The DIY Bunko Breakfasts are now officially underway. And Michael Gowin (the guy in the blue shirt) has a great dispatch on what happened at his gathered.

Gowin, who teaches at Lincoln Christian College in Illinois, assembled a half-dozen colleagues for a brunch and discussion. You can read his report here. What I was most taken by are some of the questions the group raised. Some examples:

-- If there's no plan (or road map), is there at least a compass?
-- Does persistence *trump* talent, or does it develop it?
-- What is the role of character?
-- Could Johnny have learned these lessons as effectively without Diana's assistance and authority?

It's all great stuff -- including how participants at this theologically-informed school related the Bunko lessons to Scripture.  

As I've said many times, authors might get the first word -- but we don't (and shouldn't) get the last word. This is what it's all about, folks: Changing the world one conversation at a time.

Watch for more Bunko Breakfast reports as they roll in from all corners of the world.

It always amazes me how incisive and perceptive the blogosphere can be. Two (quite different) cases in point:

1. Over at the blog Heroes Not Zombies, Bob Leckridge offers some penetrating thoughts about Lesson Three. I'd offered "It's not about you" as workplace advice; Leckridge sees it as a broader form of guidance. Repeating the phrase, he says, can reorient your thinking when you believe someone else is behaving in way designed purely to cause you distress. Often that insidious intent isn't there --  [Beware the spotlight effect! --Ed.] -- and those four simple words can open "the doors to the possibility of a more empathic and more understanding interpretation of the other person's behaviour." 

2. Meanwhile, Happy Employee, a blogging HR guru based in Geneva, is the first reader to identify one of the most obscure Easter Eggish winks that are studded through the book.  On page 74, Diana bonks Johnny with common office item. Yes, that was indeed supposed to be the now iconic red stapler from the movie Office Space.  Kudos to Happy Employee for the keen key and disturbing knowledge of cinematic workplace triva.

How does Google choose to announce its new web browser? 

With a 38-page comic penned by the brilliant Scott McCloud.

More proof that manga and its comic cousins are going mainstream.

Next step: Product and software manuals done in manga. 

As a writer and a runner -- and someone who struggles mightily with both endeavors -- I eagerly picked up a copy of Haruki Murakami's latest work: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. Murakami is one of my favorites. And this quick, breezy book -- a meditation/diary/training journal on the solitary act of long-distance running -- didn't disappoint. 

I was particularly taken with this paragraph, which applies Bunko Lesson 4 to the craft of writing (emphasis added): 

“Writers who are blessed with inborn talent can freely write novels no matter what they do--or don’t do. Like water from a natural spring, the sentences just well up, and with little or no effort these writers can complete a work. Occasionally you’ll find someone like that, but, unfortunately, that category won’t include me. I have to pound the rock with a chisel and dig out of a deep hole before I can locate the source of creativity. To write a novel I have to drive myself hard physically and use a lot of time and effort. Every time I begin a new novel, I have to dredge out another new, deep hole. But as I’ve sustained this kind of life over many years, I’ve become quite efficient, both technically and physically, at opening a hole in the hard rock and locating a new water vein. So as soon as I notice one water source drying up, I can move on right away to another. If people who rely on a natural spring of talent suddenly find they’ve exhausted their only source, they’re in trouble.”

Lesson One.  There is no plan.

At the 2000 convention, Obama couldn't even get onto the floor. Eight years later, he's the nominee. 

Lesson Two. Think strengths, not weaknesses.

Obama has always exemplified John McPhee's "sense of where you are." He focused on what he did well. And he brought in others -- think Joe Biden -- to compensate for his weaknesses.  

Lesson Three. It's not about you.

In his speech last night, Obama said: "This election has never been about me. It's been about you." Diana would be proud.

Lesson Four. Persistence trumps talent.

Obama is an insanely talented guy. But that's not why he won. The dirty little secret is that he outworked (and, as a consequence, outsmarted) Senator Clinton.

Lesson Five. Make excellent mistakes.

Obama quickly gave up bowling and other lame attempts to pretend he's a pudgy white guy from Ohio. (Full disclosure: I'm a pudgy white guy from Ohio.) But that helped him realize he had a problem with working class voters -- which he quickly addressed with policy prescriptions rather than photo ops. 

Lesson Six. Leave an imprint.

Despite all the b.s. that pervades politics, leaving an imprint is ultimately what Obama -- and John McCain -- are trying to do. 

Well, that was fast.

About an hour after I posted the challenge, Nat Delaney of Taunton, Somerset, in the United Kingdom found the cameo. (It's here.)  He wins a free signed copy of the book.

And the Americans continue to get spanked in this week's Bunkolympics.

It took longer than I expected, but someone found the wink to Koskau Shima.

Congratulations to Kenta Tsutsui of Tokyo, who was the first to email me with the correct answer. He wins a free signed copy of the book.

(Here's a hint for all of you still looking: Check out the whiteboard on the second-to-last page.)

Now another challenge. In a Hitchcockian act of ego, I make a brief cameo appearance in The Adventures of Johnny Bunko. Another free signed copy goes to the first reader who finds it and emails me.

Despite their rendering in manga, the Bunko lessons aren't only art.  They may also be science.

In a fascinating article, Scientific American explores the neuroscience of brilliance. Among the findings: It helps to have a big brain, but "[s]tudies show that practice and perseverance contribute more to accomplishment than being smart does." Or as Lesson Four says, persistence trumps talent.  

More from the story:  

"Whatever the neurological roots of genius, being brilliant only increases the probability of success; it does not ensure accomplishment in any endeavor. Even for academic achievement, IQ is not as important as self-discipline and a willingness to work hard.

"University of Pennsylvania psychologists Angela Duckworth and Martin Seligman examined final grades of 164 eighth-grade students, along with their admission to (or rejection from) a prestigious high school. By such measures, the researchers determined that scholarly success was more than twice as dependent on assessments of self-discipline as on IQ. What is more, they reported in 2005, students with more self-discipline—a willingness to sacrifice short-term pleasure for long-term gain—were more likely than those lacking this skill to improve their grades during the school year. A high IQ, on the other hand, did not predict a climb in grades.

"A 2007 study by Neubauer’s team of 90 adult tournament chess players similarly shows that practice and experience are more important to expertise than general intelligence is, although the latter is related to chess-playing ability. Even Einstein’s spectacular success as a mathematician and a physicist cannot be attributed to intellectual prowess alone. His education, dedication to the problem of relativity, willingness to take risks, and support from family and friends probably helped to push him ahead of any contemporaries with comparable cognitive gifts."

On page 38, thanks to a Diana-enabled flashback, we meet Johnny's father. Now this week's Economist has a story that reveals Johnny's godfather.  

Kosaku Shima is the star of the Japan's most popular salaryman manga -- a genre devoted to office politics, corporate intrigue, and the inner workings of Japanese companies.  (Think Dilbert with less cynicism and heavy doses of melodrama and earnestness.) Shima himself has become a legend. "He is rather like a Japanese James Bond who swapped 007 for an MBA," writes The Economist. 

I'm a huge fan of the series, having read every story that's been translated into English. Kodansha's bilingual versions helped me learn katakana and hiragana. It was always a source of amusement when, during my time in Japan, interviewees would ask me my favorite manga, and I'd answer "Kosaku Shima."  And when I began writing Johnny Bunko, Shima was one of my inspirations.

As some of you have already discovered, throughout The Adventures of Johnny Bunko, there are several "winks" to hardcore manga fans -- little touches akin to Easter Eggs in software.  Not surprisingly, there's a little wink to Kosaku Shima in the book. The first reader who finds it and emails me gets a free signed copy of the book.

Good luck! Arigato gozaimasu, Shima-san!