Management & Machiavelli

Whilst moving offices I cleared out my bookcase and it caused me to reread this book from the late 1980's. By Antony Jay (of Yes Prime Minister' fame), it made me think how little has changed since the 1980's in the political struggles for power inside organisations. In fact little has changed since Machiavelli write his book much earlier than that!

Well worth a read if you can get hold of a copy. ISBN 0 09 169941 X

Purple Cow

A book on getting your product (or you) noticed. Primarily written for non-Marketeers the book doesn't have too much content but does make you think about the messages we are all bombarded with every day and how little we now take notice of them.

p80 Products differ but the characteristics of early adopters stay the same.
p73 get the email addresses of the 20% of your customer base that loves you and then give just them something really special.
p132 you can't out-Amazon Amazon so go to a market space where they are not.

How to be a Complete & Utter failure in Life Work & Everything

I came across Steve McDermott at a seminar in Brighouse in January 2008 and enjoyed his presentation so much I got hold of the book. I must confess I was a little apprehensive as I wasn't immediately drawn to the title or the cover - however the content was bloody brilliant! I could hear Steve's voice and delivery in my head as I read it.

Written in an innovative style of telling you what not to do to be a failure, your subconscious (which has no concept of don't) just absorbs it all as what to do.

I read quite a few books whilst travelling and I tend to judge them by the number of margin notes I make - this one has my highest so far. Some of the ones I liked most:

If you don't think about the future - you don't have one p8
Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have it, you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known p10
A life view for happiness - try new things (one which I'm happy to say I work on adhering to) p88
Better to ask for forgiveness than permission p95
You choose what the voices inside your head tell you p103
A plea for lifelong learning, You live and learn, then you die and forget it all p156, p158
The top indicator of ability to rise to the top of an organisation is an ability to speak powerfully in public p168
Top tips for being a successful leader p162
The acid test of are you really one p164

And finally one activity that really made a difference to me personally was to spend 15 minutes writing down your most important values, then pick the top five (see Brian Mayne's Life Mapping) p21

Humourous but with a serious message about how to live a happier life.

Self Mapping

A similar approach to Brian Mayne's Goal Mapping but applied to you as an individual. Taking you through the steps of producing a pictorial representation of your ideal self.

The approach borders on a philosophy for life in places and I had trouble with the chosen terms self, low-self, high Self and Self (I think these could be improved on to make the book clearer) but there were plenty of thoughtful quotes.

In esscence, the book sets out to help the reader overcom their instinctive reactions to situations and choose the response they would like by understanding ther own personal subconscious drivers. The first part of the book focuses on negative traits holding you back and he second half on who you want to be more often.

A different point of view is simply the view from a point where you are not (physically or mentally) p31
He who knows others is wise, he who knows himself is enlightened p25
We can learn from every experience p99
Your level of performance will never besignifiacntly higher than your belief of your ability p41
Life is a scholol wheer the lesson is repeated as often as is necessary p193
The secret of the hapiest peope is that they see the best in everything, in whatever they have p26

Life's a game so fix the odds

I heard Philip Hesketh speak at a confidence club seminar in January 2009, he was a great speaker so I got hold of the book.

A version of how to win friends and influence people for the modern sales professional is how I would describe the content mixed in with some of Philip's life history. The techniques don't just apply to sales though, they are equally valuable whenever you are attempting to negotiate or persuade someone.

Covering the science of persuasion, the benefits of being different and of valuing diversity in others and finally the tools to help persuade people to buy from you and hence your business.

Outliers

In this book Malcolm Gladwell looks at the underlying factors behind success, or more specifically successful people.
Of course he say there is talent but that is certainly not enough. The outstanding have been born at a certain time, in a certain place and have had certain life experiences that created opportunities for them that they had the strength and courage to sieze and make something of.
One of his key messages is that true outstanding performance comes basically from hard work - around 10,000 hours of it to achieve true mastery of a skill. That's why the world's top sportsmen (and women) spend so much time practising.
Perhaps one of the most depressing messages though is that the artifical cut-off dates we impose on selection processes for young children automaticalkly exclude at least half the available talent pool (think of how summer born children perform in the UK and USA education systems, and then because they get less education, they perform less well so they don't get picked for the top sets so they perform less well so then they don't get to the top universities ad so have lower job opportunities and lifetime earnings - all because of an arbitary September cutt-off date for school admissions.
Those children from disadvantaged family backgrounds where there is no history of positive attitude to education suffer even more. And just look at what a transformation a program such as KIPP can make (and what sacrifices it requires).
The book end with Malcom reviewing his own opporrtunities and their roots seveal generations previously in the colour predujice amongst the various shades of black and brown on Jamacia.
As ever, Malcom writes in a engaging style - if you enjoyed Blink or The Tipping Point you will want to read Outliers as well

Just Ask

A wonderful little guide to a specific but very powerful tool - asking the right questions to get what you want (nicely).
If you ever wondered why some people seem to be able to get a positive response when you have just been refused the same request - then this book is for you.

And the single most important point: if you want something then try asking for it - the worst you will get is a no!

The Black Swan

An excellent follow-on book to Fooled by Randomness, again a mixture of statistics and philosophy (but don't let that put you off).
Many people confuse the statement that "almost all terrorists are Moslems" with "allmost all Moslems are terrorists". Assume that the first statement is true, that 99% of terrorists are Moslems. This would mean that only 0.001% of Moslems are terrorists since there are around 1 billion Moslems and only say 10,000 terrorists overall in the world.
Your personal happiness depends far more on the number of happy events than their size so far better to have lots of mildly good things than one great thing in your life.
On the futility of budgets (p163)
Prediction requires knowing about technologies that will be discovered in the future. But that very knowledge would allow us to start developing them. Ergo, we do not know what we will know.
And his recepie for success: work hard in chasing opportunities and maximising exposure to them. (p209)

Microtrends

One of those books that doesn't seem that promising at first but the more you get into it the more interesting it gets. Published before the 2008 USA election but managed to predict a lot of teh underlying trends that in the end determined the outcome.

The message of the book is that you need to spot the small emerging trends not the great swings to get ahead of history.

Aong the journey some interesting quotes "hospital errors kill more people every year than either car accidentst or breast cancer", leading to a grwoth in self diagnosis and medication.

"In the USA today the top 1% of pets live better than 99% of the world's population.". "each year 600,000 prisioners are realeased from prision - a growth of 600% in 30 years"



This is written mainly from an American perspective but several chapters have a sidebar on the international parallel situations (and to be honest a lot of teh trends discussed can be directly translated.

Yes! 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion

One of the best books I have read in a long time, with 50 short items, each a revelation in itself taken from a variety of areas and building up to an overview of the many ways we are all influenced (even when we are adamant that things don't affect us)

Example titbits were how to get your teenage children to tidy their rooms (a small piece at a time)
Reduce theft of get communal areas tidied (have a mirror or pictures of eyes on the wall)
How to come across as more credible as a speaker (get someone else to read your bio - even if everyone knows you have supplied the bio)

Crucial Conversations

Not one of the better books I have read, though I probably should pay more attention to it as listening (and hence good communications) is an area I could always improve in.
I only caught part of the MD2MD session where I picked up the book and the basic message is reasonable but the presentation could be improved.

The Secret Life of Dust

Hannah Holmes has written one of those wonderful books that dives with great enthusiasm into an apparently mundane subject and uncovers so many tentacles and connections with other thoughts and ideas that you will be astounded.

A great book to source trivia pub questions from that I guarantee no-one will know the answers to!

The pig that wants to be eaten - 100 experiments for the armchair philosopher

A great book to dip into, especially for anyone who enjoys a good argument or who is trying to set a topic for a debating society.

Each chapter starts by outlining a particular scenario that is designed to then lead to a debate on a specific legal or moral or ethical point.

A particular favorite of mine is 'The poppadom paradox' where Sakisa savours the arrival of the poppadoms at her table in an indian restaurant. Her issue is that she believes she is a multiculturalist enjoying aspects of many other cultures - but to enjoy an experience fully she needs others (such as the indian waiter) to remain monoculturalists and play their role for her enjoyment as authentically as possible - but where does that leave Sakisa and her dream of a multiculturalist society!

Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

A fascinating study into why human societies develop religion. Lewis Wolpert gives an explanation that belief was a by-product of the brain's development for using tools.

In essence, our brains are pre-programmed to have a tendency to accept religious and mystical beliefs because as our brains developed, they created causal beliefs of why the things around them were the way they were and did what they did. The better the organism was at this trick - the better it (and its offspring) survived.

Quite accessible as a read and he avoids technical jargon. Also not too dogmatic in the explanations.

The Stuff of Thought

A detailed study into how our brains function, based on a decomposition of the language structures we use.

Steven Pinker puts forward the argument that we are at a basic level merely a machine to process actions on objects.

Quite a technical read and reasonably theoretical in places - I wouldn't recommend it asa first book on the subject.

Willing Slaves

A book written from a slightly feminist perspective (but none the worse for that) looking at how the culture of working excessive hours is damaging our society.
It then shifts to looking at how some companies manage their staff, why this might be causing the recruitment and retention problems and how some other companies are overcoming this.
The book ends (p293) though on a real ray of hope that if those at the top of organisations want to change the culture then they can make a massive difference and they can break the cycle of excessive hours and no life!

Ryanair

A book that reveals why I wouldn't want to work for Ryanair but nonetheless you have to have admiration for those that do.

The wisdom of crowds

A detailed study on why, when and how, groups make better decisions than even teh best individuals.
The secret is to have a heterogenous mix in your group.

Shroom - A cultural history of the Magic Mushroom

Andy Letcher clearly loves his subject and gives an insightful study right up to the present day from both a factual and cultural perspective.

A must-read book for lovers of Psilocybe semilanceata, despite the governments best efforts to dissuade us otherwise.

Now, discover your strengths & Strengths Finder 2.0

A brilliant approach to staff development that focuses on teh things you are good at and making them better - rather than trying to bang your head against a wall and improve your 'failings'



Earlier version of thebook I first came across

I am a Strange Loop

Douglas Hofstader explores further the concept of self-recursive systems and how can we each sense that we exist as an 'I' inside our heads, and that this existence seems to be the most 'real' thing there is.

How can this 'I' arise from just a collection of particles, collected into neurons, containing symbols in a vast processing machine of our brain?

As ever, his books are very readable and not overly technical and thoroughly enjoyable

The hamster revolution (reclaim your life from email)

I picked this book up because the title caught my eye.
I can't say I have adopted all teh tips and tools in teh book but I have used enough of them to manage down the daily torrent of emails I receive to a manageable level. It also has a suggestion for a structured approach to filing emails and all your electronic work.
The overall message is that we get the emails we deserve!

The Mind Gym

A book packed with useful ideas on how to win back more time from some of the more common situations that steal it away from you.

A self scored questionnaire to help you focus on the most important chapters for you.

Seeing Red

A delightful little book at 134 pages, it appears to be going to be an easy read though in fact although it is more work than you expect, your efforts will be rewarded.

An in-depth explanation of what is going on in your brain and mind when you see red (my italics).

The book comes from a series of lectures that Nicholas Humphrey gave at Harvard in 2004 when he projected a red screen on the wall and then promised to explain in the next 3 hours what students were actually experiencing.

Darwin's Dangerous Idea

Daniel Dennett, explores how Darwinian evolutionary theory can be successfully applied to many fields beyond biology.

He looks at the evolution of language, culture, ethics and the origins of life itself.

As ever his books are very well written and a delight to read.