Book Review: Rules of Thumb by Alan M. Webber

I love Confucius. And Sun Tzu. And Tom Peters.

I love profound little learning nuggets, so when I saw a book titled "Rules of Thumb", I bought it immediately.

Title: "Rules of Thumb: 52 Truths for Winning at Business Without Losing Your Self"
Author: Alan M. Webber

Genre: Business
Summary: The cofounder of Fast Company Magazines shares 52 insights that he learned from the best...

Favorite Quote: Here are my three favorite rules from the book.

1. Rule #11: Speed = Strategy
2. Rule #23: Keep Two Lists: What gets you up in the morning? What keeps you up at night?
3. Rule #34: Simplicity is the new currency.

Strengths: A quick read. Clearly written. A number of good stories.
Weaknesses: Of the 52 rules, only 5 were 'a-ha' to me. Too many of them seemed like a Tom Peters remix to me. If you're going to respin old standards, you had better write brilliantly. Mr. Webber writes functionally, not brilliantly.

Conclusion: If you've never seen a book like this, you'll probably enjoy it. Otherwise, flip through it in a bookstore.
Post-it Flags: 6 flags

* Each time I find an interesting quote, model, image, or idea in a book, I mark it with a Post-it flag. The more flags, the more value I found in the book.