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John Baw

John Baw

http://www.wildoxgib.com/2007/09/17/my-story.htm

I have always been a seeker. I once read a book by Francois Fenelon called “The Seeking Heart“. That is what I feel that I have always had. Ever since an early age I was always seeking, craving for fulfillment in external activities and driven to succeed by a need to feel worthy. My... more »
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  • member since November 22 2007

Reviews

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Displaying 1-10 of 11 reviews
  • Big Shots: Business the Richard Branson Way
    • Rated 4 stars

    “Business the Richard Branson Way” offers an objective study into how this remarkable man has managed to build an infinitely elastic global brand that seems to defy the best of business literature on the subject. So far, something seems to be working.

    This piece of work offers lessons, not only for the businessman or entrepreneur, but for anybody who is in any position of leadership. It is highly recommended. You will learn how the Branson brand:

    ~Picks on Goliaths
    ~Is in tune with the times
    ~Haggles for everything and secures impressive outcomes from negotiations
    ~Makes work fun
    ~Stretches the brand infinitely
    ~Leverages the power of media and news coverage
    ~Inspires people and empowers them to draw out the best on them
    ~Jumps on opportunities at the speed of light
    ~Keeps everything small and nimble
    ~Never loses the common touch

    John Baw wrote this review Monday, May 25 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur
    • Rated 5 stars

    My third book on my Richard Branson reading palooza. Many of the examples used in this book are a rehashed version of material already found on his previous two books - even so, I would recommend this book to any aspiring entrepreneur. In-fact, read anything about this man that you can get your hands on. His philosophy on business and money is some sort of enlightened capitalism. A real sense of responsibility comes through the pages where he is very conscious that those who have had the good favour of achieving success in life are under an obligation to help fix as much of this broken world as possible. Richard Branson really believes in the power of entrepreneurship in order to fix some of the world's most intractable problems - This really strikes a chord with me. Sir Richard oozes charisma and energy (being known as "Dr. Yes" by some in his team). I only wish I could clone myself as him sometimes :)

    John Baw wrote this review Friday, May 15 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • Screw It, Let's Do It
    • Rated 5 stars

    This guy is an incredible agent of change in every industry that he enters. He seems to be like a walking hurricane that leaves results in its wake instead of destruction. He leaves the Virgin mark on everything he touches - a different way of doing business.

    This book is very easy to read, and straight to the point. In a way supplemental to his “Losing my virginity“, it reveals the lessons that have helped him build a global business empire. His formula for creativity is so revealing - he says that he just stays really positive all the time (his staff call him “Dr. Yes”) and ideas just “drop into his head” (!!!!!)

    Richard explains how his best business ideas always come through having lots and lots of conversations with people - even when he is working through his long to-do lists. He has his entrepreneurial antennae always switched on and ideas are picked up and then developed.

    John Baw wrote this review Monday, April 27 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • Life After Life After Death
    • Rated 5 stars

    I’ve just finished reading “Surprised by Hope” by Tom Wright. This guy is the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England, and is arguably one of the most prominent New Testament theologians around. This book contains a little to offend just about everyone from the Pope to the most Reformed of Evangelical Protestants.

    In essence, this book deals with the issue that books like “The Late Great Planet Earth” and its eschatology encouraged a changing of the church’s message from “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” to “the end of the world is near”. The Church’s message being changed naturally provoked a change in the Church’s mission and/or its defferent emphases within that mission - thus “going to Heaven” became the Christian’s ultimate goal.

    In this book Tom Wright attempts to show that the ultimate hope for the Christian is not to die and go to Heaven, and that this planet is not just waiting to be thrown off a cliff at the last judgement. He advances an altogether more biblically grounded understanding of our future hope which is, surprising for many, not at all about “going to Heaven when you die” but rather about being a co-heir with Christ in a new Heaven and a new Earth. This concept comes as a shocker to many within Evangelical Christianity. This shocker naturally changes everything. His explanation of Heaven as another present dimension to life here and now is also extremely useful as well as certain implications of, for example, Jesus being in Heaven in a material and bodily form right now, and not in a non-material state floating somewhere in the by-and-by as most Christians believe.

    Wright then moves on to cover what the implications of such a hope are, in terms of the mission of the Church - in my view these chapters are excellent and well worth buying the book for. If the “Kingdom of God” has indeed been breaking-in to Earth since the resurrection of Jesus, this truth must by necessity compell us, as His “Emissaries” to proclaim Jesus’ lordship over the Earth. Accordingly this work, or mission, falls within the following main categories:

    1. Social justice
    The Jewish concept of “Tikkun Olam” - the healing of a broken world - where suffering is aleviated, wrongs are put to right, and the love of God is expressed in practical and powerful ways. The Church’s mission is as much about feeding the poor and caring for widows as it is about holding Revival meetings and evangelism campaigns - Wright would argue that justice is a precurser and pre-text to true evangelism.

    2. Beauty
    Art that both embraces the Earth’s woundedness but at the same time points to God’s beauty in anticipation of the judgement (that will right all of the Earth’s wrongs and cover the Earth with the Glory of God as the waters cover the sea). Our hope compells us to be the most creative people on this planet - after all, we do serve the “Creator.”

    3. Evangelism
    Proclaiming the lordship of Jesus but only within the context of justice being done, and beauty being manifested. Evangelism for many of us has been reduced to getting people to pray a simple “sinner’s prayer” (mantra?) or tick the right boxes on a response card. We have to recover a truer concept of evangelism, proclaiming the risen Christ,especially within an increasingly secularized society. In my view, this has to be done in the power of the Holy Spirit, with signs following.

    There are some points that I definitely do not agree with (Praying for the rest and repose of the dead? You’re kidding me!) so be prepared to spit out some bones when you read this. However, I trust you will find that there is much more meat than bones in this piece of work.

    Any thoughts?

    John Baw wrote this review Thursday, April 23 2009. ( reply | view 1 replies | permalink )
  • Losing My Virginity: How I've Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way
    • Rated 0 stars

    I have just finished reading this page-turner! It was a really enjoyable and inspiring read, especially as Sir Richard Branson seems to speak my heart when he writes about social entrepreneurship and of using influence, position, and wealth as a force for good and for change in the world.

    Sir Richard seems to be a very remarkable man. He has the unique gift of being able to impart Virgin’s DNA, its core values, to whatever endeavour he embarks on. In all of his projects, he seems to have the knack of changing cultures and raising the high water levels. Just reading his journey from a student activist-entrepreneur to the chief visionary behind the worldwide phenomenon that is Virgin is truly exhilarating.

    Like him, I strongly believe that social entrepreneurship provides a way forward for many of the third world’s poverty-related problems. If you have a heart for the marketplace and for business, I seriously recommend that you read this book - there are tonnes of business lessons in there for you. If you happen to get fired up with his message of changing the world, then join the movement.

    John Baw wrote this review Wednesday, April 22 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Snowball
    • Rated 4 stars

    he author strips away all the mystery surrounding this intriguing persona to reveal the pure genius of the man. She gives a thorough history of both his personal as well as business life and also goes into the heavy toll that his family have borne for his dedication to business and investing.

    To any student of business or investing the lessons to take away from this book are incredible. The prudent value system that guides his every decision, as well as his propensity to consider honesty and openness whilst at the same time pushing for a hard deal will benefit any serious student of business.

    Some of the insights and dealings with previous busts and bailouts hark prophetic to our time and current crisis.

    John Baw wrote this review Monday, April 6 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • Taliban
    • Rated 4 stars

    Just finished reading this really interesting book written by prominent Pakistani author and journalist Ahmed Rashid. I seriously recommend this book to anyone who wants to go behind the simplistic portrayal of the Taliban issue often presented by the mainstream media.

    If I take anything away from this book it is the notion, from a Western perspective, that one must be very careful with whom we go to bed with - we may end up with an unplanned child down the road. That seems to be the moral of the story for all the parties involved either directly or covertly in this saga. A terrible sin of omission has been created by the western powers who were invested in Afghanistan only whilst their overriding interest was to secure a defeat of the Soviet Union. Once the Cold War was over, Afghanistan was allowed to slip off everyone's radar, descend into chaos, and into the vacuum left by the lack of good governance the Taliban rose up as, frankly, the only alternative to anarchy in their country. This is now coming back to haunt regional and international powers big time.

    When I look at what decisions are being taken with regards to Iraq, the problem in Sudan, Somalia and other forgotten hot spots and war zones around the world, I am seeing Afghanistan replayed all over again. We do not seem to learn our lessons well.

    John Baw wrote this review Thursday, March 26 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out
    • Rated 5 stars

    WildOx Blog - http://tinyurl.com/cvkp3b

    This book grips me as being an account that comes from a man who has experienced the deep reserves of grace - a man who has had to look deeply into the eyes of a loving father, and has seen the depths of mercy, compassion and forgiveness that are there to be received.

    I get the impression from Manning that it is far more important to get a grip on God’s heart for me than it is to “stop sinning”. Indeed, it may very well be that the former is the precursor and condition for the latter - the man whose foundation is the love of Father God towards him is a man who will be extremely motivated to live an upright and righteous life.

    In my own strength I fully feel like a ragamuffin - beat-up, discouraged, unqualified - I am even learning to embrace my weaknesses knowing that when I am weak then I am strong. When I do this I stop trying to “make it” on the merits of willpower, my own strength, or even my own obedience. I simply surrender to the grace of God and begin to experience a release of power that comes from the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit that empowers me as a child of God to do things that I could never have done on my own.

    I recommend this book to anyone who thinks he knows what Grace is…… read and learn bro., read and learn.

    John Baw wrote this review Saturday, March 21 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind: Access to a Life of Miracles
    • Rated 0 stars

    Awesome stuff! this book will stretch your understanding of Christianity and will broaden your horizons as to what has previously been normal life. Takes the "imp" out of "impossible"

    John Baw wrote this review Thursday, February 7 2008. ( reply | permalink )
  • When Heaven Invades Earth: A Practical Guide To A Life Of Miracles
    • Rated 0 stars

    This book revolutionized my life!

    John Baw wrote this review Friday, December 7 2007. ( reply | permalink )
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