The QLog

The Last Lecture

"We can not change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." - Randy Pausch

Former Disney Imagineer and Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch is an inspiring man at age 47. He is also dying from pancreatic cancer but you would not know from his enthusiasm for life. On September 18, 2007 he gave his 'last lecture' to a packed audience at McConomy Auditorium. Also, more recently, his new book The Last Lecture, was published and I do recommend it. However, I suggest that watching the original lecture should be mandetory for just about every adult at any age!

As someone who strives to enable the goals of others, I promise that if you choose to spend the full 76 minutes viewing this very enjoyable lecture, you will be well rewarded. It will help focus your thinking on what should be most important for your life: striving to acheive your dreams!

Learning Goal

What new skill, activity, hobby, or subject matter do you want to learn about? I suggest pursuing one major learning goal for 2008. Perhaps you would like to delve deep into history and become an American Civil War buff or an expert on the campaigns of Alexander The Great. Maybe you would like to learn how to paint, draw, or sculpt. There are 1000s of possibilities. Some other common examples include:

• To speak a foreign language such as French, Chinese, or Arabic.
• To play a musical instrument such as the guitar, piano, or violin.
• To master a game such as chess, backgammon, or poker.

This year is a great opportunity to learn something new and meaningful. Choose a topic that you would enjoy and then begin tackle the books, the courses, the coaching, the training, or the daily practice that will be necessary.

Creativity Today

Thought I'd pass this very interesting email I received today about a 'new' book, called Creativity Today. This book is popular in Europe; yet. it is not generally available in the US. Luckily, 800-CEO-READ has a solution. I have not yet seen the physical book myself, but I am very inspired to read it soon.

Also, check out the companion website for the book too: www.creativitytoday.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Mueller
Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 4:20 PM
Subject: Creativity Today

You might remember when we presented a book during the inBubbleWrap days called, The Idea Book - an interesting book from Sweden we were surprised wasn’t readily available here.  We made it available to you, and received a ton of compliments and thanks for bringing this title into the fold. 

Well, we’ve found another great book.

It’s called Creativity Today.  Published in the Netherlands (in English), the cover states that the book offers “tools for a creative attitude for business, education, industry, training, development, government, consultants, workers, thinkers, meetings, design, health…”  Indeed, it's true. In fact, Creativity Today has inspired thousands of European managers, teachers and students, and has become the standard by which other creative thinking books are measured. 

Paul Williams at Idea Sandbox (www.idea-sandbox.com) turned us on to it.  We're using it as a manual for how to approach any problem or situation creatively.  Here are some of the many points in the book that stand-out to us:

- By definition, new ideas don’t fit into existing schemes of thought.  This means that judgment very often occurs too fast when new ideas are launched.

- Visual languages are generally less respected than verbal language.  Yet, the ability to visualize may be the most important basic skill in the creative thinker’s toolbox: no creative solution, simple as it may be, can be thought of, designed and realized without using imagery.

- Ideas need to evolve from an abstract, conceptual level to a concrete, practical level, otherwise they will always remain what they are: ideas.

With each of these points (and many, many others), the authors provide case studies and easy-to-follow instructions, analyzing problems through “The Series of Phases,” applying “The COCD Box,” and a variety of exercises and tests.  This book is literally a textbook in creative thinking.  They take on creative challenges such as fixing traffic jams, product creation and development, customers waiting too long at a checkout counter, how to make money, and many more. As a bonus, this edition includes an expanded section called “Creation Today” that applies the ideas of the book to organizational development. 

You can’t get this book anywhere in the States, so we decided to remedy that.  800-CEO-READ will sell it until a U.S. publisher picks it up.  The cost is $39.95, but the first 100 people who type the code 8x2vf during checkout will get an additional $5 off.  Click here to check the book out: www.800ceoread.com/products/?ISBN=9789063691462

You can also visit the book’s website for more info: www.creativitytoday.net

Thanks for considering this offer.  We hope you can start practicing the lessons in this book soon and watch their effect on your business.

Jon Mueller
800-CEO-READ
219 N. Milwaukee
Milwaukee, WI 53202
800-236-7323 x210
www.800ceoread.com

Summer Reading: Anxious Pleasures

Here is a summer reading recommendation that has some depth, but is still light enough to carry to the beach:

One of my favorite plays is Shakespeare's Hamlet. As a result, when I discovered Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, I fell in love all over again as it was yet a new strand interwoven into the play-within-the-play motif found within the text. 

Likewise, I just finished a short novel by Lance Olsen entitled Anxious Pleasures: A Novel after Kafka which I think was executed brilliantly as it thoughtfully engaged the classic novella The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka through many new points-of-view.

If you are not familar with the original narrative, it begins with Gregor Samsa, a salesman, waking one morning to find his body transformed into a "monstrous vermin" and lives the rest of his days within this insect form.

Olsen's gives formerly minor characters voices in his expanded version of the tale. In addtion, this new story includes a woman considering the Kafka original in the famous British Musuem reading room and a new subplot about the writer who lives in the apartment directly below Gregor Samsa (and hears the daily commotion) which then inspires him to imagine a story about the events above. 

This wonderful retelling offers it's own interpretations; however, no spoilers here. If you enjoy high octane brain candy, I am positive you will find this novel a very fun read. I suggest you check out Anxious Pleasures.

Update

The ‘blook’ version of Pushing to the Front will be published daily starting January 1, 2007 at this location: http://qlog.typepad.com/pushingtothefront/ 

Hope you decided to check it out.
Thom

Update: Pushing To The Front Blog

The first post for this new blog will be on January 1, 2007; however, this will be mostly a biographical sketch of Orision Swett Marden and some background information about the book itself. The post-a-day will begin on January 2 and it will focus on selections that are still interesting, topical, and relevant for the 21st century.

I’ll be posting the location of this new blog on Friday, December 29th. More then!

Pushing To The Front Blog

A good system shortens the road to the goal. - Orison Swett Marden

Today’s post is just a short announcement about my new blog which will officially begin on January 1, 2007. I’ll be editing and re-publishing an abridged version of Orison Swett Marden’s best selling book Pushing To The Front as a blook. The original was published in 1894, but it is quite lengthy at 800+ pages and 70 Chapters.

Do not let the age of this volume fool you as it still has some valuable nuggets! Some of the material is a little dated; however, I'll be posting selections that still resonate today. J.C. Penny is one of many from his generation that have credited this same book with their success.

Here are some quotes from the book:

• “Persistency is to talent what steam is to the engine. It is the driving force by which the machine accomplishes the work for which it was intended. A great deal of persistency, with a very little talent, can be counted on to go farther than a great deal of talent without persistency.”
  
  
• “He who improves an opportunity sows a seed which will yield fruit in opportunity for himself and others. Every one who has labored honestly in the past has aided to place knowledge and comfort within the reach of a constantly increasing number.”
  
  
• “The rolling stone gathers no moss. The persistent tortoise outruns the swift but fickle hare. An hour a day for twelve years more than equals the time given to study in a four years' course at a high school. The reading and re-reading of a single volume has been the making of many a man. “
  
  
• “Life pulsates with chances. They may not be dramatic or great, but they are important to him who would get on in the world.”
  
  
• “Go-at-it-iveness is the first requisite for success. Stick-to-it-iveness is the second. Under ordinary circumstances, and with practical common sense to guide him, one who has these requisites will not fail. “
  
  
• “As a rule, what the heart longs for the head and the hands may attain.”

I’ll post more details in December. Stay Tuned.

Small Increments of Time

“I recommend you to take care of the minutes, for the hours will take care of themselves.” - Lord Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773)

Rarely do entire days slip by unnoticed. Instead, time is lost in small increments, such as 5 minutes here, 15 minutes there. For example, time is often wasted while waiting for a phone call, a visit, an appointment, or even dinner time.

The cure is always to be ready to start or continue a high payoff task such as reading. I almost always carry some magazine articles or one of the several books I reading with me, so if I find I have some idle moments, I am able to put them to use. 

The Lord Chesterfield I quoted above was British statesman and politician who led Ireland for a short time as he held the title Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; however, Chesterfield is most well-known today for the series of instructional letters that he wrote for his son that were published after this death. On December 11, 1747, he wrote the following advice:

I knew a gentleman who was so good a manager of his time that he would not even lose that small portion of it which the calls of nature obliged him to pass in the necessary-house, but gradually went through all the Latin poets in those moments. He bought, for example, a common edition of Horace, of which he tore off gradually a couple of pages, read them first, and then sent them down as a sacrifice to Cloacina: this was so much time fairly gained.

The Bottom Line: Strive to waste no time. Reading is a good strategy to fill those tiny blocks of time that might simply pass-by otherwise.

Book Recommendation: Six Disciplines for Excellence

Over the past ten years, I’ve read a wide selection of management/business books. Most of them can be divided into three categories:

·          Books that were designed for a large enterprise.

·          Books that explain the latest ‘fad,’ trend, or metric.

·          Books that focus one aspect (e.g. profits, communication, marketing) that are needed at every firm.

The Six Disciplines for Excellence: Building Small Businesses That Learn, Lead and Last by Gary Harpst is a different and much needed animal for several reasons. First, it was written specifically for smaller shops (including local non-profits) which intrinsically have fewer resources. Second, this book provides a very systematic approach for a company to follow in order to achieve all of its objectives. Third, it is based on real-world experience (vs. theory from a B-School Professor) as the author was CEO of Solomon (now part of Microsoft) and this company was a test bed for the ideas in the book.

Small companies need to strive for excellence from the moment they are conceived. Why? The good ol’ 80/20 Rule! The bottom eighty percent of small businesses will fold within the first 5 years. Of the remaining twenty percent, after 5 additional years, another eighty percent will go out of business. Clearly, only the top firms can effectively compete within our modern marketplace.

Unlike most business books which focus on a few techniques, The Six Disciplines provides a true recipe for success. If a small company can be likened to a chocolate cake, what is outlined here would be how to create one that a chef who had studied at Le Cordon Bleu would be likely to bake. Here are the disciplines (see graphic):

  1. Decide what's important
  2. Set goals that lead
  3. Align systems
  4. Work the plan
  5. Innovate purposefully
  6. Step back

Each discipline is divided into a series of detailed methodologies which every company should be following. As the Bard once wrote “brevity is the soul of wit” and Harpst wisely choose to keep each section short, tight, and concise. In addition, the example charts and graphs provide quick visual clues to help explain the concepts that are discussed.

Although most small companies are already doing a number of the things detailed in the book, this is not enough. Such cafeteria-style management, where only a few procedures are chosen, can result in major weaknesses that can be fatal. The entire cycle is very important.

Harpst makes a great point: determining objectives (disciplines 1 and 2) is fairly easy for most organizations. The hard part for most businesses is the execution itself (disciplines 3 and 4). Most of the time is spent here. I completely agree! I personally have worked for some world-class organizations which have been market leaders in their own niche; yet, each had internal systems (HR, IT, etc.) that got in their own way at times, mostly because they were outdated or had not adapted to work together as part of a single whole larger system.

I highly recommend this short, but very dense volume. A lot of valuable ideas are found here! The Six Disciplines can be used as a guide book for any small enterprise as the majority of the text is a ‘how to’ manual with very clear instructions. I will be using the methodologies outlined for my own business endeavors. Also, if you do not own a business, many of the ideas presented can be easily ported to planning and living for the individual as well. Get this book. For more information, see the Six Disciplines website.

Book Recommendation: 10 Ways To Make It Great!

For a long time, I searched for certain kind of expert, what I call a Perennial Optimist. These positive individuals are a rare breed. Dale Carnegie and Norman Vincent Peale were the two most famous such examples from the 20th century. I was fortune enough to find just such a person a few years ago: Phil Gerbyshak. Phil is a motivational speaker and renown blogger who has a worthwhile and wonderful worldview. I shared my lunchtime with Phil on over 150 different occasions between 2003 and 2005 and each meal was an enjoyable experience where I always learned something interesting and useful.

Earlier this month, Phil published his first book, 10 Ways to Make It Great!, which is an incredibly powerful statement of the same philosophy that he discussed with me at our weekly power lunch. I had seen an early draft of this book some months ago; however, I just read the final version last night and I could not put it down. He has distilled both ancient and modern ideas into a concise volume that demonstrates the best ways to engage in a positive, purposeful life in ten easy lessons:

1.       Begin at the End and Work Toward Today

2.       Learn About Yourself as Much as Possible

3.       Use the 80/20 Rule As A Key to Your Success

4.       Never Stop Learning!

5.       Surround Yourself With Those Who Can Help You

6.       Feed Your Friendlies

7.       Dream Big Dreams, Do Big Things!

8.       Work Hard Now...Or Work Hard Forever!

9.       Recharge Your Batteries

10.   Finish What You Started...and Just Get Started!

You can get a copy of his book for about the cost of single lunch; however, the value it will add to your life can not be easily measured. I highly recommend including a copy of 10 Ways to Make It Great! in your own personal library. Stop having a ‘nice day’ and instead choose to MAKE IT GREAT!