Reading, Reading, Reading...

One great thing about vacation is that I get to catch up on my reading...

This week, I've read:

• Ignore Everybody by Hugh MacLeod
• Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath
• Metaphorically Selling by Anne Miller
• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
• Rules of Thumb by Alan M. Webber
• What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith

I learned something from each of these, but if I had to pick two of these to recommend, they would be Made to Stick and Ignore Everybody.

If you're not sure if either one is right for you - take a look at their excellent websites

• www.madetostick.com
• www.gapingvoide.com

Enjoy!

Book Review: Dancing in the Mind Field by Kary Mullis

I've got a week off from my Masters program... which means I get to pick my own reading!

Surprising even myself, I choose to dig into Nobel Prize winner Kary Mullis' "Dancing Naked in the Mind Field". 

I found it in a used book store and was hooked after reading the chapter "The Attack of the Loxosceles Reclusae" a hilariously off color recounting of his reaction to a series of spider bites.

The whole book fits this profile - funny, clever, and surprising at every turn. Science should never be boring, but sadly, it usually is.

Well, fortunately, Kary isn't a geek in a white coat. Let me rephrase that... he is a geek in a white coat, but he's also much more.

His childhood stories of launching rockets to see if the frog astronauts come back, of mixing random chemicals to see how they react (often badly), his fascination with bodies (particularly female ones)... these are all stories from my youth (and the youth of a million American males like me).

One of my favorite books is Michael Crichton's (yes, the Michael Crichton of ER and Jurassic Park) "Travels" - an autobiographical journey into what's possible, if not explainable, in this world. I had always hoped for "Travels 2", but Crichton died a few years back. 

Fortunately, it looks like Mullis wrote it for him (and me).

Here's one of my favorite straightforward rants from the book:

The temperature of the earth is due to the size and shape of the orbit that it follows around the sun, the angle that its rotational axis is tilted to its orbit, the length of its days, the radioactive decay and residual gravitational heat deep below the crust, and the elements that were here from the beginning, and God knows what else, but not us.

We are a thin layer of moss on a huge rock. We are a little biologic phenomenon that makes words and thoughts and babies, but we don't even tickle the soles of the feet of our planet.

I don't have to agree with all his opinions to enjoy all his stories.

Here's an article about him, if you're interested.

Build Better Slides with Nancy Duarte's slide:ology

That's me stealing valuable camera space from Nancy

As I mentioned yesterday, I attended the slide:ology seminar at Duarte Designs today.

Author Nancy Duarte facilitated most of the session, and injected it with obvious passion.

Using "An Inconvenient Truth" and the TED conferences as examples, Nancy believes that Power Point and Keynote can change the world. By the end of the session, she'll have you believing as well!

This 'one-day degree' in design is destined to become a 'must-see' in corporate training, so get ahead of the curve and ahead of your competition.

Book Review: "Hard Optimism" by Price Pritchett

I’m a passionate advocate for the optimistic view of life.
In fact, I was 22 when I made the conscious decision to cut negative people out of my life.

So, if you haven’t heard from me since then, you now know why...

This book about optimism caught my eye at Stanford Bookstore, so I read it on a cross-country trip.

Title: "Hard Optimism"

Author: Price Pritchett

Genre(s): Business, Self-help

Summary: “How to Succeed in a World Where Positive Wins”

Favorite Quote:

• “No sense being pessimistic. Wouldn’t work anyway." – Seen on a bumper sticker

Strengths: It’s a good looking book. Nice graphics. Feels good. The tone is conversational. I don't disagree with any of the content. 
Weaknesses: Rare is the book that I don’t learn something from. So this is, technically, a rare book.
Seriously, there isn't much here that isn't better read elsewhere.
Instead of the chapter titled "Go for Flow", read "Finding Flow".
Instead of the chapter titled "Play to Your Signature Strengths", read any of the Gallup or Marcus Buckingham books. The only heft to this book comes from the high quality paper.

Conclusion: Pass on it.

Post-it Flags: 1 flag
* 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.

The Best Business Tools - A Facilitator's Toolbox

My Facilitation Toolbox on Index Cards

I'm a former engineer.
I carried a well-stocked toolbox when I was an engineer... and I like to have the same as a facilitator.

This is a stack of index cards that has all of my favorite models, frameworks, and notes.
When I plan a session, I sort through the cards to build an agenda with my client. There are about 50 cards in my collection.

Below is a list of my most-used tools. Tools at the top of the list are used daily.
In the middle are tools I use weekly. At the bottom are tools I use monthly (or so).

1. DiSC Behavioral Profile (link)
2. Situational Leadership II
3. SMART Goals
4. ADKAR Change Model (link)
5. Six Thinking Hats
6. 7-Step Problem Solving
7. GROW Model (link)
8. The Leadership Challenge
9. The Facilitation Diamond
10. Five Dysfunctions of a Team
11. Tuckman's Team Model (link)
12. Globesmart Webtool
13. PREP Model
14. Strengths - Buckingham
15. Humility - Egonomics
16. Counterfeits - Egonomics
17. Flow (Optimal Experience) Model
18. Language Processing Method
19. Fishbone Diagram
20. Five Finger Facilitation
21. Storyboarding
22. Life Balance Wheel (link)
23. Points of Power
24. Circle of Influence - Covey (link)
25. The Results Pyramid - Oz (link)
26. Above / Below the Line - Oz (link)
27. The Conscious Competence Model
28. Gallup Q12 (12 Questions)

Check back, as I'll continue to update this list.

And tell me what's missing. What are your favorite tools?

Book Review: "Oxymoronica" by Dr. Mardy Grothe

Another outstanding collection of phrases compiled by Dr. Mardy Grothe, “Oxymoronica" focuses on, of course, oxymoronic statements.

Title: "Oxymoronica"

Author: Dr. Mardy Grothe

Genre(s): Reference, Communication, Creativity

Summary: to quote the book's subtitle: "paradoxical wit and wisdom from history’s greatest wordsmiths"

Favorite Quote: I'll give you five:

1. "The best things in life aren’t things." – Ann Landers
2. "First I dream my painting, then I paint my dream” – Vincent Van Gogh
3. “It’s an impossible situation, but it has possibilities” – Samuel Goldwyn
4. “Their bodies were so close together that there was no room for real affection” – Stanislaw Lec
5. “You can’t make anything idiot-proof because idiots are so ingenious” – Ron Burns

Strengths: Like all of Dr. Grothe’s collections, it's funny, inspiring, and educational.
Weaknesses: It gives me an inferiority complex?

Conclusion: I’ll summarize with my own oxymoron - This book is so smart it makes me feel dumb.

Post-it Flags: 35 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.

Am I a Geek? Are You a Geek?

Yesterday, Barry Posner signed my 1st edition copy of The Leadership Challenge. 

Believe it or not, before I met him, I had to decide which edition I was going to ask him to sign - yes, I have all four editions...

In the afternoon, I stopped at the Recycle Bookstore in San Jose, and bought four more books to add to my reading pile.

• Riding The Waves of Culture by Trompenaars
• Managers As Facilitators by Weaver & Farrell
• The Cycle of Leadership by Noel M. Tichy
• Passion at Work by Lawler Kang

Based on these two data points, I realize that if someone wanted to convict me of being a geek,  they could find some pretty strong evidence.

1. I have an engineering degree.
2. I read for fun.
3. I don't just read, I collect books.
4. I have three computers on my desk (powered up and ready to go)
5. I like anime.
6. I enjoy the occasional graphic novel, manga, or sequential art.
7. I enjoy documentaries and foreign films.
8. I have a large catalogued collection of dvds.
9. I have a large catalogued collection of cds.
10. I own a couple of action figures (Musashi Miyamoto and "Ghost in the Shell's" Major Motoko Kusanagi)
11. I love maps.
12. I love libraries.
13. I have a sand (yes... sand) collection.
14. I can program in BASIC and HTML.
15. I've had a website since 1998.

Curious, I googled, "Are you a geek?" and "Are you a nerd?"

I took the GeekTest and scored at only 10.45365% (love the accuracy there).

Turns out I'm not even close. The lack of anti-social and fantasy attributes (no role playing games in my past, sorry) holds me back from reaching true geekdom.

How about you? Where do you score?

Book Review: "What Shamu Taught Me about Life, Love and Marriage" by Amy Sutherland

I'm curious about learning theories and I've always been fascinated by animals, so when I heard that I could book a "trainer for a day program" at SeaWorld two years ago, I had to do it.

It was a great event. I learned a lot about dolphins, a lot about training, and... I got to ride a dolphin.

That's me in the photo below, and it's a heckuva ride!

Since that time, I've been looking for a good book about animal training.

Not a 'how-to', since I'm not looking to train animals, but a look at behavioral training applied to animals in comparison to human training, with some pointers.

I'm sure there's a very good book in this, but I haven't found it yet.

It certainly wasn't "Whale Done!" which - besides it's awful title - is too lightweight to be of any real interest.

So, I was intrigued when I saw "What Shamu Taught Me about Life, Love and Marriage" by Amy Sutherland. In this book, Amy discusses lessons she learned from animal trainers that she then tried to apply at home.

Title: " What Shamu Taught Me About Life Love And Marriage"

Author: Amy Sutherland

Genre(s): Self-help, Relationships, Behavioral Training, Animals

Summary: “Lessons for People from Animals and Their Trainers"

Favorite Quote: I'll give you five lessons from the book instead:

1. Consider what you are reinforcing - Any interaction is training. We're always teaching or reinforcing some behavior, so be clear what it is you want to reinforce.
2. Ignore what you don’t like - Negative feedback rarely works. Better to ignore and redirect.
3. Use incompatible behaviors - A dog can't chew on the coach and a tennis ball at the same time. An employee can't chitchat and clean up the stockroom at the same time. Substitute
4. Know your species - Know them really well. Know what makes them tick and what pisses them off. Know their patterns so you see when they're off. Know what you cannot change.
5. Don’t act like a prey animal around a predator - Don't be a victim...

Strengths: It's an engaging read. There are some interesting lessons. Amy Sutherland is a likable guide through this world of animal training.
Weaknesses: It’s written more as a memoir than as a ‘how-to’. If you’re looking to steal some training tips, this probably isn’t the best book.

Conclusion: My search continues. I like Amy Sutherland’s writing style and will be reading “Kicked, Bitten, and Scratched”, but I’ve also started reading Karen Pryor’s “Lads Before the Wind” as I continue my search for the book that gives me some clear tricks and tips.

Post-it Flags: 17 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.

Book Review: "Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team – A Field Guide" by Patrick Lencioni

I’m on record as hating, wait, no… make that HATING management books that are written as ‘fables’, ‘parables’, ‘novelettes’, or that look remotely like children’s books.

My skeptic-meter goes straight to red when I see books like “Whale Done”, “Who Moved My Cheese”, “The Offsite ”, “Our Iceberg is Melting”, or any of Patrick Lencioni’s ‘Leadership Fables’ in the business section of my favorite bookstore.

Obviously, that’s my problem, as many love the story format. By not reading these books there’s a risk that I’ll miss out on some good ideas.

In the case of “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” that’s exactly what happened. I tried to read the book three times, laughed my ass off by the end of page two (and not in a good way), and put the book down. As a result, I missed out on a very useful model.

Fortunately, this Field Guide was released for folks like me.

Title: "Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team"
Author: Patrick Lencioni
Genre(s): Business, Teams, Training, Facilitation
Summary: to quote the back of the book - "practical guidance for overcoming the Five Dysfunctions"

Favorite Quotes: I'll give you three:

1. “The key ingredient in building trust is not time. It is courage."
2. "Lack of conflict is precisely the cause of one of the biggest problems that meetings have: they are boring."
3. "Peer pressure and the distaste for letting down a colleague will motivate a team player more than any fear of authoritative punishment or rebuke.”

Strengths: The model is clear and intuitive. It resonates. Lencioni gives concrete examples and actions for overcoming the dysfunctions.
Weaknesses: It’s boring, where's the drama? No, I kid… I kid... Seriously - this book is perfect. Pair It with Lencioni’s hugely entertaining DVD and you’ve got a winning workshop for your team.

Conclusion: The ‘Five Dysfunctions’ is one of my (and my clients) favorite workshop tools. This Field Guide delivers the model effectively, with no fat.

Post-it Flags: 21 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.

How To Be Global (Part Two): A Reference Library

Making friends in Seoul, South Korea

Yesterday, I mentioned that in this global environment, we're all similar and yet we're all different.

One example of that is that we all like music and movies - but different cultures will like different kinds of music and movies.

One of my favorite ways to bridge the culture gap is to learn about popular music and cinema in the countries that I visit and work in.

I often open a conversation or presentation by discussing the movie I just saw.

It builds rapport, as most Indians, Chinese, Koreans or Japanese can't believe that you'd actually watch a local movie. If you actually like it, they're thrilled!

In that spirit, I've made a list at Amazon of my favorite Asian books, movies and music.

But hey, if it's art or sports that makes you tick - then go that direction.

hues asian film collection

hues asian music collection

hues asian culture bookshelf

You can find plenty of clips of the bands and singers on YouTube. 

I'll whet your appetite with Anggun, from Indonesia, singing "Snow on the Sahara".

Book Review: "Emotional Design" by Donald A. Norman

I found Donald A. Norman's Emotional Design in a used bookstore a few months back, and read it on a plane. In the book, Norman explores 'why we love (or hate) everyday things'.

Here is the first chapter of the book.

Title: "Emotional Design"
Author: Donald A. Norman

Genre(s): Design, Business
Summary: to quote the books subtitle: "Why we love (or hate) everyday things"

Favorite Concept:

Norman argues that our feelings about design work on three levels

1. Visceral - the appearance of the design
2. Behavioral - the pleasure and effectiveness of use
3. Reflective - the self-image, memories, and personal satisfaction related to the design.

Testing these against the design of my favorite 'everyday object' - my 2005 PT Cruiser - I find the following:

1. Visceral - Yes, I enjoy the look of my car. I like the color, the roundness of line, and the 'friendly, but sporty' theme that's reinforced by the roll bar.
2. Behavioral - Yes. It's a really comfortable car to sit in. The doors have a satisfying weight to them. The 2.4 liter turbo jumps when I need it to. The convertible top is very easy to use.
3. Reflective - Well, I think of myself as a 'top-down' guy. My last three vehicles have been low-maintenance convertibles (Samurai, Sidekick, and now PT Cruiser). My hair lends itself to the wind-blown look. I love the feeling of the sun beating on me on the way home. This car definitely reinforces my self-image.

Strengths: Reading this book has made me consider - how can I design learning experiences that work at all three levels? It seems that we focus 70% of our effort on the Behavioral aspect, 20% on the visceral, and only 10% on the reflective.
Weaknesses: While I found myself nodding in agreement with the book, there were no 'a-ha' moments for me.

Conclusion: It's a solid book that will challenge me to consider the reflective impact of my offerings.

Post-it Flags: 9 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.

Book Review: "never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you" by Dr. Mardy Grothe

After reading “I never metaphor I didn’t like” - see my review here - I picked up three other books by the author.

"Never let a fool kiss you..." features ‘chiasmus’, which, according to Dr. Grothe, are ‘a literary devise in which word order is reversed’.

My very favorite quote, “Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought” fits in this category.

Title: "never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you"
Author: Dr. Mardy Grothe
Genre(s): Reference, Communication, Creativity
Summary: to quote the books subtitle: "word play for word lovers"

Favorite Quote: Here are three:

1. “Art produces ugly things which frequently become beautiful with time. Fashion produces beautiful things which always become ugly with time." – Jean Cocteau
2. "This isn’t a bar for writers with a drinking problem; it’s for drinkers with a writing problem." – Judy Joice
3. "I’ve been too fucking busy, and vice versa” – Dorothy Parker

Strengths: It's funny, inspiring, and educational.
Weaknesses: Okay, this one is too short. While ‘metaphor’ was 324 pages, ‘never let a fool kiss you’ is only 119.

Conclusion: I’ll summarize with my own chiasmus - This book is too much fun to be this smart; and too smart to be this much fun.

Post-it Flags: 28 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.

Crushed by Curiosity

I'm destined to die under a pile of books... not a bad to go, though.
Today I stopped by Recycle Book Store, in San Jose.
It was either a great idea or a terrible idea. I'm not sure.

What I do know is that I bought 10 more books, on top of the 20-some that I bought a couple weeks ago, during another used book buying spree.

I bought:

• "The Dip" by Seth Godin
  
• "Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes" by Emerson, Fretz, and Shaw
• "Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology" by H. Russell Bernard
• "Musicophilia" by Oliver Sacks
• "Writing Up Qualitative Research" by Harry F. Wolcott
• "Effective Training Strategies" by Davis and Davis
• "Bottom-line Training" by Donald J. Ford
• "Encouraging The Heart" by Kouzes and Posner
• "Lateral Thinking" by Edward deBono
• "Rhetoric & On Poetics" by Aristotle

It was a pretty exciting haul for me in many ways.

• I'm a huge fan of Oliver Sacks. "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" is one of my favorite books.
  
• The ethnography books look really interesting. I'm curious about using ethnographic techniques at work.
  
• I already own copies of "Encouraging The Heart" and "Lateral Thinking", but I couldn't pass up clean, hard-copy 1st editions of either.
  
• And I have "Rhetoric & On Poetics" as well. This copy is hardcover, with readable typeface, though. That's pretty unusual.
  

Now I just need time to read them...

Book Review - The Plenitude by Rich Gold

Being on vacation means catching up on my reading list. I brought 10 books with me to NJ, and I've finished four.

This week I read "The Plenitude" by Rich Gold. I discovered it at the Stanford Bookstore last week after having lunch with David Woodward, the Assistant Director of the Management Communication Program at the Graduate School of Business. David is a smart and funny man I met last year at a storytelling class in San Francisco, but that's a post for another day.

Title: "The Plenitude"
Author: Rich Gold
Genre(s): Design, Business, Life
Summary: "The Plenitude" is what Gold terms the mass of man-made stuff that fills our world. He explores who makes it - scientists, artists, designers, and engineers. He then outlines the 'seven patterns of innovation'. He discusses why there is plenitude (because it's fun to make it!), why that might be a problem, and some possible solutions.
The book is meant to provoke thought, rather than to drive action and it does this admirably.

Favorite Quote: "For an artist user-testing is a joke. For a designer it's fundamental."

Strengths: I liked his distinction between artists/scientists (they work for truth and self, while being paid by patrons) and designers/engineers (who work for and are paid by clients and users).
I also found his Seven Patterns to be useful and interesting.
Weaknesses: None, really. It's very short, which I like. But some might find it superficial.

If you'd like to get a flavor of Gold's writing, go to Scribd.com and search for 'plenitude'. You'll find a presentation that appears to be the 'lost chapters' of the book.

Conclusion: If you're interested in design and creation (of anything). I recommend you read 'The Plenitude'.
Post-it Flags: 14 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.

Where does Emotion Come From?

One of my favorite things about travel is that I finally get the time to read.

Today, I finished "blink" by Malcolm Gladwell.
Quite an interesting book, about how the best decisions are sometimes the ones made instantly.
Like most books I enjoy, it veers into many unexpected directions.

My favorite quote regards the surprising discovery, by a team of German psychologists, that your facial expression can influence your emotion (vs. the opposite view)

"...we take it as a given that first we experience an emotion and then we may - or may not - express that emotion on our face. We think of the face as the residue of emotion. What this research showed, though, is that the process works in the opposite direction as well. Emotion can also start on the face.
The face is not a secondary billboard for our internal feelings. It is an equal partner in the emotional process."

Which makes a pretty strong argument for the age-old warning "if you keep making that expression, your face will freeze"!

Tomorrow, I start on "The Wisdom of Crowds".

Reading "A Whole New Mind" - from Dallas, Texas

I'm in Dallas (Richardson, to be exact), leading a Situational Self-Leadership class.

I'll comment on that tomorrow, but I need to say this today...

Go. Buy. Read.
A Whole New Mind - Why Right Brainers Will Rule The Future - by Daniel H. Pink.

It's the best book I've read this year.
Here's a short version of the introduction.

Pink says that to be successful in this new world, we need to develop these Six Right Brain 'Senses': Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, and Meaning.
He then tells how.

I won't say more because you'll enjoy the discovery more if I say nothing...

Can we move Beyond Culture?

I'm in Seoul this week, delivering two classes.

Each day I have a 90 minute subway commute to the office in Sunae.
I've got my i-pod, a world full of new people to watch, and a book in hand - so I'm happy.

Today, I finished reading Edward T. Hall's "Beyond Culture".
There's at least one thought provoking statement on every page, but here's a favorite quote from the book...

"Today, man is increasingly placed in positions in which culture can no longer be depended upon to produce reliable readings of what other people are going to do next. He is constantly in the position of interacting with strangers, so he must take the next step and begin to transcend his culture. This cannot be done in an armchair."

The emphasis is mine.
Written in 1976, the statement is truer today than ever - and, as demonstrated daily on the world stage, no closer to reality than it was then.

Hall's books give us clear stories and steps to begin the process, making the books true gems. I highly recommend them...