00 PM

Page One Bookstore in the Cafe
corner of Juan Tabo and Montgomery
11018 Montgomery NE
Albuquerque, NM 87111
(505) 294-2026

Friday, November 17, 2006, 4:00 to 6:00 PM

Hastings
corner of Tramway and Candelaria
12501 Candelaria Road NE
Albuquerque, NM 87111
(505) 332-8855

Tony Hillerman

Another great thing about lunch last Friday was that Tony Hillerman was there, too! I adore him. He writes mysteries set around this area and the Four Corners of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. He is my favorite writer. I have all his books, of which there are many! Most feature Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Sargent Jim Chee of the Navajo police, but there are also mesas, canyons, clouds, rain, coyotes (both human and animal), and all sorts of other characters. I highly recommend him!

I went to one of his lectures at UNM once and bought his memoir, Seldom Disappointed. When I went up to get it signed, I told him that I didn't want to act like I knew him, so please just sign it To My Reader. He said, "How about to my favorite reader?" so I said sure! But in the end he just signed it "To my favorite". He is great warm and funny person as well as a great writer. Did I say I adore him?

When I went up to say hi, he noticed that I was carrying my book and asked about it, so I gave him a copy and signed it "To my favorite", which he is!

He was there with his daughter Anne, also a writer, to promote his Mystery Writers Conference, which takes place November 2-5, 2006, in Albuquerque. You can read about it here.

I will also be seeing him at a two-hour workshop he is giving at UNM Continuing Education (just $19) on November 29, 2006.

Bookworks

The September meeting of the New Mexico Book Co-op (whose membership is free by the way) was lunch at the Hometown Buffet on the west side with Nancy Rutland, the owner of Bookworks, one of Albuquerque's independent bookstores and a sponsor of many author/book events:

Bookworks
4022 Rio Grande NW
Albuquerque, NM 87107
505-344-8139
www.bkwrks.com

She told us about Bookworks (in business since 1984) and other independent bookstores in Albuquerque, many of which are gone now, and invited us to bring our books to sell on consignment. Bookworks specializes in books about the Southwest by Southwest authors but also has a complete selection, including a greater diversity than you may find at some chains. Nancy was passionate about books and independent bookstores and it was great to hear her talk about them.

Bookworks sponsors book signings and book events at the store and around town. They are also starting an affiliate program for website owners, which she told us we should all be (of course!). I wasn't able to find it on their website so I'll have to ask her how to become an affiliate when I take my books down to the store. They also keep a folder on local authors who are speakers because they get inquiries about that. Of course, I gave her my one-sheet and brochure for the folder!

Just Arrived at Hastings on Candelaria!

A friend noticed that there was a new Hastings opening at Tramway and Candelaria (Albuquerque, NM), so I checked it out and the business books are actually in a very fine spot in the middle of the book section on the long wall that separates the books from the rest of the store. Today I went by and spoke with the Book Manager and she said she was happy to take books by local authors as long as the books looked good inside and out and the authors weren't mean. Good criteria, I say! I was very nice, of course!

She took five books and put them on the second New Arrivals table in front of the cafe where they will reside for about a week. Then it will be on to the Business section. If it faces out, you will see a white cover with large print saying Doing the Right Thing. If the Business section is too crowded, it will be spine out and kind of hard to see since it is less than 100 pages long. But it will be right in there with The One Minute Manager, Who Moved My Cheese, Fish! and other fine but small books, so I'm sure you'll find it, or you can ask them to look it up for you.

I am to call her on Monday to get a date for a book signing, probably in November, which is great because Doing the Right Thing makes a wonderful Christmas present!

Hastings
northwest corner of Tramway and Candelaria
12501 Candelaria Road NE
Albuquerque, NM 87111
(505) 332-8855
Mon-Sat 9 AM to 11 PM
Sun 11 AM to 11 PM

Except for the Educational Component

There is only one reason to figure out who was involved in something that went wrong, and that is to let them know so that they can help figure out how to prevent the problem in the future. If you assume that they would not have done it if they knew it would lead to a bad outcome, you can present it as a question in logic and not an accusation. Then people are glad to investigate and see where the misstep was, usually a defect in the procedure or the implementation that seemed right at the time.

Skip to the Solution

Disagreements and conflicts may be inevitable, may be necessary even, but don't have to be ongoing or destructive. It could happen this way: When there is a difference of opinion, everyone contemplates his or her position and describes the situation from their point of view. All the possibilities are discussed. The best course of action in light of the information available is agreed upon. Everyone gets back to work. The difference between that and conflicts or disagreements that persist or escalate is the belief that if something goes wrong, there must be someone to blame and someone to punish, because that's where the real fight begins.

Step 3

Believe in people.
Everyone is doing the best they can.
Everyone is trying to do the right thing.
Everyone has a good reason for what they say and do.

Start with those statements:
I know you are doing the best you can.
How can I help you? What do you need?
I know you are trying to do the right thing.
How will this help? What is your plan?
I know you have a good reason.
Why? What is going on?

Step 2

See the value in each person. It is the same, because you need them all. Support the ones who know what to do. Educate and support the ones who don't know what to do.

Step 1

Assume that everyone involved has to be there, that nobody can be fired or forced to leave, and that the number of people you have is the exact number of people that it takes to do what needs to be done.

The Beginning

I have a vision of what I want my world to be. Do you know what I mean? It’s an exciting place where anything is possible, everyone is happy, and the total potential of the whole human race is being realized and keeps expanding every day. I can see it. I want to be there. Okay, let’s go! Oh, well, there’s just one little thing we need to do first. Stop fighting. I can see that, too. And it’s really simple.

Goals

I am a fan of things that help me to achieve my goals, including clarifying them, learning how to explain them to other people, which helps me to understand them myself, discovering how other people have achieved goals like mine and how other people have achieved goals that are different from mine. I love the limitless horizons, the endless possibilities, the amazing creativity and adaptability of people on a mission.

Choices

I am not a fan of the current trend of personality profiling as it is used by business. It's fine if you're doing some self discovery, if the results are for you alone, you don't know exactly what you want to do, and you want to see what would come easiest to you. When your company does it, they want to use it. Even if they say they don't, it's still too much of a temptation. I heard some counselors talking about the Myers-Briggs, an interesting and informative tool for individuals (read their website about how it should be used), but these counselors were saying that it would be just great if we could test everyone and match them up to the perfect job for them. Yuck! Perhaps they were joking. Mental health professionals sometimes have a strange sense of humor. I hope so. I can't think of anything more horrible than being tested at a some point and then having my career chosen for me. Even though I believe that we all have natural strengths and weaknesses, I don't think that should keep us from doing whatever we want to do. Do you think Wilbur and Orville had a natural aptitude for flying? Would a test have known that before flying was invented? It's like believing that because you have a certain personality, you can't help acting in a certain way. But you can. Actions are choices. And choices are freedom.

Control

Some people might say that I was like a child and I should have learned to control myself. But I never was able to do that, perhaps because I never really wanted to do that. Controlled people are not interesting and, worse, not free. What I didn't realize for so long is that those are not the only options. I was like a child and am still, but it's not control that I need. I need a way to extricate myself from the briar patch of frustration, pain, and anger that I get caught in because sometimes I make bad choices and sometimes, you know, stuff just happens. So, I follow my guides to freedom. As for all those negative and destructive emotions, I don't control them, I let them go.

What I Really Mean

There came a point in my life when I realized that, for whatever reason, my "natural" tendency was to be somewhat self-centered, opinionated, judgmental, impulsive, aggressive, and loud, and whereas those attributes (which I believe are actually defenses) caused me a lot of trouble, I realized one day that I didn't have to go with my gut reaction to what was happening around me, and that my gut was not a good guide for me. I uncurled from my defensive posture, which was not doing me any good anyway, enough to try to see from a different point of view, from outside of myself, which helped a lot, and I found some things that helped me keep this new perspective. So, I use these guides, which I put in my book, to help me to see what is really happening instead of what I am afraid is happening. And now I am a better person, and nicer to be around, because I make better choices, based on reason and, strangely, since I have let go of my defenses, the fear is gone.

Start with the End in Mind?

We have spent the day together and learned much from each other. I want to leave you with this final thought: You are the choices that you make. Every minute, every hour, every day is a new chance to make better choices. You can't change what you were born with, you can't change the things that have already happened, but you can choose how you see your world and everyone in it.

New Mexico Speaker

I have updated my website at www.mariannepowers.com to link to my speech/seminar/workshop flyer and fee schedule.

My speaking topics are the same as the subjects of my book:
Personal Growth
Professional Development
Work Relationships
Conflict Resolution
Management
Leadership