Spring, TX – Leadership Expert Al Bolea knows that behavior drives potential. “If you act successful you are embracing the concept that you are successful and this can determine future possibilities,” says Bolea, Founder of Applied Leadership Seminars. His expert advice is based on research conducted by contemporary psychologists and neuroscientists. “Simply stated, when a person becomes aware of their behavior and changes it to adopt the behaviors of great leaders, they will become a great leader,” states Bolea.
Bolea offers an Executive Leadership Retreat, consisting of twelve participants (with a few positions still open), from August 11 – 16, 2013 in Alaska. This remarkable 5-day experience takes place on a guided fishing tour in the pristine waters of Alaska’s Inside Passage and combines the rigorous leadership theory with the expansive team experience of fishing in an area of natural wonders, which offers a rare opportunity for leadership teams to re-envision their organization’s future. Participants initially stay at the Cape Fox Lodge in Ketchikan then travel by sea plane to the Waterfall Resort, one of the finest remote sport fishing destinations in the world.
“What we learn in the meeting room they put into practice in the boats. If it works in the boats, it will work back at the office, plant or wherever,” says Bolea. “Anyone who has ever attended one of these retreats acknowledges that the experience delivers results at the bottom line.”
What makes Bolea’s seminars so special is that they are tied to real-life experiences; both his personal failures and successes as an executive. He doesn’t teach people about leadership; he teaches them how to lead and gives them the tools to do so. He nurtures their behaviors and opens up doors that allow them to discover their own new potential for themselves. The seminars are life-changing in that when attendees return to work their direction is clearer and more widely understood, stronger teams emerge, fewer mistakes are made and fewer opportunities are missed.
Founder and architect of the Applied Leadership Seminars, Al Bolea is an executive leadership coach whose clients come from many industries. His seminars are offered year-round and are designed as team experiences. Participants gain new leadership tools and build greater cooperation among the members, achieving lasting personal and professional transformations. Eleven seminar options range from 5 days in length for “Leadership Transformation” to a 1 day seminar for “Being A Leader.”
Bolea is the former CEO/GM of Dubai Petroleum and a retired BP executive. His industry career spans almost forty years, including assignments in the US, UK and Middle East. He lectures at the University of Houston, and is the Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Leadership at the University of Alaska.
For more information on the Alaskan Retreat or the success of Applied Leadership Seminars, please visit the website at: www.albolea.com .
Seattle, WA – With few Asian voices heard in Western literature, Disko Praphanchith is a talented young writer who is about to change all that! His debut novel, Courage: A Story of Love and Friendship (CreateSpace), is a powerful, character-driven story that addresses the social plight of women today and touches on issues that deal with domestic abuse, racism, the loss of love and friendship, regret, and morality. In a sophisticated and worldly style, rarely seen in a young writer, Disko challenges culture, society and ideology in an attempt to reconcile one’s individuality.
In Courage, the author skillfully weaves in fiction as a way to better understand reality. While the theme of the story is love and friendship, it focuses on issues universally discussed in our culture – gender, sex, identity and ‘femininity’ – but does so without immersing readers in fantasies of sparkling creatures or erotica. Courage does not follow the typical romantic genre of clichés; instead this often raw and gritty, in-depth story focuses on the true meaning of love and friendship; making it more a realistic portrayal of human psychology that rivals themes developed by the likes of Russian novelists Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky.
The backbone of Courage is the Interludes that are conveyed through one of its leading protagonists; scholarly essays, seasoned with pearls of wisdom, are interspersed throughout the novel. These Interludes analyze the world and critique American society – namely Hollywood, for imposing ideological and hegemonic structures on the individual and thereby eliminating their personal identity.
Courage chronicles the tale of two friends over the span of a lifetime; Jenny Park, a Korean-American girl whose search for her identity in this world alienates her from her Korean kinsfolk, and Daniel Fischer, an intense, thoughtful, and brilliant young man whose mind separates him from the rest of his peers. The two meet early in life and form a deep and loving relationship. As time passes, however, it is this very friendship that becomes their greatest source of pain, where an inability to voice their love for one another eventually drives them apart.
Many years pass and we see Jenny as a broken woman living under the tyrannical hands of her husband. Her life is hell, and each day is spent uselessly toiling away without meaning. When Jenny sees Daniel one night, memories of love and friendship stir deep in her heart. With these memories suddenly rekindled, Jenny flees from her husband, travels back into the world, and attempts to reunite with the boy she once loved and knew.
Heartrending and deep, Courage infuses an emotional rawness in examining human individuality in a world where personal identity is repressed. Disko Praphanchith does a superb job of painting a picture with words, vivid and real, of what it means to accept the inevitable loss of love and friendship in life—as well as what it means to simply love.
Born in Laos, Vientiane, Praphanchith moved to the United States as a young boy. He graduated from the University of Washington with numerous literary awards and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative-Writing and English. He is well-versed in subjects involving literary theory, post-structural discourse, critical practice, and philosophy. Currently working on his second novel, Chopin in the Library, the author resides in Seattle, Washington. For more information on this talented writer or his debut novel, please visit: www.diskop.weebly.com .
Courage: A Story of Love and Friendship BY Disko Praphanchith Publisher: CreateSpace ISBN-10: 1484169476 ISBN-13: 978-1484169476
Boynton Beach, FL – Beginning at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 25 (Memorial Day weekend), Frank McKinney will attempt to pull a car tire for 24 consecutive hours at the Linton Boulevard Bridge at the Intracoastal Waterway in Delray Beach, Florida, as part of his training for the Death Valley Badwater 135-mile Ultramarathon – and you are invited to be a part of it!
Why in the world…? You might ask. Three simple reasons:
1) To train. The Death Valley Badwater 135-mile Ultramarathon, which starts July 15, will take him 40-48 hours to complete. National Geographic calls it ‘the toughest footrace in the world.’ Air temperatures exceed 130 degrees, while ground temps on the road are 200+. He will experience 13,000+ feet of cumulative vertical ascent over three mountain ranges. The tire pull simulates the elevation gain/loss, while the 24-hour duration gives him a dose of the sleep deprivation he will experience. To learn more about the Death Valley race and why he is running in it, see below.
2) To include you! Most of the training for his Death Valley race is done alone. Since he will be in one location for 24 hours, you are invited to come out and visit – maybe even pull the tire for a lap or two to see what it’s like! There will be an identical tire rig set up for those who want to give it a try. Come learn about the Death Valley race, Frank’s Caring House Project Foundation, real estate, his books, or anything else that’s on your mind.
3) To raise money for his Caring House Project Foundation that builds homes for the homeless and those less fortunate in Haiti and around the world. Donations made for each hour Frank pulls the tire at the bridge or for every mile he runs in the Death Valley Race will go to the CHPF charity. Donations can be made in person on “The Bridge to Haiti” between 5:00 a.m. Saturday, May 25 and 5:00 a.m. Sunday, May 26, online at bit.ly/11pS0MM, by calling (561)722-3950, or donations can be mailed directly to Caring House Project, P.O. Box 388, Boynton Beach, FL 33425.
Frank’s books will be available for purchase at the bridge, with proceeds going to the Caring House Project Foundation.
Where: It all takes place at: Linton Boulevard Bridge in Delray Beach, Florida at the Intracoastal (354 E. Linton Boulevard, Delray Beach, FL 33483)
When: Begin 5:00 a.m. May 25, end 5:00 a.m. May 26
Info: The Badwater Ultramarathon is hosted by Chris Kostman of AdventureCORPS and is an invitation-only race (100 invitees from 20 countries) that is held in Death Valley, California during the desert’s hottest month of the year, July. It starts at -282 feet below sea level.
The course traverses 135 miles through the Mojave, over three mountain ranges, and finishes nearly 8,500 feet above sea level. There are no aid stations, so it’s up to the runner’s crew to get him or her to the finish line.
Known as a visionary who sees opportunities and creates markets where none existed before, Frank McKinney is a real estate artist, 5-times international bestselling author, philanthro-capitalist, risk-taker, ultramarathoner and, more recently, an actor who had a lead part in the movie, “Infidel.”
