Dr. Keith enjoys writing, and he also enjoys sharing. He is grateful to all the people he has learned from during his career, and is happy to pass along what he has learned so that others can benefit as well. The titles here in Dr. Keith’s Library are available to you for free. Just click and download a PDF version.
Welcome to Dr. Keith's Library
The Paradox of Personal Meaning (2021)
By Kent M. Keith
The Paradoxical Commandments are about finding personal meaning in the face of adversity. The paradox is that even when things are going badly, you can still find meaning and deep happiness. There is another paradox, which is that when things are going well, it can be hard to find meaning and deep happiness. Research and personal experience show us that symbols of success like power, wealth, fame, prestige, and social status provide little meaning and happiness. For that, we have to look elsewhere. This book provides an introduction to the Paradoxical Commandments, describes the importance of finding meaning, and then discusses eleven Meaning Maximizers that can provide you with much more personal meaning and deep happiness than the symbols of success.
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Morality and Morale: A Business Tale (2012)
By Kent M. Keith
Morality and Morale: A Business Tale is a story about a young business manager faced with a moral dilemma at work. As he calls on others for advice, he learns that business is a way to serve others; that there is a universal moral code that each of us can follow in our businesses and our private lives; that morality and morale are related, so that when morality goes up, so does morale; that treating others right can be a source of personal energy and can result in business success; and that living morally makes life more meaningful. The book includes Notes for the Reader that provide background for the ideas introduced in the story.
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Missing the Last Train: A Christmas Tale (2012)
By Kent M. Keith
Missing the Last Train is a short story about a man who has lost his focus on the most meaningful things in life. Working too late on Christmas Eve, he misses the last train home, and is stuck overnight at the train station with his bag of presents for his children. The station attendant invites him into his small office, and shares “The Four Rules” for finding meaning in life. When the man boards the first train the next morning, he knows that “The Four Rules” are the Christmas present he needed most.
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The Silent Revolution: Dynamic Leadership in the Student Council (1968/2003)
By Kent M. Keith
This is a new edition of the book for which Dr. Keith wrote the Paradoxical Commandments, 149 words that have spread all over the world and have been used by millions of people of all ages and backgrounds. The book was first published in 1968, when Dr. Keith was 19, a sophomore in college. In the book, Keith encouraged student leaders to work together, through the system, to achieve positive, lasting change. He said that student councils can, and should, make a difference. He explained the need to love people, and do what is meaningful and satisfying, whether you get credit or not. He used hypothetical stories to describe practical leadership skills and dilemmas, argued that the “good guys” can win, and urged students to take action now. “Don’t vegetate,” he said. “Initiate.”
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The Silent Majority: The Problem of Apathy and the Student Council (1971/2004)
By Kent M. Keith
Dr. Keith was 20, a junior in college, when he wrote this book as a companion to his first book, The Silent Revolution. Keith said: “The Silent Majority is written for high school student council leaders who want to give the student council its noblest meaning and purpose: people helping people.” Keith argued that no one is completely apathetic—everyone is interested in something. It’s up to student leaders to find out what their fellow students are interested in, and then link up with those interests. In the process, student leaders will learn more about themselves, and discover the richness of life that is available to those who become “people people.” This is a new edition of the original 1971 publication.
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The Christian Leader at Work: Serving by Leading (2012)
By Kent M. Keith
This book is for Christian leaders, whether they are leaders in churches, businesses, non-profit organizations, the military, government agencies, schools, or hospitals. Beginning with the importance of faith, the commandment to love, and the call to serve, the book describes the service model of leadership, key practices of servant-leaders, and organizational structures that are based on the teachings of Jesus and the guidance of Scripture. It addresses practical leadership issues such as motivation, leading change, and how to be effective as a leader who is in the world, not of the world. The book is unusual in that it combines the wisdom of the Scriptures with empirical research and experience that supports Biblical teachings. The book includes a Study Guide for individual reflection or group discussion, plus a list of Biblical references, a bibliography, and notes.
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Discovering Servant Leadership (2018)
By Kent M. Keith
This is the text that Dr. Keith used in presenting nine lectures that explore how to be a servant leader. He takes the teachings of the Bible and connects them with daily reality, addressing practical questions that are important regardless of what kind of organization one is leading in the ministry or the marketplace. Along the way, he shares plenty of stories about servant leaders in action, stories that illustrate their effectiveness in the real world. In preparing the lectures, Dr. Keith drew upon a number of his books and articles on servant leadership. He also added stories that he has never told before. The result is a unique text that is available nowhere else. The videos of his nine lectures can be viewed at www.discoveringservantleadership.com.
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Hawaii: Looking Back from the Year 2050 (1987/2020)
By Kent M. Keith
Dr. Keith has lived most of his life in Hawaii. From 1979 to 1986, he served in the State of Hawaii Department of Planning and Economic Development, where he worked on ocean and energy issues, and then served as Director of the department, responsible for planning and economic development for the state. In 1987, the year after he completed his work for the department, he wrote nine fictional lectures in which he pretended that it was the year 2050 and he was looking back to report on everything that had happened in the previous 75 years. The lectures were titled Hawaii: Looking Back from the Year 2050. He said in the 1987 Author’s Preface: “Imagining the future is fun. It is also essential. It is essential to think about different futures in order to choose some and avoid others—to define a preferred future and seek to reach it. Also, we may be able to discover ways of solving today’s problems by looking at things from a new perspective—that of our grandchildren.” In 2020, thirty-three years later, Dr. Keith re-published the lectures, along with a new Author’s Preface.
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Our Birds Don’t Eat in the Dark (2021)
By Kent M. Keith
There are a lot of serious issues facing our world, and we need to engage them. But sometimes, we should stop and enjoy all the things in our world that are amusing, strange, cacophonous, random, contradictory, and fascinating. Our Birds Don’t Eat in the Dark is a collection of 16 whimsical essays about a wide range of curious things. Dr. Keith writes in an enthusiastic, conversational tone about birds, bananas, clouds, ancestry, sounds, our sense of smell, roosters, drinking, naps, dancing, mitochondria, mindfulness, missing body parts, wind and wings, remote controls, and squirrels.
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