Quarterly Review: Change The World!

Merrill J. Oster has written an inspiring book that delivers two messages propelled by one concept. The messages are in the title- You can change the world! (what will happen when you read this book) and Discover the miracle of high impact forums (the method through which change occurs.

by: Merrill J. Oster

The concept, however, is what empowers this splendidly illustrated work containing close to sixty glossy panoramic photos: influence.

Few books of its kind, targeted at CEOs, employ influence as a theme. Influence is often more potent than power and authority (precepts typically associated with corporate leaders). “You have influence,” Oster writes. “Influence might be your most underutilized asset.” Indeed! Oster should know. He not only is an immensely successful businessman in his own right; he is a journalist too; and in the latter role, influencing the reader as author, he uses a vast array of skills to immerse the audience in the peer forum experience. He is a reporter, quoting CEOs and their visions; he is a storyteller, recounting his own group experience in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and he is an evangelist, imbuing visions and vistas with soul-felt wisdom.

In the end, this is a book not only for CEOs, but also for anyone courageous enough to embrace with others the tenets of servant leadership and the influence it will have on others...as well as on your own life narrative and legacy.