Jack Wanted to Help :)

Jack saw how much fun I was having reading The Facebook Effect and he wanted to join in:

Back after a LONG break :)

So it seems that I decided to take the summer off of this little blogging idea :) One might think that I took the summer off from my ambitious reading goal as well, but I can assure you that is not the case!

I took a lovely 3 week vacation to the Cook Islands, Australia, and New Zealand, and that gave me some much needed reading time. Made it through Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh, Business Stripped Bare by Richard Branson, and Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan in my three short weeksglobe trotting. Hard to not be inspired with a surrounding like this:I aso read two books by Tom Peters over the summer. One of his newest - The Little Big Things - and a classic (his first book I think) - In Search of Excellence. I stumbled across Excellence in a used book store and was so glad I picked it up. Some of the case studies are a bit outdated now (it was first published before I was BORN!), but the content is tried and true and amazing how relevant is remains almost 30 years after it first hit the shelves.
The only other two that made up my summer reading were Blink by Malcolm Gladwell and Grande Expectations by Karen Blumenthal. Gladwell is (in my opinion) one of the great authors of this century, so I always love getting my hands on anything he writes. Then what could be more inspirin than reading about how Howard Schultz took starbucks from a dream and a tiny cofefe house into a global powerhouse?

The goal is to get "back on the horse" and start blogging again as I make my way towards my 2010 goal of 50 books. My schedule seems to get the best of me far too often, so I guess we'll see how it goes...

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

Tribes

I just finished Tribes by Seth Godin. It’s a quick and easy read, but inspirational and eye opening all the same. The underlying premise of the book is that human beings are created (although I doubt he used the world ‘created’) with a need for belonging, and we naturally attach ourselves to not one but many groups of people within which we find a sense of identity. He defines tribe as “a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea.” While it seems at first glance that the book will revolve around this concept of tribes and our continued movement towards greater connectedness, the book is really about leadership and how we are in desperate need of people to emerge from the status quo and dare to lead.

Seth uses case studies and a number of great stories of visionary leaders who have dared to change things, and the less than obvious point that he highlights more than once is that true leadership often does not come from the top but rather from what he called ‘heretics’ from within that dare to challenge the status quo and drive change around them. He says that leaders have three common qualities: they motivate, connect, and leverage, three qualities that are rarely dependent upon a title or upon a role. According to Seth, the primary reason that so few leaders ever step up is fear. He asserts “ordinary people dream p remarkable stuff all the time – but they are too scared to do anything with it.”

I thought a lot after this quick read about ways to create an environment where new leaders feel safe to voice their ideas and where curiosity and growth can really flourish. My team is so small, so that seems like it should be an easy task, but I find it one of the mot difficult pieces of what I do currently. One of the final quotes that stood out to me says “when you hire amazing people and give them freedom, amazing things happen.” I think that is the balance I don’t quite know how to create just yet, but lots of great concepts and inspirational ideas to digest.

How Remarkable Women Lead

Even in the early stages of my marriage and my career I am already constantly aware of the pull between the two and of the delicate balancing act that must take place a majority of the time. I picked up How Remarkable Women Lead by Joanna Barsh and Susie Cranston because something on the back cover led me to believe it would address how some of the most successful women around the world have achieved this same balancing act, and hopefully I could take away some tips.

In reality, the book wasn’t about “achieving a work life balance” at all. The only real mention of the subject came in the introduction where the author stated, “Our women saw “work-life balance” for what it is – an unattainable goal. Instead, they have adapted to a life of managed disequilibrium – a fluid and dynamic approach. They love their children and they love their work. There was no either/or. Accepting “and” filled them with energy.” It is a book filled with remarkable stories of remarkable women, all of whom have accomplished the impossible on one level or another.

It is written around the concept that the author calls centered leadership. Centered leadership consists of five elements – meaning, framing, connecting, engaging, and energizing – and those five elements create the framework around which each case study is explored. There were keys I identified as strengths of my own, and most definitely keys I was able to quickly identify as weaknesses.

There is far too much good stuff in these 350 pages for me to even attempt to summarize or pull out key points, but for any woman that dreams of running her own company one day, winning a Pulitzer, leading a country, or simply accomplishing more than anyone ever believed possible, How Remarkable Women Lead is most definitely a worthwhile read. May you be as inspired as I was… ☺

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Aristotle



I’ve heard about Seven Habits of Highly Effective People for years. Now that I’ve read it I honestly can’t believe I never made it a priority to read before now. Covey describes the word “habit” as “the intersection of knowledge, skill, and desire,” and the book is an honest look at seven habits that can help define not only an effective life but a fulfilled and balanced life. I could never do the book justice by trying to quickly summarize it or even pick out a few key points, but here is an outline of the seven habits:

1. Be proactive
2. Begin with the end in mind
3. Put the first things first
4. Thing win/win
5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood
6. Synergize

The book is filed with fascinating insights on everything from time management to fostering creativity to orchestrating trust within your teams to fostering deeper relationships to active listening to effective coaching to contract negotiation. I felt almost as thought I needed to read it through two lenses – the personal applications and the applications for me as a manager. Both applications have potentially revolutionary outcomes, so I am still in the process of digesting some of the information and creating clear action points.

How the Mighty Fall

Surprise, surprise…I’m a little behind in my reading list ☺

My most recent read – How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins – was a quick but inspirational read. You’ve probably read some of his more popular books. Good to Great is a personal favorite of mine, but I haven’t read his old faithful, Built to Last. I actually found a copy of it at a used bookstore last weekend, so it will make its way to my list shortly, but I was excited about How the Mighty Fall because it is recent and reflects some of the challenges that have emerged in business as a result of the current economic climate.

The book is primarily a case study of a number of companies that were, at one time, considered great and powerful organizations and how a sequence of events led to their eventual demise. Big name companies are picked apart – Circuit City, Motorola, HP, Scott Paper, and Zenith, to name a few – and it is ironic to be introduced to similarities between such diverse and unique companies that brought about grave ramifications.


One piece of the book that stood out to me was the chapter that talked about denial. Collins outlined a number of characteristics that define teams that are on the way up versus teams that are on the way down. Team on the way up are honest, even when it’s uncomfortable, use high question to statement ration, challenge people to discover their own answers, gives credit to other people for their success, and argue and debate not as a way to improve their personal position but to find the best answers to further the overall cause. Team on the way down, on the other hand, shield people in power from grim fact, assert strong opinions without providing back up data, avoid critical input, shut down questions, seek credit only for themselves, and argue to look smart or to improve their own interests rather than argue to find the best answers for the team. I found application in those statements as I look at my current role with my small team and think of ways to make sure we are indeed making an upward climb as opposed to getting stuck in a downward spiral.

The final chapter of the book analyzes companies that have successfully steered their way through a season of genuine crisis and emerged into greatness again. Collins asserts that the defining factor in such climbs is leadership. “The right leaders feel a sense of urgency in good times and bad, whether facing threat or opportunity, no matter what. They’re obsessed, afflicted with a creative compulsion and inner drive for progress – burning hot coals in the stomach – that remain constant whether facing threat or not.” Makes me hope I am taking the right steps to develop such resolve in my own journey into leadership – I think I have a long way to go ☺

1000 CEOs - my next endeavor :)

It's mid-February and I am only three and a half books into my goal of fifty for the year. I like to use the excuse that I didn't start until half-way through January - but not sure that is a good enough excuse for being behind so early in the game!

I’ve already admitted that I have trouble finishing what I start – hence the reason I am forcing myself to blog as I read. It creates accountability regardless of whether or not people are actually reading what I throw up here. I just started a book that no doubt will take me quite some time to complete, but I’m particularly excited about this one. After half an hour of wandering through Borders last weekend I came across a copy of 1000 CEO’s and was immediately intrigued. The byline is ‘Proven strategies for success from the world’s smartest executives’. Since the entire purpose of this little reading mission I am on is to learn as much as possible about business this year and to push myself beyond just being “good” at what I do into the real of having the possibility to be truly “great”, it seemed like a great choice. It is made up primarily of case studies of great business leaders from both past and present and broken down into categories like innovators, motivators, rebuilders, visionaries, and a few others.



Beyond the case studies, a huge number of important topics are covered. Whether it is ‘The Diversity Dividend’, ‘The Art of Confidence’, ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’, ‘Driving Efficiency’ or any other number of key topics, the same movers and shakers provide bite sized input into very massive topics. And on top of all of that, it is FULL of bright colors and pretty pictures, which always helps keep my attention!

The introduction dissects the question of what it takes to be a CEO (a topic I dare say peaks most of our interest), and he highlights a few key topics:

• Get your team right
• Find failure fast (even going so far as to say that as a CEO there should be zero-tolerance for failure)
• Align your team
• Manage global emotions
• Communicate…and communicate…and communicate
• Invest in talent management
• Stock up on your emotional intelligence
• Avoid the self-destruct button

As a side notes, did you know that as of 2009 only 12 Fortune 500 companies and 25 Fortune 1000 companies have women CEOs or presidents? Who says a glass ceiling no longer exists...



Since this massive hard-cover book that showed up in my mailbox yesterday is more than 500 pages, I dare say it will be awhile before I write any type of summary of take-away. But again, vowing that I WILL read it in its entirety means I’m committed ☺