My friend Kevin Eikenberry has just released his latest book, Vantagepoints on Learning and Life – Finding Opportunities in Everyday Situations, and I was fortunate to do a short interview with him about this new book.
We are hoping to help Kevin reach the number one spot on Amazon.com, so if you would like a copy of Vantagepoints on Learning and Life then do me a favor, click over to Amazon.com right now and get your own copy.
Now for the interview:
Hi Kevin, let’s cut right to the chase.
When did you write the first Vantagepoints article?
A long time ago! I wrote the first Vantagepoints essays in 1995.
What inspired you to write that first article?
I started out writing them as a way to communicate with Clients that I didn’t see or talk to all the time. The idea was to write something I could send on a 1 page fax to let people know what I was learning with other Clients. I hoped the lessons would be valuable and it would be a way to help clients remember me. It soon grew beyond that initial list of 50-60 people though.
How many people now subscribe to the Vantagepoints newsletter?
We are fortunate enough to have over 5000 subscribers from around the world. We haven’t actively tried to grow this list, but with the book out now, I expect the list size will double in 2006.
To what do you attribute the success of Vantagepoints?
People love stories and I tell stories. They are stories that people can either relate to directly, or they are stories that people easily find a correlation to their own life. People also like to be inspired. This book provides a gentle inspiration through each chapter. I think these are the things that draw most people to them.
What is the reason you decided to compile your Vantagepoints articles into a book?
I continued to get lots of positive feedback from readers and so I knew the stories were good enough. The intent in putting them together in a book was to be able to share them in new ways, inspire and help more people, and to use it as a way to introduce people to my speaking and training services.
What is the most popular Vantagepoints?
Before we changed the website http://vantagepoints.net to support the book we had a feature that people could rate each issue. I am honored that several monthly issues received all “10’s.” One of those chapters is called “Say It” and it talks about the importance of telling people how you feel about them.
Why do you think that article is the most popular?
That is hard to say – I think people who do tell people that they love or care for others know how important it is and like the reminder. And those who don’t do that as a point of habit have been persuaded or nudged to do so after reading this particular essay.
What do you hope that people will get out of this book?
That is easy! I what people to see through my stories that there are tremendous lessons that can be learned from everyday life situations. It is my hope that the book opens their eyes to this fact and provides them with ways to begin to capture more of those lessons from their own life as well as learn from the lessons I share too. So I hope people get a renewed sense of their learning potential and become a more active learner.
How has writing these Vantagepoints and compiling these articles into a book affected your life?
In many ways. I have always felt that in writing these essays I have strengthened what I learned from the situations I wrote about. That exercise alone has been a great investment of my time – if no one ever read them. Also because this was a compilation of essays written over time the process of selecting which ones to include gave me a new chance to reflect on the lessons. Editing the stories to be included helped me reflect on my writing skills and have made me a better writer. Now that the book is out I am getting an opportunity to learn even more about marketing and am learning about the positive impact the book is having on people, which is very special.
If you could share just one thought with our readers what would it be?
Your ability to learn is vast and untapped. You have the raw material for learning in front of you everyday - they are contained in your everyday life situations. You can choose to grow through these experiences and I wrote this book to help you both see that opportunity and take advantage of it.
What other books have you written or contributed to?
I’ve been a contributing author to about a dozen books in the Training and Development field, and I also wrote a chapter in the best selling book Walking With the Wise (http://kevineikenberry.com/products/learning/walking_with_wise.asp).
In the coming year I will be a contributor to at least four more books and will be releasing at least one more of my own.
Thank you Kevin, for taking time to visit with me.
Remember, today is the day to buy Kevin's book on Amazon.com. Go get it now!
Have a great day!
Ken
