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Book Review: Orbiting the Giant Hairball

Clare — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 10:16:09 +0000

Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace by Gordon MacKenzie

I first heard one of the stories from this book when listening to Tom Kelley’s Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders lecture on how to be an innovator for life. I didn’t really know what to expect from the book, but I loved it! The author uses a series of often humorous, short, personal stories to reflect on and illustrate the problems with most organisational cultures and how to avoid losing one’s sanity and individuality when working in one.

My notes from Orbiting the Giant Hairball

[Disclaimer: The notes below are rough, and may be a mixture of direct quotes, paraphrasing, and my own thoughts/ideas/reminders. They're written here primarily for me (so they may not make much sense out of context, especially for those who haven't read the book)].

(17) Disruption with purpose.

(33) Orbiting is responsible creativity. Vigorously exploring and operating beyond the Hairball of the corporate mind set, beyond “accepted models, patterns or standards” – all the while remaining connected to the spirit of the corporate mission.

To find Orbit around a corporate Hairball is to find a place of balance where you benefit from the resources of the organisation without becoming entombed in the bureaucracy of the institution.

(46) …catch the attention of the sleep walking geniuses and lure them to wakefulness, help them find the courage to be who they truly were instead of who the company expected them to be and entice them into meeting life with an exuberance that benefits humanity.

(51-53) Chicken mesmerised by chalk line.

(53) It is a delicate balance, resisting the hypnotic spell of an organisation’s culture and, at the same time, remaining committed from the heart to the personally relevant goals of the organisation.

(59) Pool player – Sometimes, when you see a colleague whose job seems easy, you may in fact be witnessing a champion at play.

(64) Measurable evidence of creativity vs invisible creative activity. Cow making milk.

‘A management obsessed with productivity usually has little patience for the quiet time essential to profound creativity.’

(174) Pyramid vs plum tree organisation

Pyramid – organises into ‘Divisions’ (the state of being divided) and ‘Departments’

Plum tree – organises into ‘Groups’ (a number of persons who act as a unit) and ‘Forces’ (groups having the power of effective action)

(211) Allow those you lead… To lead… when they feel the need. All will benefit.

(224) If you go to your grave without painting your masterpiece, it will not get painted. No one else can paint it. Only you.

Book Review: Leading with Questions

Clare — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:00:42 +0000

Leading with Questions: How Leaders Find the Right Solutions by Knowing What to Ask by Michael J. Marquardt, Ed.D.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. It starts by building the case for questions (‘The Power of Questions’) and examines the common thread between the disasters of the Titanic, the Challenger and the Bay of Pigs – the inability or unwillingness of key participants to raise questions about their concerns. The later parts of the book provide useful practical advice and examples for leaders to make better use of questions in managing people, building teams and enabling change. As I made my way through the book I was able to identify many opportunities/situations that I could imagine using (or wish I’d used) the suggested questions.

My notes from Leading with Questions

(28) When we ask questions of others and invite them to search for answers with us, we are not just sharing information, we are sharing responsibility. A questioning culture is a culture in which responsibility is shared, ideas are shared, problems are shared, and ownership of results is shared.

(29) 6 hallmarks of a questioning culture. People in it:

are willing to admit, “I don’t know”
go beyond allowing questions, they encourage questions
help to develop the skills needed to ask questions in a positive way
focus on asking empowering questions and avoiding disempowering questions
emphasis the process of asking questions and searching for answers rather than finding the ‘right’ answers
accept and reward risk-taking

(29) …deep and significant learning only occurs as a result of reflection, and reflection is not possible without a question – whether the question be from an external or internal source.

(36) Leaders who promote a questioning culture in their organisations move people from dependence to independence.

Why We Have Trouble With Questions

(51)

desire to protect ourselves
in a rush
lack skills
culture/working environment that discourages questions

(57) Asking good questions requires to critical skills. Must know:

what questions to ask
how to ask them

Asking the Right Questions

(63) The words we choose are metaphors for concepts that define our attitudes and behaviours, structures and concepts.

The questions we employ provide feedback about which values should be attended to and how much energy should be devoted to them.

(64) Questions that disempower focus on the reasons why the person did not or cannot succeed.

(65) … in empowering others, the leader has to resist the urge to give people advice. When people ask for help, the leader needs to ask questions so that they come up with their own answers.

Book Review: Why Work Sucks

Clare — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:54:54 +0000

Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It: No Schedules, No Meetings, No Joke–the Big Idea That’s Already Transforming the Way We Work by Cali Ressler

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book, but ended up wanting a bit more from it…

The book provides a very compelling argument as to why the current system of work/performance (largely based on time) is broken and the advantages of ROWE (Results-Only Work Environment). But for me, this was really preaching to the converted… I first read about ROWE on Tim Ferris’ blog (I think) and was attracted to the concept right away. I completely agree that work (and associated remuneration and performance measurement) should be based on value created rather than hours spent in an office.

But where I thought the book fell short (and where I personally wanted more) was in relation to helping managers and their staff manage solely on the basis of results. The book (pg 129-130) suggests that ‘ultimately a ROWE is not a test of the employees, it is a test of the manager’ and asks ‘Can they [managers] do their jobs communicating expectations and holding people accountable? Can they develop systems to get the information they need without doing it through drive-bys or fire drills?’. As a new-ish manager seeking to implement a more results-based performance culture in my team (a full ROWE is not something within my control) I would have appreciated some more guidance/ideas/tips on setting, communicating and measuring performance expectations, and providing feedback.

My notes from Why Work Sucks

(16) Knowledge work requires fluidity (ideas can happen at any time, not just between 8 and 5) and concentration… and creativity.

(18) If you are standing by, filling the hours, watching the clock then what are you doing with your life.

(34) When people have high demands and high control, their life can be hectic but manageable. They figure out what needs to be done and when. When people have high demands and low control, their life is both hectic and miserable.

(72) The right questions to ask yourself in a ROWE – ‘am I doing what I need to to meet my goals?’

(79) A seminar can give you tips and tricks. What people need is power.

ROWE is a TiVo for your work.

(81) Culture audit

(92) Our attitudes about time are perhaps the hardest obstacle to overcome because they are so ingrained. Even if someone waved a magic wand and said “You are no longer judged based on time”, you would probably still judge yourself based on time.

(125) When you hold a meeting be very specific about what the meeting is for, what people are specifically expected to contribute, what they are going to take away from the meeting, and how it’ll help drive concrete, articulated results.

(129-130) Ultimately a ROWE is not a test of the employees, it’s a test of the manager. Can they do their jobs communicating expectations and holding people accountable? Can they develop systems to get the the info they need without doing it through drive-bys or fire drills?

Managers can’t be uncomfortable getting negative feedback or getting push-back from their employees.

(130) When you take care of your life do you develop overcomplicated processes for getting things done? Why do we spend so much of our business life talking about the business we need to take care of rather than simply taking care of it?

(162) How do you advance the cause of ROWE? Start working on your own behaviour (practice not sludging people), talk about ROWE.

(167) Time is no longer a factor in judging performance. People get paid for a chunk of work, not for a chunk of time.

(168) Work on the people who get it and don’t worry so much about the ones who don’t.

(172) How to focus on results within your team

get clear about performance goals, communicate often, and hold people accountable. what do they need to succeed?
trust you people (like you trust yourself). stop making rules for the few you’re afraid won’t live up to your expectations.

Book Review: The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working

Clare — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 08:43:19 +0000

The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working: The Four Forgotten Needs That Energize Great Performance by Tony Schwartz

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My notes from The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working

(8-9) Four primary energy needs: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.

(11) Physical level – sustainability. Four factors are key: nutrition, fitness, sleep and rest.

(14) Perhaps no human need is more neglected in the workplace than to feel valued. Noticing what is wrong and what’s not working in our lives is a hardwired survival instinct. Expressing appreciation requires more conscious intention.

(15) Mental level – self expression.

(18) Spiritual level – significance.

(38) Building rituals:

Undertaking no more than one or two at a time
Precision and specificity (make a specific time)
Focus on something we do rather than on something we try to resist doing (dieting – plan what you are going to eat rather than resisting tempting foods)
Expect resistance to implementing the ritual

“We derive a sense of safety from doing what we’ve always done, even if it’s suboptimal and even if it has the potential to damage us in the long-term”
Bring competing commitments to light. Recognise the fears that are associated with change.
“How can I design this ritual so I enjoy its intended benefits but also minimise the costs I fear it will prompt?”

Enlist support of others

(69) Many of us are programmed to believe that time spent ‘not doing’ is time wasted. Building intermittent breaks is counterintuitive and countercultural in may organisations. Implicit assumption – effective renewal requires significant periods of time. Renewal depends less on how much time we devote to it than how effectively we do it, just as productivity is less a function of how many hours we put in than of how productive we are during the hours we’re working.

(81) Broad and compelling evidence that fitness improves cognitive capacity and emotional well-being – two factors that powerfully influence performance and productivity.

(133-135) Bad is stronger than good. Fight – react by turning negative emotions against others. Flight – turn negative emotions on ourselves.

(135) Whenever you begin to notice negative feelings arising – apply the ‘golden rule’ of triggers. “Whatever you feel compelled to do, don’t.” Move from automatic to intentional mode.

(140) Need for a secure base – reliable source of emotional renewal. Over time the source of the secure base shifts from parents to spouse/partner.

(144) Humility is often a measure of a leader’s true confidence. Leader who is secure in his own value is free to invest energy in empowering others.

(148) Fact is something that can be objectively verified by any person. A story is something we create to make sense of the facts. Problem – often we mistake stories for facts and treat them as if they’re irrefutably true.

(149) Importance of awareness. Move from the role of the person experiencing our feelings to that of self observer.

(151) James Stockdale. POW in Vietnam (7 years). Stockdale Paradox. “I never lost faith in the end of the story. I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would turn the event into the defining event of my life”. “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end – which you can never afford to lose – with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they may be.”

Alternative Stories:

(155) Reflective lens:

what are the facts here?
what is the story I’m telling myself about those facts?

Triggers almost always prompt us to tell stories that leave us feeling devalued. Reflective lens gives us a chance to consider an alternative.

(156) Reverse lens:

what is he/she feeling and how does that make sense?

(157) Long lens:

being able to imagine a better future
how can i learn and grow from the experience?
not a permanent reality

(161) Just as individuals perform best when they move between renewing and expending energy, so leaders inspire highest performance when they move between challenging people to exceed themselves and regularly recognising and rewarding accomplishments.

(162) Stress is the means by which we expend capacity as long as it’s balance by intermittent renewal.

(167-168) Jill Bolte Taylor – “I needed those around me to be encouraging. I needed to know I still had value. I needed to have dreams to work toward. I needed people to celebrate the triumphs I made every day because my successes, no matter ho small, inspired me.”

(169) Ritual at Sony Pictures – “code”. Shorthand for ‘I really want to know what you’re feeling, so be straight with me.’ Created permission to tell the truth and shared expectation that team members would do so.

(171) Alan Mulally – Ford. “If someone calls you a son of a bitch, take it as a chance to learn. You say ‘Thankyou very much for telling me, and I’d like to know more about why you think that’”. Culture grounded in realistic optimism.

(179) Herbert Simon. Nobel Prize in Economics. “What information consumes is rather obvious. It consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.”

(184) Multi-tasking often leaves us feeling emptier and more disconnected. Multi-tasking sends an unmistakable message: “You’re not worth 100% of my attention”.

Split attention also means you won’t absorb everything the other person is saying – complexity, subtlety and depth.

(191) The only thing more horrifying to most of us than an inbox that contains 200 new emails is one that doesn’t contain any. We want to be wanted.

(192) Marshmallow test. Successful children managed to push the marshmallow (and therefore the temptation to eat it) out of their awareness (close eyes, turn chair, singing). The key is to avoid thinking about it in the first place.

(196) Single most effective mental ritual – “doing the most important thing first”.

(200) Improving attention of schizophrenia patients. The more focus the subjects were able to mobilise on the external task the less preoccupied they became with their own distress.

(201) Mindfulness is a more practical form of attentional training for people working in an open office environment where distractions and interruptions occur at random times throughout the day.

(202) Control your attention, and you control your life.

(213) Intentionally setting aside time to quiet the mind and activate the right hemisphere – through meditation or drawing for example – is a powerful way to induce creative breakthroughs.

(229) The real measure of people’s effectiveness in an organisation ought to be based on the value they create, not the number of hours they work. That requires a relationship between consenting adults, grounded in trust, funded by mutual responsibility, and regulated be periodic accountability.

(238) Values provide internal compass.

Defining/renewing intentions <-> embodying intentions in behaviour.

(243) “How would I behave here at my best?”

(245) Willingness to recognise shortcomings saves us from squandering energy on denial, rationalism and blame when we fall short.

Irony – efforts at self-preservation and self-protection often cause precisely what we’re seeking to hold at bay. eg. we get angry and hostile when we don’t feel we’ve been treated fairly.

TS Eliot – “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.”

(247) Q. “When did my more primitive, survival instincts guide my actions today?”. “How would I have behaved at my best?”

(255) “I feel most aligned with myself when I help others to find their inspiration and creativity.”

(256) “I’ve become the guardian of my spirit rather than just its beneficiary.”

Ubuntu – me vs you -> me and you.

No career automatically provides a purpose, but no job precludes our finding purpose in it, either.

Book Review: Total Recall

Clare — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 06:36:23 +0000

Total Recall: How the E-Memory Revolution Will Change Everything by Gordon Bell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The coming world of Total Recall will be as dramatic a change in the coming generation as the digital age has been for the present generation. It will change the way we work and learn. It will unleash our creativity and improve our health. It will change our intimate relationships with loved ones, both living and dead. It will, I believe, change what it means to be human.

This book is based heavily on Gordon Bell’s experience with the MyLifeBits research project – a prototype system to digitally record, store, and organise as many aspects of Bell’s life as possible. This involved converting all paper based information (bills, receipts, certificates, photos, letters etc) to digital format and also digitally logging a range of life information on an ongoing basis (location, financial transactions, photos/video, health information, exercise details etc). The book distinguishes between the practices of life blogging (publicly broadcasting details of your life through sites like Facebook and Twitter) and life logging.

This is a fascinating book which highlights the growing importance and potential benefits of e-memories – while some of the potential applications discussed seem quite futuristic, others are immediately applicable. The downside of increased digital recording of our lives is discussed briefly, but the book pitches Total Recall as an inevitable future step, so the discussion is more about developments/systems that may be put in place to ensure the security/privacy of data (like the creation of Swiss data banks). After reading the book I am motivated to try to digitally capture/store more of my life (like trying out Google Latitutde, geo-tagging my photos, and getting back into my regular 8.36pm photo practice). I also like the idea of doing a retrospective conversion of most of our paper (and am excited by all the additional space that would result) – but honestly find the idea completely overwhelming (in terms of figuring out some kind of folder/storage system more so than the actually process of physically scanning and saving all the documents).

Even though the book was only published in 2009, there are some notable omissions from the book (that probably would be picked up in revised editions). Two that I particularly noticed were the iPad (the book pre-dates the release of the iPad and as such there is no discussion about how this device may influence how we record and recollect our e-memories) and FourSquare (notable both in terms of the growing trend in location-based services, and also the potential gameification of life blogging/logging).

The book also includes a very comprehensive references and resources section.

My notes from Total Recall: How the E-Memory Revolution Will Change Everything

(4) ‘The coming world of Total Recall will be as dramatic a change in the coming generation as the digital age has been for the present generation. It will change the way we work and learn. It will unleash our creativity and improve our health. It will change our intimate relationships with loved ones, both living and dead. It will, I believe, change what it means to be human.’

(4-5) Three streams of technology: recording, storage, search/analysis. More digital memories, more space to store them, and better and better technology to recollect them.

Implications for skills (particularly in work). Those that have skills in digital recording, search & analysis will have advantage over those that rely on personal memory/knowledge. Have experienced this personally.

(9) Hard part is no longer deciding what to hold on to, but how to efficiently organise, sort it, access it, and find patterns and meaning in it.

(14) While much of the technology for Total Recall is already available – pieces remain isolated and fragmented.

Inconveniences – non portable data formats, multiple passwords/profiles, short battery life…

(20) ‘Public publishing is only for what I am glad to have the world associate with me – forever!’

Life blogging v life logging

(21) ‘Through the decade of the 2010s, user-friendly life logging applications will proliferate…’

(24) ‘…psychological well-being from decluttering both my physical space and my brain’.

How will the brain change? Less need for ‘remembering’? More scope/capacity for imagination/connection/creativity?

(39) MyLifeBits – research project. Not a single application, prototype suite of applications and storage system.

(42) Associative linking – critical component of e-memory machine.

(53-54) Biological memory has three distinct systems:

procedural (muscle memory)
semantic (meanings, definitions, concepts – facts you know that aren’t rooted in place/time)
episodic (encodes experiences from your past)

Semantic and episodic bio-memories can and will be extended by our e-memories.

(54) Unlike computers, brains aren’t that great at faithfully storing masses of detail. Brains are best at stories patters/meanings…

(56) E-memory will be the fact checker of those meanings, definitions and concepts in our semantic memories.

(57) ‘Total Recall will change how we think about our lives. It will also change how we feel about our lives.’

(60) Mental clutter.

(134) A Total Recall system ought to let you organise, classify or taxonomise the material you are taking in.

A good e-memory will help you arrange material for retrieval by classification, and will help you visualise your classifications and modify it as your understanding evolves.

(135) Then what do we have time for? Reflection. Total Recall will enable era of increased reflection.

(154) Four steps in progression of digital immortality:

digitising legacy media
supplementing one’s e-memories with new digital sources
two-way immortality – ability to actually interact with avatar
avatar learns and changes over time

(163-164) Data entanglement – mixing of work and personal memories.

(165-166) More self-knowledge. How much truth can you take? Successful people don’t shy away from the honest record. Peter Drucker – whenever you make a key decision or take a key action write down what you expect will happen. Nine to 12 months later, compare actual results with expectations.

(167) Adapting to being recorded. Not just recording self. Others are recording as much as you are. Google Street View.

(169) Relationships could become stilted with candid conversation being replaced by excruciatingly careful speech. Politicians are first wave of society to have their words regularly recorded and played back to them.

Getting Started

(176) Approach your e-memory with a plan and you will get better results. Decide which aspects of your life you want to be able to recall. Could approach by topic or by data type (first photographs, then music…)

Needs – smartphone, GPS unit (with software to retrieve GPS data), digital camera, computer (with external HDD), internet connection, scanner (OCR).

(180) Set goal of being paperless within a year. Scan paper already have. Also arrange to receive more digital born communications.

(184) Use calendar to schedule upcoming events. Also put in entries after the event so calendar is a complete record.

(187) Taking video ‘cliplets’ – little clips of 5 seconds or less.

(195) Timelines wonderful for visualising series of events.

(196) Camera. Critical – having time set correctly/adding geolocation.

(197) 3 ways to add information to help organise your e-memory.

Good folder structure
Useful file name
Adding attributes to the file

(200) Google Toolbar – web history feature. Records URLs and lets you search for text on pages in your history.

(213) Total Recall will be a very private matter. Younger generation ought to eventually see their casual approach to privacy as a mistake and scale back public disclosures.

(217) Every appliance will be sensing and logging. Washing machine/dishwasher – diagnostic tool.

(219) Need for unified communication and storage (don’t need to use multiple services/devices). Number one requirement is open systems that employ standards for information exchange.

(225) Sportscasters give a real foretaste of Total Recall.

Links/products/services referenced in book – to follow up

Google Health
Famento.com – helps people share family stories
Totalrecallbook.com
Wizcom – pen scanner
Pulse Pen – Livescribe
Google Toolbar – web history feature
Supermemo.com
pim.ischool.washington.edu

Book Review: Improving your Storytelling

Clare — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 23:47:47 +0000

Improving Your Storytelling by Doug Lipman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is aimed at the reader who has already had some experience with storytelling and is ready to learn more. Given the authors professional background, much of the book is focused on ‘performance storytelling’ so may not seem all that relevant to those that are interested in storytelling in other settings (particularly business/organisations). However, I particularly enjoyed the chapters on ‘What is a Story?’, ‘Learning the Story’ and ‘Discovering the Meaning’. The information in these chapters is valuable and applicable to all storytelling, regardless of the context/environment. Compared to ‘The Story Factor’, ‘Improving your Storytelling’ is a more practically focused book and offers more ‘how-to’ type information.

My notes from Improving your Storytelling: Beyond the Basics for All Who Tell Stories in Work and Play

(11) Whether you think of yourself as a ‘storyteller’ or not, you tell people what happened to you.

(13) The best assistance doesn’t ‘fix’ your story or tell you what to do. The best help improves your ability to make your own decisions. It doesn’t paint the screen.

(14-15) Need to think in the present. Tell stories for the current situation. Meet the requirements of the moment.

(18)

(22) Key expressive tools: tone of voice, facial expression and gestures, posture, eye behaviour, and orientation in space.

(23) Theatre game – gibberish. One person storyteller, the other is translator. Storyteller tells story one sentence at a time in gibberish (the more expressive, the better).

(24) Tone of voice is so strong that whenever it conflicts with word meanings, it always prevails.

(32-33) Non reversible time. The listener cannot go backward in an oral story. Story must work within the limits of the listener’s memory.

(35) ‘Dare to pause’

(42) Preferred modes of imagery. The way experiences are stored. Remember getting up in the morning – how did I retrieve my images of the morning from my memory? -> visual, sound, feelings…

(47)

See the sights. Imagine every aspect of the scene’s colour, shape, light and brightness, texture, motion and perspective.
Hear the sounds.
Feel the muscle tension and movements.

(76-77) What is a story? Storyteller and the listeners may have different concept of what a story should be. Sometimes conscious/explicit, other times unspoken. eg. believability of plot, kinds of characters…

(83) Learning a story about a personal experience. First telling – spontaneous and unselfconscious. Telling story as a way of processing what happened. Listeners are ‘sounding boards’.
Unconscious reaction to cues of listeners – what’s interesting, confusing…
Key way to learn (and develop) personal story – tell it informally, many times.

People often think that storytelling is something different from what they already do – something novel, difficult, requiring special effort.

(85) Dangers of ‘practicing’. Instead of learning from responses of listeners how to communicate effectively, you may have relied on your idea of what you will communicate well.

Practicing can lead to becoming less sensitive to your listeners in the long term.

Reciting v communicating.

(86) What if story didn’t happen to me?
Personal story -> first step is remembering it.
Story that didn’t happen to you -> imagine it.
Then grow the story in the same way.

(87) Most Important Thing – MIT. Can provide valuable guide to decisions about telling.
Exercise in discovering meaning – ‘The Stonecutter’.
What the story means to you influences how you tell it. What you emphasise, the words you use… Achieving second, third, fourth goals must not interfere with achieving MIT.

(92-94) Whether or not to state meaning – and range of ways to do it. Storyteller or character. Within story or before/after.

(98) MIT also helps you create appropriate outline/structure.

(120) ‘Before I can tell a story as helper, I must usually tell it first as beneficiary‘. Need to consider for whose sake the storytelling event is taking place.

Two questions – am I ready to tell it with my attention on my audience’s needs rather than on my own? Will it be a true gift for them?

(125) Four key jobs as storyteller when performing for an audience: uniting, inviting, offering, acknowledging.

(130) ‘Relaxed confidence’ helps audience accept storyteller’s invitation.

(132) Offering differs from inviting primarily because it does not require a response from audience. Offering is an attitude, not a specific action.

Resist continuation of ‘invitation’ after it has been accepted. Need for reassurance.

(149) Rehearsal buddies.
Levels of preparedness -> ‘talking about’ the story, telling fragments…

(183) Three kinds of helpers – hired help, “parallel playmates” and “barter buddies”.

Book Review: Making Ideas Happen

Clare — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 10:44:05 +0000

Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality by Scott Belsky

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Enjoyable read with some good ideas. A couple of the parts that really ‘stuck’ were:
- the danger of focusing too much on idea generation at the expense of the execution phase (becoming addicted to the ‘brain-spinning indulgence of idea generation’)
- the three types of people (dreamers, doers and incrementalists)
- importance of follow up and persistence
- need to share ideas (‘the more people who lie awake in bed thinking about your idea, the better’)

The book also goes into detail about the Action Method (personal productivity/project management/to-do system) which I found quite interesting, but it’s not a system that I’ve implemented or that I think could work for me (at least not at this point in time).

My notes from Making Ideas Happen

(13) Two creative phases: ideation and execution. Need to be comfortable alternating between the two.

(14) Making ideas happen = the idea + organisation and execution + forces of community + leadership capability.

(31) Surplus of ideas is dangerous. Jumping from idea to idea spreads energy horizontally rather than vertically. Without structure – can become addict of ‘brain spinning indulgence of idea generation’. Recognise the tendency to bask in idea generation.

Brainstorming should start with a question and the goal of capturing something specific.

The Action Method:

everything is project
action steps: specific, concrete tasks that inch you forward
references: project related notes, minutes, sketches, websites that you may want to refer to. not actionable.
backburner items: not actionable now, but may be someday.

(38) The more clear and concrete an action step is, the less friction you will encounter trying to do it. Start each action step with a verb.

(40) Action steps – anything you should do (or delegate). Capture them all. Choose method that is readily available. Types of action steps for leaders: delegated, ‘ensure’, ‘awaiting’. Starting step with the word ‘ensure’ or ‘awaiting’ means it’s easy to search/retrieve electronically.

(42) Culture – take time out of every meeting to go around table and allow each person to recite the steps they captured.

(45) Backburner system – draw box on bottom of every note page, full will items over course of meeting, at end of day place items into folder/running text document. Need to periodically revisit – ritualise. Make calendar appointment.

(47) We seldom refer back to static documentation that clutters our lives. References obstruct bias toward action – miss opportunity to capture valuable action steps.

(48) Making references easily accessible – question it (what’s the relevance?), label it, file it.

(56) Capture – try to separate action steps from references and backburner items. Place in in-box for processing. Identify collective inbox and consolidate. Process – devote time to processing.

(64) Prioritisation. Keep two lists – one for urgent/one for important. Preserve different time for each. Don’t hoard urgent items. Challenge yourself to delegate when you’re in a position to do so.

Responsibility grid – names across top, common issues/circumstances on y-axis. Check (tick) for which team member responsible for which item.

(72) For the creative mind, the cost of waiting for conviction can be too great to bear. Waiting builds apathy and increases likelihood that another idea will capture fancy and energy.

(75-76) Disney. Three rooms. Move from idea generation -> critical review/evaluation.

Need to say ‘no’, more than you say ‘yes’.

(79) Meetings:

end with review of actions captured
call out non actionable meetings
standing meetings

Leaving a meeting without anything actionable signifies it was just an information exchange. Don’t call meetings out of own insecurity.

(83) Lizard brain.

(84) Big part of execution is persistence. When we rely on others to drive momentum, our projects are at their mercy. Follow up.

(88) Seek constraints.

(91) ‘Done walls’ – covered with old action steps. Need to see incremental progress in order to feel confident in creative journeys. Keeping things in sight – use wall for actionable items, sketches, ideas. Use your workspace to induce attention where you need it most.

(102) Physical workspace.

(104) Insecurity work. Seek information to make anxiety go away. Stuff that has no intended outcome does not move the ball forward.

(113) Dreamers, doers and incrementalists.

Dreamers – jump from one idea to another. Less likely to follow through.

Doers – focused on logistics of execution.

Incrementalist – Play both roles. Shift between phases.

Importance of partnerships.

(122) Sharing ideas. Geek dads – had the project not attracted viable team within 6 weeks, project would have been shelved.

Give all ideas away for free – will be improved by community. Share ideas liberally – if not for sake of own success then for the sake of society.

(131) Writers circles. Collaborative circles.

Rules:

15 members or less. Accountable to each other as individuals rather than collective.
Clear and consistent schedule.
Meet frequently and stay accountable.
Assign a leader.
Extend circle online. Use online tools.

(138) Commit yourself in order to commit others.

(150) Difference between deplorable and sensational self-marketing is the intentions. Marketing should not be seen as fake. At its best marketing is about building relationships and learning.

Opportunity to communicate your objectives by seeking to understand those of others.

Marketing strengths – own responsibility.

(153) Monetization doesn’t happen directly.

Self-marketing strategy: start with intrinsic interests that can become person projects – projects that demonstrate strengths. 1) identify differentiating attributes, 2) communications strategy, 3) execute communications strategy.

(156) Frequency theory. We all emit our own unique frequency in our everyday lives. Creative mind w/particular idea emits a stronger but narrower signal. Our frequency determines the other people to whom we are most receptive and connected to.

(158) Visionary’s tendency to focus on what fellow open-minded early-adopting visionaries value. Creative people make stuff for creative people.

(173) Ji Lee. Search for element of fun and make it central to project overall. Games, fun, play.

(179) “T” people. Breadth of experience/skills to support collaboration and good chemistry and deep expertise in single area.

(180 – 181) Flexibility for productivity. Factory like culture. Measuring work by time spent – easy and objective, but defies realities of the creative work-flow. ROWE.

(184) Balance between ideas generation and focus. Bias toward considering ideas during brainstorming and killing when they come up during execution. Great ideas come up – but bias should be to stay focused.

(185) Conflict is good. Apathy must be avoided. Maintain engagement. When notice shortness or impatience confront with a question about the process – ‘how can we keep all options on the table?’.

(186) Don’t become burdened by consensus. Draw on best input without settling. Early and complete consensus is comfortable but almost always unremarkable. Sacred extremes – preserve extremes and seek common ground on the rest. Empower Department Head to make final call [see HBR podcast about Pixar].

(191) The more people who lie awake in bed thinking about your idea, the better.

Chris Anderson, Wired – ‘here’s an idea, who’s interested?’

(195) Story telling. Appreciations – feedback technique, focuses just on developing strengths.

“if our eyes are always looking for weakness, we begin to lose the intuition to notice the beauty”

Share 3 things you like about the piece of work (all positive). Next version is dramatically improved.

‘Go-to’ people. Survey of employees where they go for help. Reveals ‘nodes’. Hot spots are people with social power.

(203) Battle against natural tendencies – forces of organisation, community etc evade us because natural tendencies (to generate more ideas, to isolate ourselves) get in the way.

Personal commitment to psychological growth – circles, personal advisory boards.

(206) When something goes wrong:

what external conditions may explain the failure?
what internal factors may for compromised your judgement? what would you have done differently?
any gems in unintended consequences?

(209) Practice of ‘contrarianism’ – act of purposely thinking against the grain when approaching problems and brainstorming new ideas.

Book Review: The Story Factor

Clare — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 08:04:57 +0000

The Story Factor by Annette Simmons

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Anyone who has an interest in how storytelling can be used for more effective communication (in business as well as personal situations) should read this book. It makes an incredibly compelling and clear case for the use of story and highlights a range of potential applications and benefits from using a story-based approach.

As I made my way through the book I was hoping for some more ‘how to’ information. The new chapter in the paperback edition, ‘Story Thinking as a Skill’, was certainly the chapter I found most useful. While this chapter stops short of providing a step-by-step guide on how to elicit, structure and present stories, I realised, after making my way through the book, that this would be impossible. There is no one-size-fits-all formula or approach to storytelling, and as the author writes in the last paragraph of the book – ‘Agility improves with practice and coaching. This new chapter is my best shot at the coaching part. Now it’s time for you to go practice’.

My notes from The Story Factor

[Disclaimer: I'm trialling out a new way of capturing the scribbles that I make when reading a book in the hope that it'll aid the retention of and my ability to recall/retrieve the key learnings/information. The notes below are rough, and may be a mixture of direct quotes, paraphrasing, and my own thoughts/ideas/reminders. They're written here primarily for me (so they may not make much sense out of context, especially for those who haven't read the book)].

(3) People don’t want information, they want faith.

(4) Six types of stories:

who I am
why I am here
the vision
teaching
values-in-action
I know what you are thinking.

Two major questions – ‘Who are you?’ and ‘why are you here?’. Until answered they don’t trust what you say. How can we expect people to trust us when we don’t let them know who we are?

People want to decide for themselves. Story is a pull strategy.

Difference between giving an example and telling a story is the addition of emotional context and the added sensory details in the telling.

All good stories describe something that we recognise as True.

(37) Using story to replace the old strategic plan’s goals/objectives/strategy format.

(54) Give story first and then facts. Better change of influencing others to share your interpretation.

(80) Categorisation of stories – as much an illusion as categorisation of people. Categories and definition only helpful at superficial level. Will it help you become a better storyteller? Probably not.

(83-84) Story about the archer. Draw your target after it lands. ‘Easier to let your story land first, and then draw a circle of meaning/connection around it using what you see and hear in the responses of your listeners’.

(86) Aspects of story telling: gestures; facial expression; body language; sounds, smell and tastes; irrelevant detail (people who are impatient with irrelevant detail aren’t very good storytellers); virtual reality; timing and pause; tone (don’t try to work on tone – work on feelings and tone will follow).

If you can’t persuade yourself, you can’t persuade others – sometimes you need to develop a story for yourself first.

Facial expressions – study George Carlin.

Video tape yourself telling a story – watch it with the sound turned down.

(111) ‘Culture Jam’ by Kalle Lasn. ‘Most powerful narcotic in the world is the promise of belonging’. And the promise of being known.

(118) When you fail to influence, it is often because people filter your words through negative suspicions about your intentions.

(119) Changing minds. Story must first connect you both to a place where you can agree and can feel the same things.

(145) The best time to develop connections with the people you need to influence is before you need them.

(152) To influence you need to be ‘emotional’ – which goes against everything we were ever told about how we should act in front of the people we want to influence.

Split attention diminishes the power of story. You have to ‘let go’ to tell a compelling story.

(162) Negative v positive emotion ‘Shame doesn’t move mountains. Hope moves mountains’.

(183) ‘Listening is just like sex. If the desire is there, the skills will follow’.

Importance of listening to someone’s story before trying to introduce a new one.

Influencing without listening is like painting a house without preparing the surface. It might look good for a few months, but eventually will crack and peel.

(188) When coaching a person to tell you their story – Use question like ‘when did this last happen?’, ‘where?’, ‘who was there?’, ‘what happened next?’. Goal is to get them to mentally go back to the place and time and tell it without the ensuing conclusions. Gives freedom to draw new conclusions.

(206) Strategies for not being boring.

Get specific. Hypotheticals don’t provide enough sensory or emotional data.
Stop talking.
Ask for help. Connect.

(221-222) Stories you tell yourself. ‘Stewart women’.

(233) Daily practice of story telling. Go on a daily scavenger hunt for stories. Any event that creates emotion or happens because of emotion can become a story.

(234-235) Seven techniques for finding stories: Patterns, Consequences, Lessons, Utility, Vulnerability, Future Experience, Story Recollections.

(236) Storytelling is a creative process best nurtured by strategic appreciation to help you focus on what you’re doing right.

(238-239) Knowing your own story. ‘Okay, what can I do to pursue that goal here and now?’

(242) Critical thinking. In our pursuit of rational thinking, critical thinking skills remove emotions and anecdotal evidence from decision-making. Need for ‘story thinking’.

(245) Two habits – outcomes focus and pursuit of clarity – seem to kill good stories when applied too soon. Art of storytelling thrives with a loose structure and faith in the process.

(246) Storytelling demands that you abandon safety of being ‘on the outside looking in’ and step inside an experience.

You find powerful stories when you discover roaring rivers of emotion that already exist, not be digging a canal from scratch.

(246-247) Trusting the dots will connect in the end – retrospective coherence. Follow strong intuitions and emotions.

(248) Storytelling is a creative process. Happens only when people have permission to wander in and out of ambiguity, follow emotions and forget rules.

Book Review: Gamestorming

Clare — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 04:00:23 +0000

Gamestorming by Dave Gray

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is a really great resource to have on your bookshelf. It describes a series of different facilitation techniques/exercises or ‘games’ that can be used in a range of different organisational settings. While I was familiar with many of the games (or some variant of the games) but it is great to have them described in a single book. It was enjoyable to read the book cover-to-cover, but it’s more of a reference book that you’d keep on your self and refer to when facilitating meetings/workshops to get some ideas about certain techniques to use.

Experienced facilitators may find that they already have several of the games in their existing ‘toolkit’, but it is a useful reference source for stimulating new ideas.