Ah, the agony and ecstasy of writing a book! You’d think with finishing up my seventh one, Growing @ the Speed of Change: Your Inspir-actional How-To Guide For Leading Yourself and Others through Constant Change, I’d be used to it by now – and know better. Last month I announced that we’d launch Growing @ the Speed of Change with a special offer to Leader Letter readers this month.

It’s not happening quite that fast. Since books are around for a very long time (the second edition of Firing on all Cylinders, published in 1992 is still available), I want Growing @ the Speed of Change to be done right. From my work in quality improvement approaches (now morphed into the Six Sigma and Lean movements) I know that people usually remember how well you did the work not how quickly.

I am ecstatic about how this book is coming together. It has a gorgeous and easy-to-read – or browse – layout (improving on the popular format first used in Growing the Distance and then its companion The Leader’s Digest.) Growing @ the Speed of Change combines inspiration, humor, research, stories, simplified frameworks, with lots of actionable and practical how-to steps (hence our coined phrase “inspir-actional”.) Based on how Growing the Distance and The Leader’s Digest were purchased in the hundreds and thousands (we had one order for over 50,000 copies) for broad distribution in hundreds of organizations, I am especially excited about Growing @ the Speed of Change becoming a strong tool for executives, managers, OD, HR, safety, training and other professionals to reinforce their team and organization development and change efforts.

The agony is in all the tiny editing, cover layouts, and final production details. But with a clear vision of the end in mind, we’re motoring through to produce our best book yet. Stay tuned for details and a special offer in September. Really!