I’m pleased to share with you today, a discussion I had with Hank Wasiak co-author of the book “Change the Way You See Yourself: Through Asset-Based Thinking.” Hank is visiting Idea Sandbox as part of the Post2Post Virtual Book Tour. Each day this week Hank and Kathy are spending a day with a different blogger.

The book!	Hank

Hank and Kathy Kramer have crafted the term “asset-based thinking,” or ABT for short. ABT is the philosophy of focusing on the “what you have” versus that “what you’re missing.” The opposite of asset-based thinking is deficit-based thinking (DBT).

I’ll jump right into the questions I had for Hank. (You can find more about Asset-Based Thinking on the Idea Sandbox Blog and on the official Asset-Based Thinking website).

Paul: Hank, Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak with you about your new book, and asset-based thinking. Through this week, different bloggers will be asking you and Kathy questions about the book, and ABT… I’m going to try to ask some of the non-obvious questions… (we’ll see how I do).

So, my first question…

Paul: Is there anything you wish you could have added in this book but didn’t have room? Or had to cut?

Hank: Yes. I wish we had the opportunity to tell and showcase more stories from Asset Based Thinkers, like Nancy Ganis, Lynn Fielder, and others. Their stories are motivational celebrations of how ABT was put into practice in their lives in truly amazing and wonderful ways. We like to call ABT a positive conspiracy and it is always inspiring to meet and talk with or fellow ABT conspirators and share their stories.

Paul: What inspired creating a book with so many images? (Great images!) It’s a non-traditional approach. What was the thinking that got you there?

Hank: This is something that Kathy and I set out to do from the very beginning. Having spent my career in the advertising and communications business, I really appreciate the fact that the right combination of words, visuals and design can deliver an incredibly powerful, engaging and emotionally rewarding experience.

More importantly, I’ve been very lucky to have worked with some of the best people in the business at doing that, especially, the Farmers at The Concept Farm. From the get go, our goal was create a book series that would break the mold of traditional business/self help books and create an emotionally rewarding “reading experience” that both educated and inspired. And that’s exactly what happened… words and concrete principles inspired visuals, visuals brought new dimension to concepts and the very talented art directors and designers at the Farm brought it all to life.

Additionally, the enabling power of the internet and digital technology freed us up to create this book in such a way that would not have been possible just 10 years ago. And, finally, our publisher, Running Press, and our very talented editor, Jennifer Kassius, took a risk and supported and helped us all along.

Paul: Were you ever a DBT person? If so, what caused you to change?

Hank: Heck Yes. I was the “poster boy” for DBT. In the advertising business it was almost a way of life. What caused me to change was an ever increasing sense of knowing that there had to be a better way and being lucky enough to be introduced to the Dr. Kathy Cramer.

Paul: Anything else you’d like people to know?

Hank: We really appreciate all the support we get from bloggers and other readers who have embraced Asset Based Thinking and Kathy and I will be starting our own blogs on the ABT website. We invite everyone to visit with us and join the dialogue. Oh, yeah, one more thing. We are right in the middle of creating our next book in the series… Change The Way You See Everything-FOR TEENS. It will be published in Spring 2009 and we can’t wait to get the ABT message to teens.

Paul: Thank you so much for your time Hank… and for the background information.

If you have additional questions for Hank, please add them to the reactions section on Idea Sandbox.

The Tour Continues…

Be sure to catch next leg of the Post2Post Virtual Book tour tomorrow, Tues. May 27 with Scott Hodge at his blog “Livin’ Venti.”

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