Life: The Whole Enchilada

"Life: The Whole Enchilada" is far more than a recounting of a life well-lived. This "Gratitude Memoir" by John R. O'Neil, best-selling author of "The Paradox of Success," takes you along for the ride on a profound learning journey. O'Neil introduces you to the many teachers, mentors, character shapers, and wisdom carriers who have influenced him, both through his passion for reading and through his personal encounters. Join John as he meets Eleanor Roosevelt, studies with Abraham Maslow, discusses intellectual development with Jonas Salk, and helps Nelson Mandela spread a culture of innovation and learning across the new government of South Africa. But you'll also get to know John as he gets to know himself by humbly and hungrily devouring all he could learn from the caretaker and cook on the ranch where he grew up, his high school English teacher, and even a New York City limo driver who cautions him against becoming boring. Throughout the book, O'Neil suggests what might be learned by adopting his curiosity-driven approach to life, beginning with, "Magic is everywhere for the asking and miracles abound, especially in nature. Keep looking, asking, and honoring everyone who teaches you." He also encourages readers to examine their own lives, offering ways to help them capture their own accumulated experiences and wisdom as a legacy.

"I am what I learn." John O'Neil has made these the watchwords of his life, reinventing himself time and again to pursue numerous career paths: as a US Air Force training instructor, an AT&T executive, a venture capitalist, vice president of Mills College, president of the California School of Professional Psychology, consultant, seminar leader, and author of four books on leadership and gratitude. John O'Neil ultimately became one of the most respected teachers of our day, recruited by Nelson Mandela at the Davos World Economic Forum to run a leadership development program intended to spread a culture of innovation and learning across the new government of South Africa. John credits his success to the long list of wisdom carriers he has encountered throughout his life, both through his passion for reading, as well as those he has known in person, ranging from the cook and caretaker on the ranch where he grew up, his high school English teacher, his professors at the University of California at Berkeley, and a New York City limo driver, to his numerous well-known acquaintances, mentors and friends including Eleanor Roosevelt, Jonas Salk and Abraham Maslow, among others. O'Neil's writings include a best-seller, "The Paradox of Success;" "Seasons of Grace," co-authored with Alan Jones, then Dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco; "Leadership Aikido;" and "Life: The Whole Enchilada."