More Balls Than Hands: Juggling Your Way to Success by Learning to Love Your Mistakes [Hardcover]

Michael J. Gelb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 26, 2003

The bestselling author of How to Think Like Leonardo DaVinci shows how learning to juggle literally and metaphorically will help you become better at what you do, both in business and in life.

As we struggle to get more done in less time, to balance our work and our personal life, and to adapt to constant change, we often feel that we're "juggling too many balls." Now, in More Balls Than Hands, leading organizational consultant Michael J. Gelb, a former professional juggler, shows us how to keep all those balls in the air.

The first lesson in juggling is...let the ball drop. Beginning with this first counterintuitive lesson, Michael J. Gelb offers proven methods that organizations can use to create a "mistake positive" culture, showing how any business can flourish and succeed if it sets the stage for learning, growth, and innovation in the workplace. In addition, Gelb introduces five "Keys to High Performance Learning" that offer immediately applicable strategies for strengthening anyone's learning speed and power. For people eager to increase their learning potential, ratchet up their productivity, and teach others to do the same, More Balls than Hands communicates life lessons in a vivid, completely original, and utterly entertaining way.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael J. Gelb is a globally acclaimed pioneer in the fields of creative thinking, accelerated learning, and leadership development. Awarded a "Batten Fellowship" by The University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business, Gelb's original approach to creating a 'learning organization' has benefited clients such as AT&T, DuPont, Merck, Nike and Microsoft. Michael Gelb's work has been featured in the New York Times and the Washington Post, and he has appeared on "Good Morning America," CNN's "Business Unusual," and countless radio programs. He is the author of the bestselling How to Think Like Leonardo DaVinci and Discover Your Genius.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall Press (August 26, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735203377
• ISBN-13: 978-0735203372
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #695,702 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

http://michaelgelb.com/

Michael J. Gelb, is the world's leading authority on the application of genius thinking to personal and organizational development. He is a pioneer in the fields of creative thinking, accelerated learning, and innovative leadership. Gelb leads seminars for organizations such as DuPont, Merck, Microsoft, Nike, Raytheon and YPO. He brings more than 30 years of experience as a professional speaker, seminar leader and organizational consultant to his diverse, international clientele.

Michael Gelb is the author of 12 books on creativity and innovation including the international best seller How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day. (1998) How to Think Like Leonardo has been translated into 25 languages and has appeared on the Washington Post, Amazon.com, and the New York Times best seller lists.

In 2007 Gelb released Innovate Like Edison: The Five Step System for Breakthrough Business Success, co-authored with Sarah Miller Caldicott, the great grand niece of Thomas Edison. As Professor Vijay Govindarajan, author of Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators noted, "This book is a must have for anyone who wants to turn creative ideas into profitable reality."

In 1999, Michael Gelb won the Brain Trust Charity's "Brain of the Year" award; others honorees include Prof. Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, Garry Kasparov and Gene Rodenberry. In 2003, Michael was awarded a Batten Fellowship by the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business. Michael co-directs the acclaimed Leading Innovation Seminar at Darden with Professor James Clawson. Michael Gelb also serves as the Director of Creativity and Innovation Leadership for the Conscious Capitalism Institute.

A former professional juggler who once performed with the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, Gelb introduced the idea of teaching juggling as a means to promote accelerated learning and team-building. He is the author of The 5 Keys to High Performance: Juggling Your Way to Success. A fourth degree black belt in the Japanese martial art of Aikido, Gelb is co-author with International Grandmaster Raymond Keene, of Samurai Chess: Mastering Strategic Thinking Through the Martial Art of the Mind. Michael Gelb is also a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, (the method taught at The Julliard School for cultivating commanding stage presence), and the author of the classic work: Body Learning: An Introduction to the Alexander Technique. Michael's 1988 release Present Yourself! Captivate Your Audience with Great Presentation Skills guides readers to develop the communication strategies they need to generate support for their innovative ideas.

Michael has also created many best selling audio programs, include: Mind Mapping: How to Liberate Your Natural Genius, Work Like Da Vinci: Gaining the Creative Advantage in Your Business and Career and The Spirit of Leonardo.

Michael Gelb's passion for applying genius thinking to personal and organizational development is also expressed in his Harper Collins release (2002) Discover Your Genius: How To Think Like History's Ten Most Revolutionary Minds.

His most recent book, Wine Drinking For Inspired Thinking: Uncork Your Creative Juices, offers a unique, original and very enjoyable approach to team building.

His next book, to be published in January 2012 by New World Library, is Brain Power: Improve Your Mind As You Age.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Liberate your Heart, Body, Mind, and Soul, February 16, 2006

By 

Johann Gevers - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: More Balls Than Hands: Juggling Your Way to Success by Learning to Love Your Mistakes (Hardcover)

This important book by the best-selling author of "How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci" has many virtues, but its shining achievement is to introduce the reader to a "mistake-positive" way of life and being. In the time since reading it, I am finding myself transforming, in very positive ways, how I approach life, and how I interpret and experience myself and others. Increasing energy, enthusiasm, openness, and resilience to the challenges of life are a few of the benefits it inspires.

Michael Gelb is a pioneer in the fields of accelerated learning, creative thinking, and leadership development, and President of High Performance Learning, which he founded thirty years ago. In "More Balls Than Hands" (This title often generates laughs when I mention it to women!) Michael masterfully brings to life five principles of high performance learning and living:

1. Create a clear vision of what you want, and then keep comparing your vision with reality, thus stimulating your brain's natural success mechanism to bring reality in line with your vision.

2. Transform your attitude toward mistakes and failure, thereby liberating tremendous energy and enthusiasm for learning and growth.

3. Unleash your natural genius through the power of play.

4. Achieve more with less effort by cultivating relaxed concentration.

5. Develop your coaching skills so you can bring out the best in people at work and at home.

Throughout the book he ties all these themes together with the powerful metaphor of juggling. As he says at the end of the book:

"The juggling metaphor can serve as an inspiring reminder of the secret of life. Is there one word that expresses that secret? Yes. The word is *balance*."

This book is about much more than learning and juggling the demands of today's world. It is about how to live well and wisely, how to create the lives and world we want, written by someone who lives what he speaks. The book is a treasure trove of wisdom, rich with colorful, compelling examples and illustrations. A sheer pleasure to read!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm Inspired!, August 30, 2003

By 

Susan Greenberg (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: More Balls Than Hands: Juggling Your Way to Success by Learning to Love Your Mistakes (Hardcover)

Every time I read one of Michael's books, I feel inspired for greatness, and this book is no exception. Michael has a gift of taking things that are familiar and looking at and applying them in unique ways. In this book, Michael talks about the importance of creating mistakes in a safe environment and using them to accelerate learning to become a better leader, coach, parent, or person. He makes it feel safe to venture out into new territory by teaching that success means pursuing your goals and dreams with much childlike passion that success and failure become irrelevant. I especially love how he frames examples throughout the book with expert quotes that provide meaningful and often thought-provoking context. The quote by Dr. Glenn Doman, Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential, provoked a great family discussion about how important it is for a child to view learning as fun and the positive impact a person can have to help inspire that belief. In the last section of the book, Michael takes a unique approach to teaching juggling, in which he applies all the principles in the book. I never would have thought that dropping balls on purpose would help me learn to juggle, but it did. And it gave me a new confidence that I can do anything!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Metaphor of the Millennium, August 23, 2003

By 

William Reed "taproot" (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: More Balls Than Hands: Juggling Your Way to Success by Learning to Love Your Mistakes (Hardcover)

Michael Gelb has captured the metaphor of the millennium in juggling. It is something that jugglers and non-jugglers alike can relate to at a gut level, because most of us have anything but time on our hands. A single issue of the New York Times is said to contain more information than the average person in the Middle Ages was exposed to in a lifetime. And it just starts there. MORE BALLS THAN HANDS gives you more than just the metaphor, but stories and testimonials from the workplace, as well as practical coaching on how to juggle. The book is readable and doable, and can be enjoyed on many levels. The only thing that could make it even better would be illustrations for the tips on the advanced juggling beyond 3 balls. ...