Category Archives: Book Reviews

Fostering Innovation in Teams

Posted on January 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

Recently I finished the book “Manager’s Guide to Fostering Innovation and Creativity in Teams” by Charles Prather.

My key takeaway from this book was not the process and exercises that were presented to help generate creative solutions to problems. Instead it was a point that was brought up many times in many different ways. As managers and leaders we play a very large part in fostering a creative environment. Our attitudes and biases can enhance the creative process, or they can completely stymie it. A command and control manager rarely leads a creative team. That leads to only one person’s ideas driving the team’s results. Managers who lead creative teams engage the hearts and minds of their employees to solve the biggest business problems. You have to step back and acknowledge that you are not always the expert, but that the members of your team are. That is why you hired them and why they remain part of your team.
This book builds upon previous work by Goran Ekvall and Scott Isaksen describing the dimensions of the climate for innovation. In order they are (with 1-6 being the most important overall in studies):

  1. Challenge and involvement
  2. Trust and openness
  3. Freedom
  4. Risk taking
  5. Idea time
  6. Idea support
  7. Debates on the issues
  8. Interpersonal conflict (negatively correlated)
  9. Playfulness and humor
  10. Value for diversity of problem-solving style

Are your employees challenged by their work and emotionally engaged in it? Do you promote an environment of trust and openness that facilitates risk taking and freedom of opinion and action? Does your team trust you enough to admit their mistakes early or to ask for help? If so, you are well on your way to fostering a creative environment.

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Good Boss, Bad Boss

Posted on September 23, 2010 | 2 Comments

I absolutely LOVED the book “Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to be the Best… and Learn from the Worst” by Robert Sutton. You may recall that he also wrote the book “The No Asshole Rule” which is also terrific.

Key takeaways for me:

  • No matter what your intentions, if you are “the boss” people will read something into whatever you do or say. As a good friend of mine once said – “sometimes my words took on lives of their own”. You need to be very careful – your people are watching you all the time trying to figure you out.
  • KISS. We all know this one, but in business we forget it. KEEP IT SIMPLE. Figure out what is really important to your company, your department or your product. Bring it up frequently. If you are measuring 25 important things, none of them will get done. Find a handful – manage to those.
  • Power can go to your head easily. Don’t be a bosshole ( I love this word!).
  • If dirty work needs to be done, do it. Layoffs, firings, and other uncomfortable conversations are dirty work. Don’t drag them out. Do what needs to be done, people will respect you for it.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is a boss or aspires to be one.

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My Stroke of Insight

Posted on July 24, 2010 | Leave a comment

Lately I’ve been going further down the rabbit hole of neuroplasticity. It is a fascinating topic. As you may know, my dad suffered a stroke and for the past few years I have been struggling to understand how it has impacted him and to understand if it ever will be possible for him to improve his mental function. He had a stroke that affected his right hemisphere near the brain stem. In some ways it is amazing that he lived and has recovered as much as he has. Unfortunately, he hasn’t recovered to the extent that he would like. It has been a few very hard years.

In order to better understand stroke and how it impacts an individual I thought that reading the book “My Stroke of Insight” by Jill Bolte Taylor would help. Jill is a PhD scientist who has extensively studied the brain, mainly with respect to mental illness. When she was 37 she suffered a major left hemisphere stroke. This book is her tale. It is an amazing story of recovery from a traumatic brain injury.

This book walks through her experience, from the morning she had her stroke through her recovery 8 years later. Since her stroke impacted the opposite hemisphere than my dad’s it gave me some perspective in terms of what voices were silenced in my father’s head. Strangely, a right hemisphere stroke probably is harder to recover from. The left hemisphere provides the daily “brain chatter” that causes many of us to not consider compassion and one-ness with the universe. The left helps define your sense of self and individuality. It also is the seat of negative thought processes that cause us all a lot of grief.

If you’re interested to hear her tell her tale – check out
Jill Bolte Taylor’s TED talk

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The Shallows…

Posted on July 5, 2010 | Leave a comment

I finally finished the book “The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains” by Nicholas Carr. Do you feel like the internet has made it harder for you to concentrate? Do you multitask *all* the time? When was the last time you sat down and read a book? Do you just skim reading material? How is your reading comprehension?

I admit it, I am not the reader I once was. Oh, I read online all the time, but it takes a lot more effort for me to read a book these days. If you look at my reading list on linkedin, you’ll see multiple books that I am reading all at the same time. I get bored, or I have a library deadline to meet and I put down the book I own and pick up one that has to go back. I definitely get distracted more easily and I find it harder to really get lost in the pages like I used to. I always assumed it was just my middle-aged brain getting older. Now, I can blame something else. The internet! SWEET!! My brain’s neuroplasticity coupled with the internet’s addictive qualities means that I am rewiring my brain to multitask rather than think deeply. Really?

When books first became commonplace, similar arguments were made. There was too much information available, it was stressing people out. Books definitely changed the oral history that humans used to amass. Memorization became less necessary. There was a fear that because of books people would no longer have to remember anything.

This reminds me of a saying I’ve heard recently – “I don’t bother remembering anything that I can look up”. Heck, the cell phone has had as much of an impact on me here as the internet. When was the last time you actually entered a phone number from memory? Seriously. If I didn’t have my contacts list on my cell phone I could only call 2 people, my husband and my dad. Is this bad? I’m not sure. It’s kind of nice to free up that memory space.

The one thing that really hit me is that using the internet tends to mostly use your short-term working memory. If you over tax that, it is much harder to make long-term memories. Is it a problem that I don’t remember all the stuff I read? Tweets? Blogs? Facebook statuses? The breadcrumb trail of hyperlinks? Junk e-mails? Probably not. How do you make long-term memories? Repetition. Reliving the memory over and over again. That’s why people remember the most important good and bad things that happen in their lives. They replay them. I know I do.

I think the author is a bit of a fatalist when it comes to this topic. Yes, the internet will change (I think it already has) our society and our brains dramatically. So did the book. So did the map. So did the clock. Are things better or worse today because of these items? I would venture to say better. Read this book and make up your own mind.

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What are Your Strengths?

Posted on May 16, 2010 | 2 Comments

I just took an interesting workshop at work related to determining what my strengths are. As you all know, I’m always up for a personality assessment. I take them all with a grain of salt, but I always learn something from them. This workshop was based upon this book (which you can buy on Amazon)

The online assessment comes included as part of the cost of the book. Yes, that means if you buy the book, you can receive the personal assessment without taking the course. The assessment really is personalized – I compared mine to a couple of coworkers with the same strengths and we received significantly different data.

After some reflection, my strengths were pretty much on target.

  • Relator – I develop close relationship with people and my friends trust my judgment when they need advice.
  • Learner – I am curious and dig deeply into topics that attract my interest.
  • Command – I push people to excel.
  • Significance – I need to be be independent and for people to take me seriously.
  • Input – I collect information like some people collect shoes.

The one that really resonated with me is the last one – Input. I am currently reading 3 books at once. I have a stack of 4 more on my “to read” list right now and my library due date is looming large. I have more interests than I can count. I’ve always been frustrated when I hear “just take your favorite hobby and turn it into a business and you can be successful.” I think that’s because I don’t know where to start. My short list for favorite hobbies is a crazy laundry list. Weight training and nutrition. Sports cars. Volleyball. Investing. Cooking and using local produce. Business strategy. Leadership and management. Social media. Chronic disease management. Photography. Gardening and landscaping. Birdwatching. Kayaking. Eldercare. Wine. Construction. Green technologies.

This opened my eyes. My favorite hobby is processing information. Weird way of looking at it, but that’s exactly what it is.

The book is small and a quick read and I’d recommend it.

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Crush It!

Posted on March 26, 2010 | Leave a comment

I’ve just finished reading the book “Why now is the time to Crush It! Cash in on your passion” by Gary Vaynerchuk. I thought this would be a good book talk about.

First off, this is a quick read, but there are a lot of great concepts in it. I’ve dabbled a bit in my own personal branding so this resonates with me. However, I haven’t spent any time attempting to monetize what I do – I am still doing it mainly for myself. Writing this blog provides a creative outlet and it also helps me focus my thoughts and my thought processes.

What I really like about the book is the concept that no matter what your passion is – there are other people out there just like you. If you’re willing to put in the time and energy (yes, this is hard work – it won’t happen by magic) to share what you know, and to interact with folks who share your interest you can become a well regarded expert in the community surrounding your passion. This means sharing what you read about, answering questions, providing key insights and having online conversations through a variety of social media formats.

Another key point in the book is that it is very important to be yourself. Be authentic. If you try to hide your personality, whether it is serious, outlandish, or sarcastic, you’ll inevitably fail because you won’t come across as genuine. Also, chose the medium that is best suited for your personality. Some people choose the written word, others podcasts, and still others video. If you can’t write, don’t! If you’re uncomfortable in front of the camera – don’t pick that medium either!

And lastly – patience in this space is a virtue. You won’t likely find a big audience or make much money in under a year. It just won’t happen, so don’t expect it to.

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Social Intelligence

Posted on February 23, 2010 | Leave a comment

I just finished reading the book Social Intelligence: The New Science of Success by Karl Albrecht. This is a fine book that really expands the Social Intelligence facet of Gardner’s concept of multiple intelligence. Having a high IQ is not a sure path to success. There are a number of other types of intelligence, like Emotional Intelligence (self awareness and control) and Social Intelligence (the ability to deal with people) that are also very important in today’s world.

For a quick read that gives a good overview of this topic, see the following article on Karl Albrecht’s website.

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Put Your Dream to the Test

Posted on February 1, 2010 | Leave a comment

I just finished reading John C. Maxwell’s book “Put Your Dream to the Test – 10 Questions to Help You See It and Seize It”

If you want to get a feel for what this book is like – check out an adaptation from the book on his website. How Do You Know If Your Dream is Obtainable?

I’ve never read any of his books before and I just happened upon this one in the library while I was in the throes of navel gazing about my own future. These last 9 months (nine!! where does the time go?) of job searching and soul searching have been both good and bad. At first I really needed the time off but more recently I’ve determined that it is time for me to *DO* something productive. The question has been: “what?” Do I want to keep doing what I had been doing? Or do I want to try doing something completely different with a huge learning curve and a higher likelihood of failure? I’ve gone back and forth from one day to the next. I’ve been on interviews that seriously felt like my soul was being sucked out of my body… and then I’ve regretted not being more enthusiastic about the position! Well, maybe my gut was trying to tell me something. I think that it is time for a change. I am always happiest when I am learning something new. The bigger the learning curve and the more support I have while learning, the better off I am.

This book really helped me put my dreams about the future into better focus. I think that my favorite question is “The Ownership Question: Is my dream really my dream?” Who hasn’t said that they want to do something because it’s what they are “supposed” to do? Clearly that’s not your dream. Or maybe you are doing something for someone else… that too, not yours. Sorry. How about you want to keep working on something because you’ve been doing it for all of your career but it isn’t fun anymore? hmmm. Sounds like that isn’t your dream anymore either.

I’m all for leveraging strengths and I know what mine are. I connect with people and I like to think that I bring out their best. I don’t lose sight of the big picture. I am extremely organized and I can be detailed oriented when necessary. I can run a complicated project like no ones business. I just need to apply all that to something a little different than what I have been doing.

I leave you with this final thought:

“Think of your comfort zone as a prison you live in – a largely self-created prison. It consists of a collection of cants, musts, must nots and other unfounded beliefs formed from all the negative thoughts and decisions you have accumulated and reinforced during your lifetime.” Jack Canfield

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The Gift of Fear

Posted on January 16, 2010 | Leave a comment

I finally got around to reading this book – “The Gift of Fear” by Gavin de Becker after hearing it recommended time and time again for dealing with potentially dangerous situations and to help determine if a relationship is abusive.

This book has been on my list for a long time, but it has always been a lower priority, in the context it usually is recommended (or that I’ve seen it recommended) it didn’t apply to me at all. How wrong I was. This book applies to everyone. I was amazed at some of the common sense advice that can be easily applied to many situations at work and in your personal life.

One of the key messages that hit me revolves around how do you fire someone, and when do you do it. If you are going to fire someone for reasons other than pure performance – for example due to behavior that is threatening or otherwise intimidating you need to do it as soon as possible. This doesn’t mean that you don’t tell the person directly why their behavior is inappropriate in order to remedy the situation. The problem is that most people are loath to approach someone like this in the first place. They wait and wait until a seemingly small infraction becomes the straw that broke the camel’s back. This is bad news. First off, the behavior has been implicitly condoned rather than immediately addressed. Secondly, the perpetrator has become more and more invested in their job over time. And third, since the firing appears to be over a small matter it may be taken badly since the person knows they have done more egregious things in the past.

Another key point of this section is to make sure to treat the person with dignity. If you’re afraid of them, don’t bring muscle into the meeting. No security, no cops, no escorts. This is counter intuitive, but showing your fear and the expectation of a bad outcome actually empowers the person to create one. You are showing that this is what you expect, no? This doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be available if a situation escalates, but this backup should not be visible.

Clearly another key item is to not beat around the bush when you tell someone they are fired. Be clear. You don’t want them to assume that it is just another performance appraisal and a request for change. Also do not negotiate. I loved the boomerang line – “If you had made the decision to leave we would have respected it, and we expect the same from you.”

There are many more lessons in here that can be used in running a successful business. I’ve also added more intuitive skills to my arsenal due to reading this as well. As a woman who has extensively traveled, I’ve become accustomed to late night arrivals and dark parking lots and garages. This book helps me to be better prepared to recognize a situation before it becomes a bad one.

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The Innovator’s Dilemma

Posted on January 6, 2010 | Leave a comment

I recently read the Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen.

Some parts of this book feel a little bit outdated due to the primary case study that is used: sustaining vs disruptive changes in the hard drive industry from the 1970s until the 1990s and how the companies in the industry coped with the changing business landscape. However, the messages that are represented are still valuable.

Key points for me include:

” Most managers learn about innovation in a sustaining technology context because most technologies developed by established companies are sustaining in character. Such innovations are, by definition, targeted at known markets in which customer needs are understood. In this environment, a planned, researched approach to evaluating, developing, and marketing innovative products is not only possible, it is critical to success.

What this means, however, is that much of what the best executives in successful companies have learned about managing innovation is not relevant to disruptive technologies.”

In a nutshell, if you are going after the same customer base or market segment you always have – with a known set of needs you won’t get any market research information to help you create disruptive technologies. In reality this data will discourage your attempts.

-and-

… the vast majority of successful new business ventures abandoned their original business strategies when they began implementing their initial plans and learned what would and would not work in the market. The dominant difference between successful ventures and failed ones, generally is not the astuteness of their original strategy. Guessing the right strategy at the outset isn’t nearly as important to success as conserving enough resources so that new business initiatives get a second or third stab at getting it right. Those that run out of resources or credibility before they can iterate toward a viable strategy are the ones that fail.”

Here, the message is that no one gets disruptive technologies right on their first attempt. Make sure to conserve resources and iterate repeatedly until you find that market or that strategy that works.

-and-

Not only do you need the right people to be able to develop your disruptive technologies, you need the right processes, and you need the right values or priorities. This is what makes it so hard to succeed in large companies which have qualified people and the money for the resources. However, the bigger the company, the more rooted in existing processes it is, and the more likely that the priorities of the organization as a whole are tied to large percentage gains in revenue which a new disruptive technology in a nascent industry is unlikely to provide.

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