Jan 18
Malcolm Gladwell’s look into the wildly successful
I continue to enjoy books by Malcolm Gladwell. The latest I’ve read (or more precisely heard) being “Outliers: The Story of Success“. Before I had a chance to get this material first hand though, I listened to a friend review the book for a networking group. And as with Blink, I found a copy in the books-on-CD section of the library – read by Gladwell. And so once again I enjoyed listening to the book, though my familiarity with the material made the experience seem odd.
Normally one might get a recommendation with a few words, or have only a brief introduction to the topic. But as I progressed through the book I had the funny feeling that I had actually read that part of the book before;-) My good friend (Jim) had done such a thorough job of covering the material that the examples and imagery was already complete in my mind – and here I was listening to it again.
Both events proved enjoyable and I see more of what it takes to succeed…
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Dec 21
What small factors separate an incident from an outbreak?
Malcolm Gladwell’s book “The Tipping Point; How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference” made it to my list after I found “Blink” such a nice read. Actually “Outliers” is on there as well, but I found this title on a library shelf first;-)
In it, Gladwell talks about what makes an event a phenomena and how seemingly small things can greatly influence its success.
Let me take you through a bit of it and leave you with a question.
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Nov 16
The future of a radical price
Chris Anderson’s book “Free, The future of a radical price” came recommended – and I enjoyed reading it.
Free explores the concept of building a business around that one word – free. The poster-child for the concept is of course google, and I’m a google proponent. I’ve used my free gmail account for a long time, set my browser home page to google.com (for both speed and ease of use), and enjoy several of the features google has added over the years.
In searching online for extra material for this review, I stumbled across the plagiarism aspect of the book, and that perhaps sets me back a bit, but read on and we’ll work through it…
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Aug 17
Consider Stephen M.R. Covey’s work if you’re moving slowly
Stephen M.R. Covey’s book “The Speed of Trust; The One Thing That Changes Everything” came to me through a recommendation by a new acquaintance. The individual was commenting on my statement that I get most of my IT consulting and LinkedIn training work through direct reference … either from someone that I know from a previous relationship, or from someone who has talked with someone I know.
The point being made though was that it works because I’ve established a trust relationship with these business professionals, and that trust is extended to the person they know.
And that trust makes things happen – quickly.
Would you like to hear how that happens?
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Jul 06
The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey
I recall reading this book early in my corporate career – and a recent comment brought it to mind, so I had to check it out of the library and review it;-)
What do you get when you take one writer whose philosophy is managing people well – in one minute increments, and team him up with another who compares life’s problems and issues with monkeys?
Ken Blanchard, William Oncken, Jr. and Hal Burrows team up to offer an insightful strategy for keeping everyone’s monkeys on their own shoulders.
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