Author: Donald Van de Mark

Publisher: Columbia Island Press

ISBN: 978-0-98460-612-2

Click Here To Purchase The Good Among the Great: 19 Traits of the Most Admirable, Creative, and Joyous People

In The Good Among The Great: 19 Traits of the Most Admirable, Creative, and Joyous People, Donald Van de Mark relies heavily on the teachings of psychologist Abraham Maslow to illustrate how a small minority of the world's mega-achievers are exceedingly aware, egalitarian, empathic, descent, and happy. As he points out, they are loved by their associates, staff and competitors and they deeply care about others and often use their positions and influence to help the large community. What makes them tick and do they have distinct personality traits?


Van de Mark looks to Maslow who believed that there is a group of “self-actualizing” individuals that make up just one percent of the general population that have in common nineteen dominant specific personality traits. In his interviews with many individuals such as U.S. Senator Bill Bradley, Professor Joseph Campbell, Rev. R. Maurice Boyd, Dr. Andrew Weil, Warren Buffet, Muriel Maffre of the San Francisco Ballet, and many others, Van de Mark proves in many ways Maslow's findings.

Organized into four parts, the book explores the development of a whole, true self and traits that pertain to being an autonomous, ethical, and loving being, assessing the world clearly, caring and interacting with others effectively, and earning your personal payoff.

The book concludes with Meryl Streep, someone who embodies all nineteen traits which basically can be summed up as someone that is autonomous, loving, ethical, unaffected, private, detached, experiential, realistic, laid back, performance and process oriented, egalitarian, jolly, empathic, dutiful, appreciative, creative, exuberant, joyous, and transcendent.

The stories in the book are factual, even if a name and details have been modified to protect someone's privacy. As a disclaimer, Van de Mark states that he is not a psychologist and the book is not meant to be a research paper nor a psychological tome. As there are nineteen traits to explore, the book comprises nineteen chapters each with a story about someone who embodies one or moe specific traits. For example, if we refer to Chapter Four, we read about Andrew Weil, the alternative-medicine pioneer. Van de Mark points out that just “as Maslow describes, Weil sometimes feels quite un-at-home on planet Earth.” Van de Mark further goes onto state that “It's that people like Weil, who feel compelled to follow their own paths, are critical to self-governing democracies.” And what is quite interesting, is that those who feel and stand apart from the rest of us are the ones who lead us. In Chapter Fourteen, readers learn about Andy Grove of Intel who had to deal with the Nazis, the Red Army and cancer. However, all of these experiences taught him how to be problem focused, taking responsibility, analyzing data, gathering more data if necessary, testing your convictions, acting with more confidence that you may feel, and recognizing that inaction is often riskier than action. The chapter goes onto illustrate how all of these elements come together and are related to Maslow's nineteen principles.

The information provided in this book is timeless, presented clearly and without frills, as it peels away common traits of individuals that are not only great but also good. Van de Mark has written an inspirational book that gives readers the key to finding those few individuals who possess these wonderful nineteen traits and as he concludes, “bring them into your orbit-your work, your play, and best of all, your family. They can't help but rub off on you!”

According to the back cover of the book, Donald Van de Mark spent more than twenty years interviewing the most successful people of our age.  He a pithy storyteller, as well as an expert at distilling the more subtle attitudes, skills and virtues of the most revered individuals. A pioneer in televised business news, Donald was among the first employees at “Business Times” on ESPN; “Today's Business,” which was syndicated; CNNfn; and CNBC.  At CNBC, he was the first Washington correspondent, from 1988 to 1995.  Reporting from China in the summer of 1993, Donald was nominated for a Cable Ace Award for his series “China: The Giant Awakens.”  In the late 1990s, he was a reporter for CNN and the New York-based anchor of CNN's “MoneyWeek.”  On August 31, 1998, after a weekend of carousing with hedge fund managers in East Hampton, New York, Donald broke the story of Long-Term Capital Management's near collapse-an event that shook global markets and led to a government rescue.  Many experts now believe that that bailout set the precedent that encouraged Wall Street's excessive risk in the new century.

From 2000 to 2002, Donald was executive producer, editor, and host of two public broadcasting television series, “Great Entrepreneurs” and “Great Leaders,” where he profiled giants of business, politics, and culture.

Donald has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University, where he studied political science, psychology, and economics.  He also graduated from St. George's School in Newport, Rhode Island and attended Upper Canada College in Toronto.


Click Here To Purchase The Good Among the Great: 19 Traits of the Most Admirable, Creative, and Joyous People