Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Tiffany Sunday’s anticipated fourth book, Insatiable Consumption of Being: A Collection of Poems, Writings, and Micro Stories, is available at Barnes & Noble, independent book stores, Amazon and other online retailers.

The book represents a new direction for Tiffany. Her three previous books focused on technology, leadership, and entrepreneurship.

In a recent interview, Tiffany shared, “Most of my readers and followers are surprised to learn that I write poetry. And that I have been writing since third grade. Poetry is very natural to me as the words tumble out easily and often unexpectedly. The book includes several of my favorite poems that I wrote in high school.”

Tiffany is scheduling poetry readings and author visits. Insatiable Consumption of Being is now available wherever books and ebooks are sold from Tilton House Press.

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month. To honor and generate awareness for millions of employees who are dyslexic, I am releasing the book on Tuesday, October 16, 2018.

Click Here to Pre-Order Your Copy

How Dyslexics Will Rule the Future

In Tiffany’s new ground-breaking book, How Dyslexics Will Rule the Future, she asserts the last competitive edge against the machines is human creativity. Building durable businesses requires a multi-diverse talent pool and creative corporate culture. Tiffany challenges readers to embrace a paradigm shift in how we are designing the future of work while shattering the definition of literacy and antiquated workplace perceptions of dyslexia.

This book is the result of two years of research focused on the impact of artificial intelligence and automation on employment and the importance of human creativity and problem-solving.

My research uncovered multiple trends ranging from how we are shifting from a text-based intelligence to a visual-based intelligence, to the development of new digital languages and how the use of talent management systems will create defined cognitive employment groups.

Special Pre-Order Giveaways

Click Here to Pre-Order Your Copy 

• Everyone who purchases a book will be entered into a drawing to receive a free copy of Dyslexia’s Competitive Edge.  Five books will be given away.
• Companies or organizations, located in Texas, that purchase 100 books or more, I will hand deliver the books and give a presentation.
• Companies or organizations, located outside of Texas, that purchase 150 books or more, I will fly or drive to your office, deliver the books, and give a presentation.
• For individuals or schools or groups who purchase 15 books or more will receive a one-hour phone interview. During this hour, I can discuss the book, take questions and offer strategies.

Please post, share or engage in a conversation to help generate awareness in the workplace.  Thank you! in advance for your help and support, the more we share the information, the more awareness we create.

The Pre-Order starts today, Wednesday, October 3 and will end on Tuesday, October 9, 2018, at midnight. All giveaways and specials are only valid for this time period.  

In case you are wondering, this is not a blog post listing the top ten business books to read for the holidays.  Nope, this post is different. It’s about the importance of stories and reading.

As an author, I am always asking people what books they like to read.  With two new books slated for publication in 2018, I need to know my market.

I can peg a person’s response to their facial expression.  It’s that frustrated look, “Why would I read a book now, I’m out of school.”  Or “Oh, she’s going to recommend another boring business book. Ugh.” Insert eye rolling emoji.

The majority of the responses all include, “I don’t have time to read because…” We spend hundreds of hours each week reading blog posts, text messages, FB posts etc.  Ironically, we read blog posts about which books successful people are reading.

The book list is unimportant.

What matters most is that these leaders schedule time to read.

The thought leaders, we admire, read a wide range of books including novels, history, biographies and business leadership.  All books contain stories even non-fiction which highlights case studies. We remember stories, we relate to stories, and use stories to help us navigate our jobs, personal relationships, challenges, and events in our lives.

Without these stories, we have a limited mental library to retrieve examples for guidance. Since the beginning of mankind, we’ve used stories to build communities, pass down information, and form bonds needed for survival.

Today is no different.  We need stories; we need this foundation.  Purchasing a book for yourself and everyone on your holiday list is important.

Reading is the gateway to society. If a child does not read by the age of seven, they are at risk of missing the gateway.  Once the opportunity passes, it is extremely difficult to gain access.

The ability read (insert assistive technology if needed to help with reading) is the second most important skill humans’ must possess.  The ability to communicate is first.

As you build your holiday shopping list, take the time to visit your local bookstore or Amazon.  Think about the stories you crave to read.  What problem are you mentally seeking to solve? Go to the library; walk through the quiet aisles glancing at the titles. What book catches your eye?

Better yet, go to the children’s section look at the stories.  Last month, I discovered while walking through Barnes and Noble – What Do You Do With An Idea by Kobi Yamada.  I absolutely love the book and believe everyone should read it.

Books, regardless how you read them are important, they provide us with a rich depth of stories that we use daily to solve problems.  Even non-fiction has a place because we gain knowledge and a different perspective.

Included in this post are images of the current books I am reading.  I will be stopping by Half Price Books and Barnes & Noble to purchase gifts.

Remember – reading by the fireplace is a great way to unplug and enjoy the holidays!

In the global markets, commodities are bought and sold based on price and availability. People will pay more for higher quality in some situations, but not all.

As we know, commodity prices are always at the mercy of the market. It’s all about supply and demand, this is not new nor do I believe it will change either.

With the rapid acceleration of technology and automation, knowledge workers are a commodity. Keep in mind, automation completely changed factories, and now automation is disrupting higher levels of employment.

For the past five and half years, I have been studying, thinking, writing, and speaking about how technology will transform our economy and society.

Every day, I think about Einstein’s quote “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

His quote guides my thinking because I know we’ll never find a solution if we use the same thought process we used thirty years ago.

Employment advice is the same story. The best way to differentiate your brand at work is to add more value, gain more skills, gain more experience, and take a class. Why do we continue to offer the same advice, while the world is changing?

How much more value can you add to a commodity to make it not a commodity? Think about — that’s what we are saying? Aren’t we? How many tiny features can we add to a roll of toilet paper?

We all know there is not much that separates the commodities we buy every day. Think about how you purchase toilet paper, soap, gas for your car. What makes you purchase one product over the competitor? Is the toilet paper soft, does the soap smell nice, which product is cheapest?

We think about two things when purchasing a commodity. Which products I like best and which can I afford. Not much else. When we’re in a hurry our goal is to grab something from the shelf or click the icon for Amazon Prime Grocery Box.

Side note — Amazon changed how we think about shopping, this, in turn, will change how we think about hiring people. It will; we just don’t know how.

Books and seminars tell us to gain more skills, add more features to our personal brand to make us more attractive on the digital employment shelf.

I don’t want to be soap anymore, and I don’t think you do either.

So, how do we stop being a commodity? I believe when we continue to place ourselves in the market as a commodity, then our value will always be priced on what the market determines.

Always.

While writing this morning, I came across Alex Deckard’s post. From the content, it appears he wrote it several years ago. He succinctly describes the difference between being a commodity worker and being above or as he puts it the 1%.

I like how he framed the question. The only way we move off the shelf is to disrupt our thinking process. I wrote on Tuesday, back a hundred years ago, no one could conceive the new industries between the 1880's — 1920's. They were still thinking about how to add more features to a horse buggy.

Read Alex’s post and think how to disrupt your worldview of employment, and toss into the process an entrepreneurial creative perspective. Instead of seeing what is — ask how employment will be profoundly different.

Ask yourself how do I move off the shelf and not be a commodity. Challenge every assumption about your employment, income, skills, features, and experience. Then take a break and give your subconscious time to work on the problem.

Let me know what you discover.

This post is dedicated to fellow dyslexics around the world.

Name must your fear be before banish it you can.
Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back

I overcame my fear of failure, in elementary school, after thousands of failed starts in reading, writing, and spelling. Since then, I have developed a confidence in my abilities to overcome challenges and solve complex problems.

Even with my dyslexic brain’s savvy abilities, I encounter language processing misfires every day. There are some days when I feel it is impossible to spell a correct word.

These misfires include using the word “thingy” for everything, talking backward, and collapsing sentences to increase processing speeds. When this occurs, small talk goes out the window. My brain focuses all of its energy on what it deems critical communication.  What surprises most people is that I have a fear of writing in public. Either on social media or physically in front of another person.  As a writer, this fear can present problems when your business is based on creating content.

When I was in high school, I wished, someone would have helped focus my energy on developing strategies to manage these road bumps instead of increasing my fear of making a mistake.

Since writing Dyslexia’s Competitive Edge, I’ve learned a lot about myself.  I’ve discovered how dyslexia encourages us to be brave.  Our bravery occurs when we write on a whiteboard, answer questions in class, or participate in an extracurricular activity that requires us to read out loud.

Dyslexia teaches us to be brave as we think of ways to respond to tacky comments.

Like I said before, if I had a dollar for every time a person corrected my language errors or dyslexia’s misfires, I would have an island next to Richard Branson.

It’s hard to explain to others why our dyslexic brain will never figure out how to correctly say or spell a word.  Often they think we’re not trying hard enough.  We need to support dyslexic teens and remind them often to focus on developing strategies and ignore naysayers.

My dyslexia brain is evolving to become a mentor, encouraging me to move past this fear.  I’m instructed to write online, develop a small talk strategy, and write in front of people.  Each brave action makes it easier for the next action.

Even though small talk can be mentally draining, I am developing workarounds to manage the stress of retrieving the correct word.  Small talk is different than speaking at a conference or like my TEDx Talk.  As a professional speaker, I spent hours memorizing the presentation.

No Fear 

I decided to embrace my fear and became a board member of my son’s high school band organization.  Each week, I volunteer at football games and competitions.  I am most vulnerable when helping at these events.

I write down numbers, names, pronounce student names, and manage on-demand communication with moving variables.  Imagine participating in the Olympic Game of language processing.

The real test was this past weekend.  I was a band chaperone for an all day competition. My dyslexic brain rose to the demands and quickly created adoptions and shorts cuts to efficiently process information.  However, by late afternoon I experienced word retrieval problems, talked backward, and collapsed sentences down to two or three words.

Instead of feeling embarrassed or frustrated, I kept going and if someone asked I said, “I’m dyslexic and am experiencing language misfires.”  I work each day to stop criticizing myself for these errors.  I know it’s impossible to stop the word “thingy” from happening.  I have learned it’s a message from my brain telling me it’s either overloaded or tired.

My message to dyslexic teens and young adults – Do not let your fear prevent you from doing what you love.

Be brave and work to develop strategies, tell people your dyslexic, and then share with them how they can help you process information.

I believe we only gain the results we seek.  When we are willing to face our fears, take action only then can we eliminate the fear.

This post was originally posted on www.tiffanysunday.com for Dyslexia Awareness Month.  Image Credit - Codpast.