It's been over six months since I gave up caffeine.  The first week was misery as I went through "withdrawals".  After that, it took at least a month to deal with the energy differential when getting started in the morning. At this point, I'm acclimated to a no-caffeine life. 

One of the topics I read on is business is cultural trends. The "The Long Tail" is a book that fits that category. The author is the editor of "Wired" Magazine. It's an interesting book on how the low cost of production, storage and distribution of content allows all sorts of materials to get out and be found by niche markets.

Here is a portion of a reviewfrom a review from Publisher's Weekly

"Smash hits have existed largely because of scarcity: with a finite number of bookstore shelves and theaters and Wal-Mart CD racks, "it's only sensible to fill them with the titles that will sell best." Today, Web sites and online retailers offer seemingly infinite inventory, and the result is the "shattering of the mainstream into a zillion different cultural shards." These "countless niches" are market opportunities for those who cast a wide net and de-emphasize the search for blockbusters."

Leaders are learners, and most leaders are readers. I try to regularly read books that help me grow. I just got done with John Maxwell's book - the 21 irrefutable laws of leadership. Overall, good stuff.

Came across an interesting article. It compares two points of reference for those who teach and lead. Are you leader who teaches, or a teacher who leads. Here is the article.

http://mikehannah.com/site/Leadership/03257D8D-BC80-4957-A1A9-351A56C8CB91_files/Leader%20who%20teaches-1.pdf