Growing the Distance

At home or in the workplace, change is an inevitable fact of life. How we choose to respond to it - as leaders or as followers - determines our personal and professional growth. Growing the Distance is about developing the leader within all of us. This helps us to continue "growing at the speed of change." A central theme of the book is that leadership is action, not a position. We all need to be leaders regardless of our formal title or role. This starts with inner self leadership and moves outward to influence, guide, support, and lead others. Leadership ultimately shows itself in what we do "out there," but it starts "in here."

This enchanting book entertains, inspires, and moves readers to action. Growing the Distance is a browser's delight. "I hope readers find this book as fun to read as it was to write," Jim says. In 192 pages, he weaves together many humorous quips, light-hearted stories, and charming tales with "growing points" intended to "drive you to thinking." This is done with both original and ageless fables, current situations, pithy quotations, whimsical illustrations, and personal examples.

Growing the Distance is not a conventional book with large, dense blocks of text to plow through. Rather, it has a unique and distinctive, three-tiered structure and magazine-style. One level is made up of inspirational, humorous, or thought-provoking quotations. A second level consists of timeless fables, tales, and current stories. The third level is Jim's core text with his observations, personal examples, reflections, illustrations, application ideas, and key learning points. Each section is headed by a short "lead line," introductory sentence, and title or sub-title.