Customer Reviews

Sandbox Wisdom: Revolutionize Your Brand with the Genius of Childhood

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Most business fables attempt to teach one to three key lessons about how to be more effective. And the geniuses who do this successfully (like Dr. Ken Blanchard and Dr. Spencer Johnson) certainly have my admiration.

Sandbox Wisdom is unique in my experience in its scope and effectiveness as a fable. It takes the bulk of the discipline known as Neuro-Linguistic Programming and teaches it in the context of a fable about a CEO learning from being with children and animals.

The beauty of this approach is that you can learn the techniques in their most common and easiest-to-understand form. Practicing with children is also a great way to learn these methods.

Some of the techniques outlined here include mirroring and matching, chunking ideas and concepts, stimulating positive emotions to encourage behavior, deciphering mental models, and managing your own mood with physiology changes. The only major areas that I noticed that were missing were eye movement analysis, and verbal content analysis, both of which are helpful as clues to mental models and sequences.

A good companion book for this one is NLP Masterclass.

If you like the idea of learning from working with children, Dr. Blanchard's new book High Five! uses the metaphor of being a children's coach to learn how to accomplish more in working with children.

I often encourage people who want to become better in their business lives to take on coaching of children's sports teams. When pursued in the spirit of serving the children's objectives, this can be quite eye-opening. I think I learned more from being Coach Don than I did in all of my graduate school courses in management and seminars I have attended since then.

Be sure you don't lose the knowledge that works well in the sandbox!

A client who heads trends research for a major company recently wrote a paper whose title included the phrase "Sea of Complexity." His thesis was his company should refine its marketplace image to present its products as a source of respite in the "sea of complexity" surrounding us that has been created by technological and other changes moveing over us too fast for easy adaptation.

Sandbox wisdom reminds us of one strategy for coping with comlexity: stop every once in awhile and peer at the world through the eyes of a child. At a time when countless pundits and self-appointed gurus are overloading us with didactic pontifications on how to solve our problems, Tom Asacker brings fresh air into the room by using the most ancient method of conveying wisdom -- storytelling.

In reading Sandbox Wisdom, I recalled something that Walt Disney decided when the first Disneyland was being designed. He insisted that doorways to buildings be reduced to 4/5 of normal height to reinforce the idea that Disneyland was for the child mind in both children and adults. I thought about that story when realizing that the most enjoyable and productive way to read Sandbox Wisdom is with your child mind -- free of the prejudices, cynicisms and doubts that encumber our adult minds much of the time.

Peter Senge, author of the Fifth Discipline, says that to have the best chance of surviving as we are buffetted about in the "sea of complexity", companies must become "learning organizations." In this delightful little book, Asacker invites us into the world of a child for some very useful learning.

David Wolfe Reston, Virginia

I'd recommend this book even if I didn't know the author personally, and had the pleasure of speaking with him one-on-one and in his unforgettable, one-of-a-kind seminars. This is one of those breakthrough books like "Who Moved My Cheese", "One-Minute Manager" and "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" of which you'll buy a couple of dozen to pass along to your best friends and clients. You probably won't even wait until Christmas, but when it comes, you'll buy a couple dozen more for the new friends and contacts you've made - simply by applying the wisdom from the sandbox. And the lessons learned go way beyond re-energizing your business batteries, reaching as well into all of life's important relationships like love, parenting and enduring friendship. Way to go, Tom!

This is an easy book to read with fundamental statements on what is most important in being successful today in business and in your own career. Good reminders in a world where communication is quick and often without the human feeling of caring and understanding. In addition to being easy to read is is a great story!

This book is a must for managers and supervisors working in a fast changing and highly competitive market. The book has good examples for leaders today in taking risk in listening, feeling, and caring. I introduced this book to my team in a call center of 500 employees in Phoenix Arizona with great results in terms of culture change.

While some books talk up fun in the work place this book brings in the human side. It is about recognizing the needs and feelings of our employees and customer.

This is a "MUST" book to read for anyone in business, leading others or involved in their own start-up business. It gives real useable ideas for branding your business and being competitive when all else in your market is even. You will learn how to attract customers and keep your customers coming back.

As I read this book, I was reminded of Robert Fulghum's assertion that everything he needed to learn he learned in kindergarten. I was also reminded of Lynne Levesue's book, Breakthrough Creativity, in which she explains why it is so important to live -- not merely think -- creatively. The book's subtitle ("Revolutionize Your Brand with the Genius of Childhood") indicates that he agrees with both Fulghum and Levesque: valuable life lessons can be learned (or reaffirmed) by direct association with children, and, such lessons can also have significant relevance to the business world.

Asacker creates a fictional situation in which a CEO named Bill West has become frustrated and depressed by the problems of his "multi-million dollar" company. He needs help and he needs it immediately. A friend refers him to a "guru" named Falcon. West spends most of the day with Falcon and his granddaughter, Annie. He then attempts to apply the "wisdom" he has learned from them. This is a modern fable, really, and brilliantly presented. Frankly, I was both skeptical and cynical as I began to read the book, as was West when he first met Falcon and Annie. The "lessons" West learns are lessons all of us already know and generally forget. For example, "Keep an open mind." However, each lesson is revitalized by the human context within which it is illustrated.

Those who share my high regard for Who Moved My Cheese?, Leadership and Self-Deception, and The Power of Six Sigma are urged to read this book. As with each of the others, what you "get out of" Asacker's book will depend almost entirely on the nature and extent of your willingness to learn what you need to know...or to be reminded of what you first learned as a child and perhaps have since forgotten.

On first reading this book, you may feel that the basic story line is too simple and the lessons a bit obvious. Right on both accounts. On second blush, you begin to realize that so many of these "lessons" you have forgotten, and the simplicity of the story allows you to focus not on Tom's books, but on how to improve how you build your career and your life with some of the lessons. A good book to share with young people as well.

I purchased this book based on the recommendation of a friend, and after reading the MANY impressive editorial reviews on the site (have you read them?).

I now understand why everyone is so HOT on Sandbox Wisdom! It's a touching story filled with insights on how to develop meaningful, lasting relationships with customers, employees, and associates. A must read!

We all look back on our childhoods and remember how much simpler life was then. As Tom Asacker points out through the use of a simple, yet powerful parable, there's no reason, that has to change when we grow up and become professionals. "Sandbox Wisdom" instructs us how to remove the shackles of business theory and corporate rules and apply the power of child-like wonderment to the world of business. In doing so, we learn to be more creative, open-minded and, as a result, more attuned to what it is that makes our customers buy from us. Most business books make you say, "huh?" "Sandbox Wisdom" makes you say, "aha!"

I have read a lot of personal development & self help books in my time. But I must say that Tom Asacker has hit a homerun with this book. This book is an easy read and the story from start to finish is filled with wisdom that is beyond measure. A wisdom that should be applied to everyday life, in all aspects of you life. I now apply the wisdom I received from this book to my personal, family, and business.
This is a book that I will read again and again and again.
Thank You Tom for sharing this priceless wisdom in the form of a story that captivates the reader.
RJ Stratton

What a wonderful book and an enjoyable easy read. I can't believe how easy it is to forget the simple priciples that are brought to your attention in this book. It reminds you how important the human connection is vs the typical emotionless business model. I highly recommend both of these books as they have increased repeat business in many happy clients. I'm thrilled to review this with 5 stars!