FOREWORD by Dr. Christopher P. Neck

 

Dr. Chris Neck

Foreword

By

Christopher P. Neck, Ph.D.

Professor of Management

Arizona State University

David McCullough—that famous historian of our recent past—once remarked: "The only way to teach history, to write history, to bring people into the magic of transforming yourself into other times, is through the vehicle of the story. It isn't just a chronology. It's about people. History is human."

With these words in mind, Jordan Jensen's comprehensive work on Self-Action Leadership (SAL), built upon the foundation of his own, unique personal leadership history is truly an exceptional work, and for two distinct reasons. 

First, Self-Action Leadership applies the method of teaching outlined by McCullough. There are many good definitions and explanations of self-leadership (forerunner of SAL) out there, but Jordan's work stands apart because he teaches us the concept through the vehicle of storytelling. And the wonderment of the story is that it is his own and it is true. 

In the pages that follow, Jordan articulately chronicles his own self-leadership successes. In doing so, he does not withhold the painful details surrounding his countless struggles and failures preceding those successes. With unusual honesty and courageous self-disclosure, he opens our eyes to our own imperfect, yet determined humanity by providing a fascinating look into his own. In the process, he inspires us to acknowledge, confront, and transcend whatever adversity comes our way to eventually realize the full extent of our own potential. But he does not stop at sharing his story. He goes on to utilize his narrative as a foundation for expanding self-leadership theory by introducing his own, original theory and model—the Self-Action Leadership (SAL) Theory and Model.

Second, Jensen has accomplished a task that is very difficult for any author to achieve, and that is to produce a single text that is highly relevant to multiple audiences at the same time. Because of the universal applicability of basic self-leadership principles, his message is germane not only to persons struggling with OCD, depression, or other forms of mental illness, but to civic leaders, business professionals and workers of all kinds, educators, parents, students, and children—in short, to everyone. Indeed, I do believe that virtually anyone who reads this text will be able to take something away from it that will improve his or her life in a significant way. As an author myself, I am amazed at Jordan's achievement in writing one text that carries the potential to reach such a wide variety of people—and that is the beauty of it.

This book will do much more than just teach you about Self-Action Leadership. It will cause you to think deeply about how you are currently leading your life and how you could lead it more effectively. More importantly, Jensen's compelling story and courageous personal example, combined with his percipient ability to effectively teach the corresponding self-leadership principles, will inspire and motivate you to actually do something about what you will learn. In the process, it might even touch emotions in your heart that will move you to joy and tears. It takes a talented writer to do all of these things, so I know you'll enjoy reading this work. More importantly, I know you'll come away a wiser person with an increased motivation to get moving to realize your own Self-Action Leadership potential, an opportunity we can all take full advantage of, if only we will.  

About Dr. Chris Neck

 

Christopher P. Neck, Ph.D., is one of the world's most prolific and prestigious scholars in the academic field of SELF-LEADERSHIP. He is the lead co-author (with Dr. Charles C. Manz and Dr. Jeffery D. Houghton) of Self-Leadership: The Definitive Guide to Personal Excellence, 2nd Edition (SAGE), which serves as the seminal textbook on self-leadership used at colleges and universities throughout the world.

A forerunner of this text, Mastering Self-Leadership: Empowering Yourself for Personal Excellence, which Neck also co-authored with Manz, was used by Jordan Jensen in a leadership class his freshman year of college. It served as Dr. JJ's formal introduction to self-leadership in academe.  

Dr. Neck is currently a full Professor of Management at Arizona State University, where he has also held the title “University Master Teacher.” From 1994 to 2009, he was part of the Pamplin College of Business faculty at Virginia Tech. He received his Ph.D. in Management from Arizona State University and his MBA and bachelor's degree from Louisiana State University ~ Geaux Tigers! ~ in Baton Rouge.  

Dr. JJ's college copy of Manz & Neck's
seminal textbookon self-leadership

Neck is author and/or coauthor of twenty-seven books or textbooks, including the following:

• Self-Leadership: The Definitive Guide to Personal Excellence
• Get a Kick Out of Life: Expect the Best of Your Body, Mind, and Soul at Any Age
• Fit To Lead: The Proven 8-week Solution for Shaping Up Your Body, Your Mind, and Your Career
• Mastering Self-Leadership: Empowering Yourself for Personal Excellence
• The Wisdom of Solomon at Work
• For Team Members Only: Making Your Workplace Team Productive and Hassle-Free
• Medicine for the Mind: Healing Words to Help You Soar
• Management: A Balanced Approach to the 21^st Century
• Entrepreneurship
• Organizational Behavior
• Introduction to Business

Dr. Neck’s research specialties include employee/executive fitness, self-leadership, leadership, group decision-making processes, and self-managing teams. He has over 150 publications in the form of books, chapters, and articles in academic journals. Some of the outlets in which Neck’s work has appeared include:

• Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
• The Journal of Organizational Behavior
• The Academy of Management Executive
• Journal of Applied Behavioral Science
• The Journal of Managerial Psychology
• Executive Excellence
• Human Relations
• Human Resource Development Quarterly
• Journal of Leadership Studies
• Educational Leadership
• The Commercial Law Journal. 

Dr. JJ's copy of Neck and Manz's 5th Edition
S-L textbook, which he used during his doctoral studies

Neck is the Deputy Editor of the Journal of Leadership and Management. Neck’s expertise in management has landed him citations in numerous national publications, including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Houston Chronicle, and the Chicago Tribune.

Dr. Neck was recently voted as a semi-finalist (top six out of 140 nominations) for the prestigious international 2020 Baylor University Cherry Award for Great Teaching. Neck was also the recipient of the 2007 Business Week Favorite Professor Award,” one of the approximately twenty professors from across the world receiving this award.  

 

Chris has taught over 80,000 students during his career in higher education. He currently teaches a mega section of Management Principles to approximately 900 students at Arizona State University. 

Neck was the recipient of the 2020 John W. Teets Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award (voted by W.P Carey students). Neck also received the Order of Omega Outstanding Teaching Award for 2012.  This award is presented to one professor at Arizona State by the Alpha Lamda leadership fraternity.

His class sizes at Virginia Tech filled rooms with up to 2500 students. He received numerous teaching awards during his time in Blacksburg, including the 2002 Wine Award for Teaching Excellence. Between 1996 and 2008, Dr. Neck was a TEN-TIME winner of the “Students’ Choice Teacher of The Year Award” (voted by students annually for the best teacher within the entire university).

Neck has provided professional training for many corporations, including:

• Anavate Partners
• Mountainside Fitness
• GE/Toshiba
• Busch Gardens
• Clark Construction
• The United States Army
• Crestar
• American Family Insurance
• Sales and Marketing Executives International
• American Airlines
• American Electric Power
• W. L. Gore & Associates
• Dillard's Department Stores
• Prudential Life Insurance.

An avid runner, Chris has completed 12 official marathons and over 100 unofficial ones, including the New York, San Diego, and elite Boston. To-date, his longest continuous run is 48 miles.  

Dr. Neck and his wife, Jennifer, are the proud parents of a son and daughter. 

For more information about Dr. Neck's work and consulting services, to to contact him personally, please visit his professional website at: www.chrisneck.com or his academic website at: https://search.asu.edu/profile/1382090.

—Dr. JJ

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 352nd Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 168th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 351 FF Blog Articles 

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES  

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS   

Click HERE to access the FULL TEXT of Dr. JJ's Psalms of Life: A Poetry Collection

Click HERE for a complete listing of Self-Action Leadership Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Fitness, Heath, & Wellness Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Biographical & Historical Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Current Events, Cultural, Philosophical, & Miscellaneous Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Dr. JJ's Autobiographical Articles

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

And if you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to sign up to receive future articles for FREE every Wednesday.

To sign up, please email freedomfocused@gmail.com and say SUBSCRIBE, or just YES, and we will ensure you receive a link to each new blog article every Wednesday.  

Click HERE to buy the SAL Textbooks

PRAISE for the Self-Action Leadership TEXTBOOK

Colonel Lee Ellis
U.S. Air Force, Retired
Business Owner and Leadership Expert

"In the SAL Textbook, Dr. Jordan Jensen has assembled a leadership masterpiece anchored steadfastly in true principles of philosophy and human behavior.

"In wonderfully written prose, Jordan reminds us of who we are and what it takes to live and lead with honor. Moreover, he challenges us to live up to the high calling of being human beings with a special mission on this Earth. To accomplish our mission, we must do two major things: grow in our sense of personal responsibility, and in turn, care for others and help them to do the same.

"I grappled with these two areas in a primal way during more than five years as a POW in Vietnam. Now I'm thrilled to see how Dr. Jensen has laid out SAL by using the vehicle of story to illuminate his own unique journey of transcending adversity. In so doing, he has inspired us all to become who we are capable of becoming. 

"Bravo!"

— Colonel Lee Ellis
U.S. Air Force (retired)
Founder & President of Leading with Honor, 

Leadership Freedom LLC, and FreedomStar Media.
Author of Leading with Honor: Leadership Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton

"There is no more important contributor to your own effectiveness than how you lead yourself. If you want to learn a great deal about the latest thinking on self-leadership, read this comprehensive work."

— Charles C. Manz, Ph.D.
Nirenberg Chaired Professor of Business Leadership, University of Massachusetts
Father of the self-leadership field in academe
Co-author of Self-Leadership: The Definitive Guide to Personal Excellence

Dr. Chris Neck

"Jordan Jensen has accomplished a task that is very difficult for any author to achieve, and that is to produce a single text that is highly relevant to multiple audiences at the same time. Because of the universal applicability of basic self-leadership principles, his message is germane not only to persons struggling with OCD, depression, or other forms of mental illness, but to civic leaders, administrators, business professionals and workers of all kinds, educators, students, parents, and students—in short, to everyone. Indeed, I do believe that virtually anyone who reads this text will be able to take something away from it that will improve his or her life in a significant way."

— Christopher P. Neck, Ph.D.
Professor of Management, Arizona State University
Co-author of Self-Leadership: The Definitive Guide to Personal Excellence

David G. Anthony, Ed.D.

"Reading this book may be the most valuable thing you do this year. I hope the message of SAL makes its way into the minds and hearts of students, parents, and business professionals everywhere. Its presence in the literature is a service to our nation and world."

— David G. Anthony, Ed.D.
Former CEO, Raise Your Hand Texas
Former Superintendent, Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District (Houston, TX)

Elizabeth & Bradley Chappell

"Jordan Jensen's empowering book shares candid personal insights into the challenges of living with OCD and the broadly applicable process he has been using to continually overcome it. We have read about several different mental health challenges, but never as a first-hand account written in such a detailed and self-disclosing fashion. The compelling narrative chapters make this self-help guide read like a page-turner novel that is coupled with a powerful process of improving one's ability to self-lead. Jordan's explanation of Self-Action Leadership is applicable to all. 

"Thanks, Jordan!" 

— Brad and Elizabeth Chappell
Husband, Father, Award-Winning Financial Advisor, and Business Owner (Brad) and Wife, Mother, Writer, and Entrepreneur (Elizabeth); Spring, Texas, USA

Dr. Bruce Jackson
Business Owner & Flow Expert

"Most of us have challenges that we seek to explain through our genetic predispositions. It is the select few who consider their internal resources and make the choice to master those challenges. Dr. Jensen, through his own experiences and research, has taken the latter path—The Road Less Traveled. Anyone who seeks greater insight into their inner struggles, and desires the tools to overcome those struggles—to master self—will find this work a must read!"  

— Bruce H. Jackson, Ph.D., MBA, MPA, Ed.M., MA 
Founder & CEO of the Attentional Leadership Institute
Author of Finding Your Flow

"Since I was crowned Miss America in 1984, I have had the opportunity to travel all over the world to meet with countless leaders, educators, and families. In doing so, I have noticed that the attributes that factor most greatly in the long-term success of individuals and groups—like personal character and the ability to lead and influence others in positive and productive ways—are not taught in homes to the same degree that they were when I was growing up.

 
"If students don't learn these things in their homes, schools become the "Next Defense" and maybe even their "Last Best Hope" to obtain them before entering the professional workforce. Unfortunately, schools these days often shirk their duty in this regard as well. As such, I am thrilled to see that Jordan has dedicated his career to bridging this glaring pedagogical gap and meeting this much-needed character component in schools, universities, and organizations. I heartily endorse Dr. Jensen's work and encourage leaders, administrators, and educators everywhere to embrace Self-Action Leadership in their states, districts, schools, and organizations."

— Sharlene Wells Hawkes

Business Executive, Community Leader, and former Miss America (1985)

SAL has never been short of PRAISE
from EXPERTS and others
who have read the work.

"While a number of books and articles have been written on the topic of self-leadership, Jordan Jensen's Self-Action Leadership textbook goes deep below the surface of basic self-leading strategies and their accompanying examples. It provides an in-depth examination of how self-leadership processes can be woven effectively into the fabric of one's life. A deeply personal and richly emotive narrative, SAL takes the reader on a journey of self-discovery, providing one of the most detailed and applied treatments of self-leadership concepts currently available." 

— Jeffery D. Houghton, Ph.D. 
Associate Professor of Management, West Virginia University and leading self-leadership scholar in academe

"Jordan Jensen has written a thorough, intense, and illuminating autobiographical volume about how to lead oneself. His story, compounded by OCD and a determination to improve, will help others reflect on how they might best lead themselves—given whatever genetic endowment or mimetic inheritance they may have received. Jordan's depth of analysis and self-insight will inspire others to take a similarly in-depth review of who they are and who they want to be—at least once before they die—a journey well worth the effort." 

— James G.S. Clawson, Ph.D. 
Emeritus Professor of Management, Darden Graduate School of Business at The University of Virginia
Author of Level 3 Leadership: Getting Below the Surface

 

Dr. JJ's Bachelor's Degree in English from UVU
signed by President Matthew S. Holland

"The model of SAL is a thought-provoking read of a topic vital for our day. While Dr. Jensen draws upon multiple disciplines, he manages to produce a broadly accessible book that shows how this type of leadership is attainable for anyone willing to accept responsibility and work at it."

— Matthew S. Holland, Ph.D.
Former President, Utah Valley University 

"As a high school English teacher who also facilitates a student leadership class, I was thrilled to learn about this insightful guide to self-leadership that can be used as a resource in classes just like mine. As an educator, it is encouraging to know that there are people out there like Dr. Jensen who are working hard to support administrators, teachers, parents, and students alike. I am confident the message of Self-Action Leadership will help to provide the guidance our youth so desperately need to become effective self-leaders and productive members of society.

"Thank you, Jordan!" 

— Shannon Lindholm
High School Teacher, Texas, USA

Josh Rohatinsky
Healthcare Administrator
and Champion Distance Runner

"Dr. Jensen shares insightful stories and powerful principles to create an incredibly solid foundation of self-leadership knowledge, but he doesn't stop there. The reader is also guided through the same process of self-discovery Dr. Jensen himself went through to become an effective self-action leader. The combination of sound philosophy and guided self-exploration make this work a truly unique and powerful tool in creating principle-centered self-leaders." 

— Josh Rohatinsky, MPA 
Administrative Director, Utah Valley Hospital
NCAA Division-1 men's cross-country champion (2006)
Former professional runner (Nike)

"Dr. Jensen, through his experience teaching, brings to light the importance of teaching leadership and character inside the classroom. Teachers will feel empowered to impact outside of prescribed curriculum through an understanding of Self-Action Leadership." 

— James Fraser
High School Teacher and Coach, Texas, USA

"If you find yourself in Hell, you might be lucky enough to come across this book. Psychotherapists like myself can show you a pathway to healing, but Jordan outlines individual footsteps you can follow to personal freedom.

"Jordan approached his OCD and depression with unusual determination and proactivity. His story offers an inspiring model of a patient's full acceptance of responsibility for one's own condition and treatment, which is paramount to a successful outcome.

"His Self-Action Leadership Theory and Model—the result of keen self-awareness, reflection, and study—offer hope for those who struggle with mental illness and other life challenges. He has demonstrated the courage to take the first steps, as well as the commitment to keep going." 

— Irene Tobis, Ph.D. 
Retired Professional Counselor and former President of OCD Texas, an affiliate of the International Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Foundation (IOCDF)

—Dr. JJ

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 346th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 165th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 345 FF Blog Articles 

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES  

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS   

Click HERE to access the FULL TEXT of Dr. JJ's Psalms of Life: A Poetry Collection

Click HERE for a complete listing of Self-Action Leadership Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Fitness, Heath, & Wellness Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Biographical & Historical Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Current Events, Cultural, Philosophical, & Miscellaneous Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Dr. JJ's Autobiographical Articles

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

And if you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to sign up to receive future articles for FREE every Wednesday.

To sign up, please email freedomfocused@gmail.com and say SUBSCRIBE, or just YES, and we will ensure you receive a link to each new blog article every Wednesday.  

Click HERE to buy the SAL Textbooks

The Universal Applicability & Appeal of Self-Action Leadership

Self-Action Leadership (SAL) was intentionally written with a universal audience in mind.  Unlike many self-help or personal development books that focus on a single audience or undertaking (e.g. business/corporate, education, fitness, parenting, etc.), the principles contained in the SAL Theory & Model are specifically designed to benefit anyone at any age, in any group, facing any kind of life challenge or obstacle.  It is, quite literally, a one-size-fits-all guide for self-improvement and holistic personal growth.

According to Christopher P. Neck, an Associate Professor at Arizona State University:

"Jensen has accomplished a task that is very difficult for any author to achieve, and that is to produce a single text that is highly relevant to multiple audiences at the same time. Because of the universal applicability of basic self-leadership principles, his message is germane not only to persons struggling with OCD, depression, or other forms of mental illness, but to civic leaders, business professionals and workers of all kinds, educators, students, athletes, parents, and children—in short, to everyone. Indeed, I do believe that virtually anyone who reads this book will be able to take something away from it that will improve his or her life in a significant way. As an author myself, I am amazed at Jordan’s achievement in writing one book that carries the potential to reach such a wide variety of people—and that is the beauty of it."  Click HERE to read Neck's entire COMMENT.

For the past SEVEN weeks, we have been publishing individual articles that specifically articulate how Self-Action Leadership knowledge and training can benefit SEVEN different, targeted audiences.  In this week's post, we are including links to these seven articles (see end of article for links).

 No matter who you are, you will be able to find your own life's unique niche of experiences among these seven different audiences.  We invite you to scan this list to find the audience[s] that best fits your needs and then carefully read those article[s] that most ideally relate to YOU.

We then encourage you to share these articles with your colleagues, friends, and family members.

While the dawn of the AGE of AUTHENTICISM is already underway, it is just in the beginning stages.  Every person who adds to their knowledge and application of SAL-oriented principles and practices—whether you learn it from Freedom Focused or somewhere else—is like adding another brick to the massive structure of societal change for which ground has already been broken.  We invite you to join us in putting the morally penurious pages of postmodernism behind us by welcoming in a whole new age of thinking and being—an age where authenticity and integrity win the day, and eventually the era.

The SEVEN Audiences of Self-Action Leadership are as follows:  (Click on an audience to access its specific article)

AUDIENCE 1:  Individuals

AUDIENCE 2:  Students of all ages

AUDIENCE 3:  Educators, including Administrators, Teachers/Professors, etc.

AUDIENCE 4:  Business Professionals (Leaders, Managers, & Workers)

AUDIENCE 5:  Parents & Families

AUDIENCE 6:  Elected Officials and other high profile Leaders & Role Models

AUDIENCE 7:  Persons dealing with mental illness

........................................................................................................................................................

SELF-ACTION LEADERSHIP is the key catalyst for initiating transformational leadership that lasts in any organization. The truth of the matter really is that simple; and the transformation of organizations through the holistic development of individuals really is that difficult—yet altogether possible for anyone willing to invest the time, effort, and sacrifice required to achieve authentic, transformational results.

Unlike any training program that has ever preceded it, Self-Action Leadership provides a single vehicle wherewith individual self-leaders can discover—and then act—upon the great truth that HOLISTIC personal development and growth spanning the mental, moral, spiritual, physical, emotional, and social elements of our individual natures is within the grasp of each one of us.

Note: Freedom Focused is a non-partisan, for-profit, educational corporation. As such, we do not endorse or embrace political figures. We do, however, comment from time-to-time on historical or political events that provide pedagogical backdrops to illuminating principles contained in the SAL Theory & Model.

Click HERE to learn more about the SAL Theory & Model.

To receive weekly articles from Freedom Focused & Dr. Jordan R. Jensen, sign up with your e-mail address in the white box on the right side of this page where it says "Follow by E-mail."

Click HERE to buy a copy of Dr. Jordan Jensen's new book, Self-Action Leadership: The Key to Personal, Professional, & Global Freedom.

Click HERE to read more about Dr. Jensen's book, Self-Action Leadership, and to review what experts in the leadership field are saying about this groundbreaking new personal development handbook.

Click HERE to learn more about Dr. Jordan R. Jensen. Click HERE to visit the Freedom Focused website.