By
Clare on
March 10, 2012
Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace by Gordon MacKenzie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
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. (more…)
By
Clare on
February 11, 2012
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
[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)].
(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
(more…)
By
Clare on
January 22, 2012
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.
(more…)
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
[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)].
(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.
(more…)
Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life by Winifred Gallagher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
My notes from Rapt
[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)].
(10) That little piece of reality that you tune in on is literally and figuratively far sketchier and more subjective than you assume.
Top-down attention (conscious choice) vs Bottom-up attention (biased toward most salient thing/signal). Competition for attention.
(18) Drawback of sharpening focus on a target = shrinking larger experience. FOCUS EXPERIENCE.
(28) To enjoy the kind of experience you want rather than enduring the kind that you feel stuck with, you have to take charge of your attention.
(more…)
By
Clare on
January 1, 2011
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. (more…)
By
Clare on
December 28, 2010
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
[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)].
(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. (more…)
By
Clare on
December 19, 2010
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). (more…)
By
Clare on
December 19, 2010
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’. (more…)
By
Clare on
December 18, 2010
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.
