Customer Reviews

Lunchmeat & Life Lessons: Sharing a Butcher's Wisdom

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This quick read is a must for anyone grappling with how to hit the curve balls life throws at us, and is ideal for those seeking successful careers. The author takes us on a sentimental journey from young, fresh-faced college grad, to accomplished senior executive. She credits her father with enabling her success by imparting simple, no-nonsense snippets of "Butcher's Wisdom" around the kitchen table. These ordinary principles will have you nodding your head in violent agreement as you contemplate how living by them will make a tremendous difference in your own life!!

This wonderfully crafted book makes you want more of John Bichelmeyer's wisdom and philosophy. It also made me wish that I'd got to know him personally.

After reading this book, I found that I kept thinking that I had spent quality time doing something that would expand the scope of my business and personal life.

Warning: This book should not be read on a plane. I read the last chapters on a plane to Dallas last week and shed plenty of tears in front of strangers.

Great job Mary!

Lunchmeat & Life Lessons is a book for all. Easy read, everyone will take a lesson from it. It will motivate you to be a better employee, boss, or parent.

Although Mary B. Lucas worked her way up the corporate ladder with a 25-year career in a billion dollar staffing corporation and is currently president and principal founder of a major consulting firm, she counts her B.D. as her most important accomplishment. That stands for Butcher's Daughter, for those unfamiliar with current degree programs, and Lucas says she earned it "by listening to my father's stories about how he achieved success in making deep connections with the people around him." In her new novel, Lunchmeat & Life Lessons: Sharing a Butcher's Wisdom, Lucas sets out to share the knowledge her father imparted on her with as large an audience as possible.

Traversing 25 years of the author's life, the book is organized into twelve quick chapters, preceded by an informative foreword, and followed by a touching epilogue. Each chapter includes a bite of wisdom summarized into a few quotes, which are all helpfully listed in the back of the book for quick reference. These tidbits include such gems as "The first hunk of meat you sell is yourself", "If you don't like someone then they don't like you", and "It's not the pursuit of happiness, but the happiness of pursuit that inspires." Each chapter covers a section of the author's life in which she found herself struggling with a specific issue. Ranging from starting a new job to dealing with difficult clients to addressing negative feelings, Lucas finds herself having a lunchtime discussion with her father in order to resolve the situation. John Bichelmeyer, the quiet, thoughtful butcher, never fails to impress with his motivational suggestions.

In the brief 101 pages, Lunchmeat & Life Lessons - a title taken from one of Lucas's nieces commenting on how she helped solve her problems: by going to her grandfather for the titular helpful treats - Lucas manages to impart her father's unique sensibility: a strong business mind crossed with superbly sympathetic people skills. Throughout the book, the reader can feel both Lucas's love and respect for her father, as well as her upbeat outlook on life and desire to help share his message with the world.

In a moving cross between The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Tuesdays With Morrie, Lucas blends a memoir and tribute to her father with effective business management skills and self-help motivation. "I'm hoping that business owners and managers will read my book and realize that its wisdom can transform the working relationships they have with their staffs." This may seem like a tall order for a book full of simple philosophy from a humble butcher, but with Lucas's reverant writing style, and her father's ample wisdom, Lunchmeat & Life Lessons has the ability to do just that.

I came across this little gem of a book quite by accident about a year and a half ago. I took it home and read it in one evening and was so taken by the butcher's lessons that I couldn't wait to share the book with my staff. As a an elementary principal, I knew that my teachers would benefit from the down-to-earth "people strategies" shared in Mary Lucas' book. Not only do the strategies make sense, but they are strategies that anyone can put to immediate use, whether you are 18 or 80. These lessons are lessons all parents need to pass on to their children to be passed on to their grandchildren.
Just this morning I presented a session at the TEPSA (Texas Elementary Principals & Supervisors Association)Summer Conference, sharing the Butcher's Lessons with a large group of Texas Elementary Principals. I felt compelled to share this book with my colleagues, not only because of the book's impact on me, but because of the impact I knew it would have on them...and it did. They related immediately to the butcher and his pearls of wisdom.
If you are in the people business...all of us are...you will enjoy this wonderful little book. You will learn from it, you will be inspired by it, and you will be motivated by the heartfelt delivery of the lessons shared. It will be a resource that you will go back to again and again to draw strength from and to remind you to use the strategies in all of your relationships. This book is filled with "prime cut" bits of wisdom that will serve you well in all areas of your life.
Mr. Bichelmeyer's life was truly a life to celebrate and his daughter has done him proud!

By chance I met Mary thru a work related event . I learned of her book and after reading bought three more copies to send to friends. This is a funny yet bare bones commen sense book on how to interact with people as well as handle situations we all see everyday in and outside of the workplace.

I was given my copy of the book as a gift on Sunday March 4th. I thumbed through it that night and stopped at the chapter "Bring out the Best". I was having a business problem much like the one mentioned in the book. I put into play the simple message, "You've got to find the like". It worked like a charm.

I read the book on the railroad into Manhattan on Monday one hour in and one hour home. I was finished Tuesday morning on my morning trip into the city. I ordered 7 more books for my seven sons. This is a true gift of love to anyone you care for.

For those of you who had a great Father,it's a must read. For those of you who did not, you can adopt Mary's Dad. This is an American story that needs to be read! Be safe.....

I've just finished reading Mary Lucas book, Lunchmeat & Life Lessons. It touched my heart, my mind and my soul. I recommend it to young adults starting their career, to professionals who simply need to get recharged, to anyone who needs a gentle reminder of what really matters in this life. It's also a perfect gift for someone you love.

Some books you pick up and read for fun and pleasure. Others you pick up because you are seeking guidance in your personal or professional life. It is the rare find when you start reading a book and realize that it encompasses all of those things. Such is the case with Lunchmeat and Life Lessons.


Words to describe Lunchmeat and Life Lessons are practical, common sense, thought provoking, simple reminders, practical, page turner and most importantly true proven advice. How refreshing to read a book that takes many of the truths and principles we were taught as a child, especially treating others as you would like to be treated, and proves through a real life example that these truths still ring true, even today!

How many times have you read a book and thought to yourself "how true, I should try that" and then you never do? I made it a point after reading this book to take and apply some of the advice that really stood out to me. "Putting my blinders on" and "Putting on the comeback sauce" were two of the things I tried and both had instantaneous results in not only my personal but professional life!

This book, without all the catch phrases and slogans we so often hear today, shows in a simple way how to deal with, as well as get along with people and the situations that come at you in life. Thank you Mary for sharing a part of your family with us.

This book is an instant classic: warm, engaging and full of useful insights and wisdom.
Mary Lucas does a great job sharing her story, at the same time inspiring us to get in gear and
step into our true potential. This is a book you'll really enjoy and want to share with those you care about.
Highly recommended.