Actionable Books

"Our research has shown that strong relationships, careers, organizations, and communities all draw from the same source of power - the ability to talk openly about high-stakes, emotional, controversial topics." Crucial Conversations, page 9 With over two million copies sold, one would imagine that people are getting value from Crucial Conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high.  The book doesn't disappoint.  A veritable treasure chest of guidance, tips, and insights into managing high stakes / high emotions conversations, Crucial Conversations is as enjoyable a read as it is enlightening. Golden Egg Fill the Pool "When it comes to risky, controversial, and emotional conversations, skilled people find a way to get all relevant information (from themselves and others) out into the open." Crucial Conversation, page 20 One of the dominant ideas in Crucial Conversation is that of the "Pool of Shared Meaning." Effectively, it's much easier to have a productive conversation when we're all looking at the issue at hand from a collective understanding. Alas, this is much easier said than done. As human beings, we have our own experiences, our own suspicions, and our own stories that can (and usually do) muddy up the pool. The objective, then, is to constantly look for ways to add as many of the relevant stories, facts, and emotions to the shared pool. It's the "shared" part that we're striving for, here. Crucial conversations are only resolved effectively when others in the conversation are made aware of, and understand, our stories, facts, and emotions. (And vice versa!). Let's look at a couple factors that can get in the way (and what to do about them). GEM # 1 Vigilantly Watch for Silence and Violence "Dialogue calls for the free flow of meaning - period.  And nothing kills the flow of meaning like fear.  When you fear that people aren't buying into your ideas, you start pushing too hard.  When you fear that you may be harmed in some way, you start withdrawing and hiding." Crucial Conversations, page 49 When you find yourself in an uncomfortable conversation, do you clam up?  Or do you go on the offensive?  As the authors of Crucial Conversations explain, we're genetically conditioned to enter a "Fight or Flight" mentality when we find ourselves in less-than-safe situations. Our breathing quickens, adrenaline shoots through our bodies, and our blood flows to our limbs, better enabling us to respond physically. While this may be helpful when faced with a real, physical attack, it's about the least helpful response we could have in a crucial conversation. Think about it - if blood is moving to our limbs, then it's moving away from our brains, making it harder for us to think and respond rationally. Thankfully, there are indicators we can watch for and correct, when we enter this "Fight or Flight" mentality.  The authors label them "silence" and "violence".   Indicators of Silence: Masking emotions and true feelings Avoiding the uncomfortable topic Withdrawing from the conversation Indicators of Violence: Controlling the conversation Labelling the other person or their views Attacking, through sarcasm or insults Any of those sound familiar?  Any of these tactics are virtually guaranteed to take you further from rational conversation and a positive outcome. So how do we overcome them?  The authors suggest refocusing on what you really want to get out of the interaction. What do you want for you? What do you want for the other person? What do you want for this relationship? and (here's the kicker) How would you be acting if you really wanted that? It's called "Making it Safe," and by focusing on these questions, we redirect our bodies to think - to answer the higher level questions, and restore blood flow to its proper balance. "Making it Safe" is a powerful tool in engaging in rich, meaningful conversation. GEM # 2

“From the outside it looks as if I have this great, easy lifestyle. The truth is I’ve never made a million dollars easily, and I’ve made many millions of dollars.” Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain, pg. 1-2 Some of the most astonishing successes in the business world have come to those whom the odds are stacked against. Ryan Blair, author of Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain, is one such person. As a young boy, Ryan Blair reaped the benefits of a middle class lifestyle. His father had instilled within him “a risk-reward mentality” (10), and Blair displayed a considerable level of business acumen at a young age (exemplified best when he outsourced his chores to friends and kept the profit). But his life descended into a harrowing nightmare when his father became addicted to drugs. Ryan and his mother moved out of the family home into an economically depressed and unsafe area. Blair explains, “By the time I was seventeen I’d been arrested nearly ten times; I’d been asked to shoot a man to prove myself to the gang I was accepted in; I’d broken into and robbed every business within a mile radius from my house; I’d been dragged home in the middle of the night by police officers; I’d sold firearms with disastrous results; I’d gotten convicted for strong-arm robbery. Finally, after many of these episodes, I found myself sitting in a jail cell in Juvenile Hall, faced with four years. Every day I watched people leave the jail and wished I were among them.” (68) He vowed to be better: to get an education and a job. He was released early and did just that. By the time he was in his early 20s, Blair had made his first million with the sale of his first business venture. In his words, his success came from a mentality of "nothing to lose and everything to gain". Golden Egg Don't Let Anyone Steal Your Milk “A lot of people come into my office with a front. They talk, and talk, and talk. And I test them.” Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain, pg. 23 Ryan Blair credits his street smarts and nothing-to-lose mindset as his “greatest assets”. In the book, Blair uses an analogy for his street smarts: stolen milk. When he was serving his imprisonment in Juvenile Hall at the age of 17, he quickly learned the rules of the game. New prisoners were subjected to a number of tests to determine whether they were “tough” or “domesticated” (i.e. willing to roll over and allow anyone take advantage of them). For example: “What would happen if I bumped into him? Or better yet, what would happen if I walked over and asked him for his milk during lunch? Was he going to jump up and fight? Or was he going to hand it to me and say he didn’t want it? … Soon you’ll be taking his milk every day. And so will everyone else.” (23-24) Blair has applied this psychology to the business world to considerable advantage. Many people build up a façade, and Blair uses the principles he learned in prison to discover the real person behind that mask to determine if that’s a person he’d like to work with. “I start by asking for specific names, people they’ve worked with. Or I’ll ask a business-model question that only the real deal would know. You had millions in sales, huh? So what was your cost of goods sold? What type of EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) did you have? Where’d you bank? Wells Fargo? So were you with the private bank at Wells Fargo? Who’s your rep over there?” (23) Blair adds, “If the person can’t answer these types of questions in detail, he is either a complete scam, or he wasn’t actually responsibly for the success of the business he’s referencing.” (23) Asking this level of detail will help you in trusting your own instincts, as well, as you will see below. GEM # 1 Say No “If you were to take only one thing I tell you and apply it to your business and your life, apply these words: if you say yes to too many seemingly good ideas, then you have one bad idea of a company and a poor management culture.”

"Weird (not normal) means that you've made a choice, that you've stood up for what you believe in and done what you want, not what the marketer wants.  More and more, that's precisely what's happening." We Are All Weird, page 16 It's easy to be convinced when you don't care enough.  It's much harder to think intelligently about what you believe in, to resist mass opinion, and make a statement by choosing who you buy from, who you sell to, and the products or services you include in your life. We Are All Weird is a manifesto for people who care.  It's a well-written reminder that life's too short to simply adapt and adopt, and that we live in a world that rewards those who stand for something. I had a chance last week to connect with Jim Caruso, CEO of Flying Dog Brewery.  Jim stands for something.  Flying Dog Brewery stands for something.  And they've been attacked for it.  Considering the time and money they've spent on their many censorship battles around brilliant beer labels, one might suggest that it would be easier to just follow the rules. To toe-the-line. To homogenize.  And they'd be right.  It would be easier. It would also be easier for the dedicated, personable staff at Flying Dog to start treating their passionate work as simply a job, putting in only the minimum amount of effort required.  It would be easier to work with a more "traditional" artist than Ralph Steadman (the artist behind Hunter S. Thompson's books).  Flying Dog does a lot that could be done easier, that could better support the status quo.  They could have conformed, and created a product that appealed to the more mainstream. Then again, the world already has a Budweiser. Golden Egg Embrace the Weird "The chance to become the next Wonder Bread/Budweiser/Chevy is seductive, but no longer practical.  The field is too crowded, and there's not enough upside after you build a middle-of-the-road normal brand." We Are All Weird, page 53 What Flying Dog understands - what we all need to understand - is that we have a very small chance in competing for the masses.  The giants of "middle-of-the-road normal" own that space, and will destroy you with marketing dollars.  After all, if you’re selling the same products as everyone else, the loudest guy wins. But (and it's a big but), if you have created something different - something that appeals to a particular personality - you won't need to shout loudest.  People who share your personal brand of weird (different) will tell their friends about your weird, and proudly share with their world the loyalty they feel to your brand.  Flying Dog has rabid fans (pun intended).  Their fans are loyal because of the specificity of the weird. GEM # 1 Know Your Weird "If you persist in trying to be all things to all people, you will fail.  The alternative, then, is to be something important to a few people." We Are All Weird, page 53 Flying Dog drew a line in the sand and said, "Here we are, take us or leave us" and then refused to compromise.  Their imagery is bold (and offensive to some).  Their language is crass (and offensive to some).  And they make no apologies. Here's the important take away though - it's not a gimmick.  Spend some time on Flying Dog's website and you'll see that the people who work there live the brand.  For them, it's not a marketing ploy, it's a way of life.  Have they leveraged their personal brand of weird?  Absolutely.  And so should you.  But don't try to make something up, simply for the "weirdness" of it. In We Are All Weird, Seth shares a story about staying in a Hyatt hotel (Andaz, in LA) that's trying to be hip.  The all-too-predictable Beatles album framed on the wall.  The eraser with the "oops" written on it.  As Seth says, the Hyatt saw a marketing opportunity and went for it.  But since it's not true to their culture, it comes across as fake; a facade designed to deceive.  Instead, the Hyatt should stick with what they do well.

“So rather than any state of material abundance, Super Rich actually refers to living in a state of consciousness where you’re able to see the miracles of life unfolding in front of you all time.” Super Rich Even if you don’t immediately recognize the name Russell Simmons, don't be surprised if you've crossed paths with some of his success stories. Simon's explains: “I was the guy who helped put hip-hop music on the map by co-founding Def Jam Records and introducing artists like Run DMC, The Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Ludacris, DMX, and Jay-Z to mainstream America.  Who found subsequent success through ventures like Def Comedy Jam, Def Poetry Jam, Phat Farm clothing, and Run’s House. Who over time eared the title of ‘the Godfather of Hip-Hop,’ as well as one I’m a little more comfortable with, ‘Uncle Rush.’” The Hip-Hop lifestyle is synonymous with opulence. Cristal champagne, a fleet of Rolls-Royces in the driveway, jewellery by Van Cleef & Arpels, and homes on both coasts.  As, "the Godfather of Hip-Hop", Russell Simmons is no exception. So it was with some astonishment as I began reading Simmons’ second book, Super Rich: A Guide to Having it All, that I quickly discovered that Simmons’ idea of “having it all” isn't at all what I thought it would be. Golden Egg Redefine Rich: Need Nothing “When you have a rich spirit, you’re already rich. You won’t need anything else. When you can be happy and comfortable in every position, or situation, that you encounter in life, then all the obstacles that you perceive as standing between you and happiness will gradually disappear. It will become easier to fill your life with friendship, laughter, love, and yes, for those who still desire it, money.” Super Rich “That’s easy for the rich guy to say,” jokes Russell Simmons after explaining his definition of being super rich. Odds are that’s what you thought to yourself, too. But as you read Super Rich, and you learn more about Simmons and the journey that has made him so successful, his definition seems anything but disingenuous. I gave you a brief rundown of Simmons’ impressive CV in his own words in the opening. You may have noticed that for all his incredible achievements, Simmons comes across as fairly modest. You may not have noticed that his description is devoid of superlatives. (Go back and take a look - totally fact based) Instead, his focus is on joy he experienced in the creation process; that’s where the true richness came from. “The happiness I received,” writes Simmons, “and continue to receive, from those records is what makes me rich. Not the money I made from selling them.” When Simmons was pushing the Hip-Hop group, Run DMC in the early 80s, it was not out of a desire for fame and fortune; it was purely to bring his passion for the Hip-Hop genre to as many people as would listen. As I write more and more summaries for Actionable, I’ve noticed a common denominator that runs through each of the books I have read: passion.  Whether we're talking about the success of Martha Stewart, or Russell Simmons, passion was key.  Without passion, Simmons simply would not have had the desire nor the drive to bring the music he loved - the music that changed his life - to as wide an audience as he did. Sure, fame and fortune, and yes, the material possessions, came along with that success, but those weren’t the driving forces; they were merely the by-products of his passion. GEM # 1 Give It (Until They Can't Live Without It) “If you ain’t giving away your gift, then you ain’t in the game. And if you ain’t in the game, then you’re never going to win.” Super Rich Simmons advocates that if you have a passion for something, and you’re having trouble making money off it, give it away for nothing. Give it away until the public can’t live without it. That’s precisely what he did with Kurtis Blow. In the early 1980s, Hip-Hop wasn’t mainstream, and didn’t dominate the charts like it does now. In fact,

“You’ve got to out-innovate the innovators.” The Art of Innovation, Page 3 “How can you/we become more creative and innovative?” I’m sure that question has come up more than once. And I’m sure you want to hear the answer. Lucky for us, Tom Kelley, General Manager of award-winning global design firm IDEO, decided to write a book about just that. In The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm, Tom shares the strategy and approach IDEO has taken to develop everything from the Apple mouse, to a portable heart defibrillator, to the Palm handheld. Or, as Tom puts it: “A Method To Our Madness”. So where should you start? With your Innovation Eye, of course! Golden Egg Innovation Begins With An Eye. “It’s not even enough to ask people what they think about a product or idea.” The Art of Innovation, Page 26 “Just ask them.” That's a common approach we take when we’re unsure of someone’s needs, wants or requirements. What do they want for lunch? Just ask them. Should I print in color or black and white? Just ask them. It's also a common approach when it comes to product development. In fact, it’s something I was taught in school (to understand end user requirements, simply ask and document as “Use Cases”). But, as Tom mentions in The Art of Innovation, if you truly want to be innovative, it’s not enough to “Just Ask”. You have to observe as well. “What do stand-up toothpaste tubes, all-in-one fishing kits, high-tech blood analyzers, flexible office shelves, and self-healing sports bottles have in common? Nothing actually, except that they’re all IDEO-designed products that were inspired by watching real people.” (25) Why isn’t “just asking” enough? Two reasons: Reason 1: “One reason is the same factor that prevents you from learning that your meat loaf tastes like sawdust. Your dinner guests are too polite to tell you the unvarnished truth, too wrapped in trying to give you the expected answer… How many people volunteer that they’re having a lousy day? It’s human nature to put on a bright face on a dismal situation.” (27) Reason 2: “A second reason for the ‘fine’ response is that your guests don’t know or can’t articulate the ‘true’ answer. Maybe the meat loaf needs more salt or less onion. The problem is that your guests may like to eat, but they’re probably not food critics. In business, too, your customers may lack the vocabulary or the palate to explain what’s wrong, and especially what’s missing. Companies shouldn’t ask them to.” (27) GEM # 1 Spend Time In The Jungle “If you’re not in the jungle, you’re not going to know the tiger.” The Art of Innovation, Page 31 Sure, you could read about the Tiger. Maybe watch a National Geographic documentary. But you won’t truly understand the Tiger that way. You won’t truly understand how it interacts with each aspect of the jungle. How it balances hunting for food and protecting its family at the same time. No. To truly understand the Tiger, you need to, as Tom says, “Spend Time In The Jungle”. And the same is true for innovation. Go to your customers’ environment. And I don’t mean go in for a meeting. You need to go and observe them. Go “shadow” them like a fly on the wall (think “job shadowing”). Seriously. And no, setting up a video conference isn’t the same. You need to be in the same environment as your customers. Because that’s the only way to truly see, and understand, how they react to, interact with, and more importantly, naturally use your product or service. Are they experiencing the product or service as you expected? Or are they using it in a way you didn’t think they would? You will almost definitely be surprised at the results; walking away with new ideas to refine your product or service for the better (which can ultimately lead to faster adoption). GEM # 2 Find The Rule Breakers & See Products In Motion “Finding the right people to observe helps.”

"Build something from the user's viewpoint, not the company's viewpoint." Socialnomics, page 219 While there seem to be as many books out today on social media as there are so called "Social Media Experts," there is no denying that the social media e...

I like an easy read as much as the next guy, but every now and then I really enjoy reading something that challenges me; something I can sink my teeth into and expand my understanding of a new subject.  Imagine my delight then, when I came across a book that taught me about the NFL Football world and Wall Street investing (two areas I know very little about... at least in any level of detail). Roger Martin (author of The Opposable Mind and The Design of Business) has taken these two seemingly disparate institutions and woven a fantastic message about the importance of focusing on the tangible, real-world in front of us... and the danger of instead choosing to focus on the siren song of short term profitability. Golden Egg Who are you playing for? "In short, a real-market orientation creates individual and societal good, while an expectations orientation creates a downward spiral that threatens both individual well-being and the health of our economy." Fixing the Game, page 34 A quick lesson to get you up to speed: Professional football exists in two worlds.  First, you have the "on-field," 60 minute game.  This is the "real world" game, one where two teams compete for a real victory.  All round, the sport creates real value:  fans are entertained enough to feel their money was well spent, players get paid, owners make money, and the organization thrives.  We call this a positive-sum game - value is created.  The other, darker world of professional football (and most sports for that matter) exists for the gamblers.  The gambling world is a zero-sum game - one person wins when another person loses. Martin is quick to point out that this is not a book against the evils of gambling.  It is, however, a book about the nature of betting, the manipulations that attempt to "balance" the odds... and the devastating impact such a mentality can have when it bleeds over into the corporate world. In professional sports, balancing the odds through what's known as a point spread is an accepted part of the gambling game.  In essence, a point spread means that if a game has a spread of 10.4 points, the favored team needs to win the game by at least 10.4 points for it to be considered a true win for the gamblers. Even if you're not a football fan, you'll likely recall the 2007 perfect season (16-0) for the New England Patriots, lead by MVP Quarterback, Tom Brady.  What most of us aren't aware of is that, as Brady continued to lead his team to victory after victory and speculators began to believe they'd never lose, the point spread that Brady had to beat grew to remarkable heights.  So massive were the point spreads that the Pats only beat the odds 10 out of 16 times that season.  Speculation grew at such an exaggerated rate that, despite playing a perfect season, there was no way the Patriots could beat the expectations market forever. In the business world, we call this expectations market "The Stock Market".  And, as Martin brilliantly illustrates, the business world could do with some of the legislation that the professional football world has adopted. GEM # 1 Have your cake, and cash in on it, too "As J&J, P&G, Apple and the NFL so aptly demonstrate, if you take care of your customers, shareholders will be drawn along for a very nice ride." Fixing the Game, page 85 Imagine for a second that Tom Brady was betting on the games he was playing in (an act which is completely illegal, for the record).  Looking at the impossible point spreads against him and his team, do you think he might have played differently?  Do you think he might have taken a dive one game; bringing the point spread back down to a reasonable level for the next game?  True Brady fans would argue that there's no way their hero would even consider such tactics, but you've got to imagine the pressure that he would be under in such a situation.   What if his financial contract was 10% of what it actually is,

“Like it or not, you are a negotiator.  Negotiation is a fact of life.” Getting to Yes, page xvii We negotiate every day of our life.  We negotiate on everything; where to go on vacation, the sale price of a house, even a raise from the boss.  Or rather, we should be negotiating.  For most people though, the idea of conflict is so disagreeable, that they give in to pressure and walk away from the discussion feeling cheated and unsatisfied. Enter Roger Fisher and William Ury, collaborators on the Harvard Negotiation Project, in which they developed their method of ‘principled negotiation’.  Principled Negotiation is the process of finding acceptable compromise through determining which issues are 'fixed' and which are 'flexible'. The negotiation principles shared in this book are useful for everything from negotiating the price of a car to determining an agreement on limiting nuclear arms development.  Which makes it pretty versatile and useful stuff. Golden Egg Separate the People from the Problem “A basic fact about negotiation, easy to forget in corporate and international business transactions, is that you are dealing not with abstract representatives of the ‘other side,’ but with human beings”. Getting to Yes, page 18-19 Negotiations always have two components.  First, you have the substance of the negotiation- in essence, what you’re trying to resolve.  As importantly, negotiations also address the long term relationship of the person with whom you are negotiating.  As a real world example, a salesperson wants not only to make the sale but to keep the customer for a long period of time. The reality is that, in most cases, it’s more important to maintain the long term relationship than to "win" the negotiation. The ‘people’ and the ‘problem’ often become entangled to the point where we are treating them as one.  Take, for example, when one spouse says to the other “The kitchen is a mess”.  While the well intentioned spouse was merely trying to identify a problem, their comment may come across a personal attack, leaving the other party feeling angry.  In our two GEMs below, we identify two valuable techniques to use in negotiation. GEM # 1 Deal directly with the people problem. “To find your way through the jungle of people problems, it is useful to think in terms of three basic categories: perception, emotion, and communication.” Getting to Yes, page 22 Let's take a look at the three elements, and how we can best harness them. Perception How often have you been in a negotiation with someone, thinking they are out of their mind because of their opinion or beliefs? One of the hardest things to understand is where someone is coming from.  Yet the most important thing to do is to put yourself in their shoes.  A husband may see a refreshing half full glass of water on the kitchen table, while his wife sees a dirty, half full glass of water about to leave a water ring on the wooden table.    Understanding where a person is coming from is NOT the same as agreeing with their position, but it does help when negotiating as you can customize a solution that fits both parties. Since it’s important to understand where they are coming from, both parties points of view should be discussed.   Through this discussion, both parties will feel as if they are contributing to the resolution of the conflict. Any final agreement will be more likely to be seen as "win" by both sides if both parties have input into the solution.    Any solution created solely by one party has a much lower likelihood of being accepted by the other side. Next time you find yourself in a negotiation, ask yourself, "have I included the other party in creating this solution?" Emotion My dad used to tell to me about the importance of not falling prey to your emotions.  When emotions become involved in any negotiation there is the chance of one or both parties becoming irrational. Of course,

“I began to realize that I had been spending my entire life as a victim, always questioning why the whole world seemed to be conspiring against me, why the only luck I ever had was bad luck when, in fact, my whole life had been playing out like a symph...

"It's about focus, not tactics." Double Double, page 113 For some reason, it took me a couple months to get around to reading Cameron Herold's Double Double. I wish I'd read it six months ago. Cameron Herold has a track record of success.  His cur...

“The Mesh is that next big opportunity – for creating new businesses and renewing old ones, for our communities, and for the planet.  And it’s just the beginning.” The Mesh, page 7 It took me a long time to read Lisa Gansky’s book, The Mesh. Not beca...

"...transparency and modesty - qualities that are immensely more attractive than intelligence." Getting Naked, page 199 It used to be that, "he who held the knowledge held the power".  Google changed that.   If you have an internet connection, you have access to limitless amounts of data - more "knowledge" than anyone could possibly need in a lifetime.  What used to be scarce, and therefore valuable, is now available in abundance.  The world-wide web democratized information.  But there's a new scarcity and, as Patrick Lencioni brilliantly outlines in Getting Naked, it's one that, when harnessed, can be incredibly powerful and lucrative. If you, or your company interacts with a customer base, you inherently know what we've been talking about for a while - that low prices and a quality product no longer guarantee success.  Customers have more options than ever, and they're using this leverage to look for something more.  They want an experience.  An interaction that goes beyond a simple transaction.  They want to build relationships with their brands. We're entering a world of professional intimacy that harkens back to the days of "Small Town USA", days when the neighbourhood butcher knew not only what cut of beef a customer preferred, but the names of their kids as well.  We built relationships with our vendors and customers because we inherently knew that people do business with people they like.  People they trust.  People they know. In Getting Naked, Lencioni teaches how to exemplify the one core trait that builds professional relationships faster than any other. Golden Egg Get Naked "Without the willingness to be vulnerable, we will not build deep and lasting relationships in life." Getting Naked, page vii Vulnerability.  Removing the armour of infallibility, and getting real.  Getting Naked is a book about  the very real value of breaking down the walls so many of us put up when interacting with our customers and, instead, connecting with them on a human level.  It's a book about being comfortable being wrong.  About worrying about the customer first, and our own ego second. Lencioni explains that there are three fears that hold us back from being vulnerable (aka "naked") in front of our customers: Fear #1:                Fear of losing the business Fear #2:                Fear of being embarrassed Fear #3:                Fear of feeling inferior   While all understandable, living within these three fears all be ensures that your relationships with your customers will never transcend a basic transaction.  Through the process of overcoming these three fears, we elevate ourselves above the "transactional relationship" with our customer, and into the vaulted air of "trusted advisor".  Whether your "customer" is an outside client or your boss, if you're working, then someone is paying you for your time and overcoming these three fears can dramatically improve your professional life.  The following two GEMs are but a taste of all the practical solutions found in Getting Naked. GEM # 1 Enter the Dragon "Starting with the CEO, they went around the room and told him what they thought his most valuable attribute was for the team, and then they went around and told him the one thing they thought he should work on." Getting Naked, page 94 There's an expression in the improvisational acting  world (improv) known as "Enter the Danger".  In improv situations, sometimes a player will do or say something  bizarre; something totally at odds with the rest of the situation.  As one of the other players in the scene, you have a choice to either embrace the outburst and run with it (entering the danger), or to ignore it and steer the scene back to more familiar territory.  You can imagine which option leads to richer scenes. As human beings, our tendency can be to try to gloss over things that make us uncomfortable.  When experiencing unappreciated or unproductive behaviour in a staff meeting,

“It soon became clear that my best resource for managing Angel would be, unexpectedly, the six decades of experience I had in a variety of management positions and the principles I had learned in the process.” All I Know About Management I Learned from My Dog, page 10 How a successful and innovative manager approaches his or her job is more often than not inspired in the most unique and unusual ways. For Chip Conley, author of Peak, it was Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. For Martin P. Levin, it was his dog. When he adopted Angel, he thought that a bond would be cultivated easily and naturally. He was wrong. The bonding process with Angel would prove to have parallels to his many years of business management. Both Angel and his prior work experience would heavily influence Levin’s book All I Know About Management I Learned from My Dog, and its Four Golden Rules of Management: Rule 1: Trust and Leadership Rule 2: Communication Rule 3: Problem Solving and Decision Making Rule 4: Perseverance While the rules are simple to remember, like anything, seeing results in your professional life will take a great deal of care and effort, just as it did with Angel. Golden Egg Build a Foundation of Trust “If a manager can develop trust, it will lead to corporate excellence, provided he is able to communicate effectively, make the right decisions, and above all, persevere.” All I Know About Management I Learned from My Dog, page 11-12 Fostering a sense of trust is at the heart of All I Know About Management I Learned from My Dog. All management, whether of people or dogs, begins with a foundation of trust. Levin, who was admittedly “getting a failing grade in grief management” after the death of his beloved wife, was persuaded by his therapist to get a dog. So, it was with some trepidation that he visited his local SPCA. Shortly thereafter Levin left with Angel, a beautiful golden retriever/virgule chow mix. On the car ride home Angel sat in the backseat, shivering with fear. “When I decided to adopt a dog by the name of Angel,” Levin writes, “I thought this would be an interesting but not very challenging experience. Bad judgment.” The SPCA’s policy is such that Levin came to adopt Angel knowing virtually nothing of her previous history. He would later learn that Angel had runaway after suffering abuse and had fought for survival before being picked up by the SPCA. (When the SPCA found Angel, they contacted her owner who said that her husband had abused the dog. Heartbroken, she gave Angel the greatest gift all by refusing to allow her to return to that toxic environment.) The dog, understandably, was not quick to trust. For Levin the answer to making any sort of headway with Angel came from his six decades of management, and how he dealt with the teams he worked with. GEM # 1 Expert Advice: Proceed with Caution “The resourceful manager should be able to deal with an uncomfortable result and place the event in the ‘do not repeat’ file. The expert should not be faulted because this event was out of his control.” All I Know About Management I Learned from My Dog, page 29-30 Expert advice is important, and should be solicited, especially when you are new at something, as Levin was in trying to gain the trust of his formerly abused dog. But Levin cautions that when moving ahead with any advice it is best to use your own judgment, as the results are ultimately on your shoulders. He provides an example of Angel’s first plane ride to illustrate his point. For any dog to be allowed to fly, they must be certified “fit to fly.” While getting the necessary documents, the veterinarian suggested bringing along Xanax (yes, Xanax) to give to Angel in case she showed signs of anxiety. “I thought that given the trust we had been developing between us, she would feel comfortable with me and Paula [on the plane ride],” writes Levin. Still, he took the advice of the vet and brought the pills along with him. Angel,

“Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do.” The Tipping Point, page 7 How did an unknown author end up becoming a bestselling author? What made Sesame Street one of the most popular, and effective, kids educational TV shows in history? And how did Airwalk become the number three footwear brand, behind Nike and Adidas? And I guess, more importantly, why should you even care to know the answers to these questions? Well, as Malcolm Gladwell so intelligently explains in his book, each situation above has one main, and central, piece: The Tipping Point. The Tipping Point is the difference between lighting a spark, and starting an inferno. It’s the difference between Rebecca Wells having 7 people attend her book readings for one book, and 700 people attend for another. It’s the difference between simply occupying kids with television, and actually revolutionizing kids’ educational television with Big Bird and the rest of the Sesame Street family. It’s the difference between Airwalk’s $16 million in sales in 1993, $44 million in sales 1994, and $150 million in sales in 1995. So it’s worth to not only be aware of The Tipping Point, but to also understand it. After all, I’m sure we all have ideas, products and messages, we want to Tip, as well. And yes, there’s more to it than sharing a link on Facebook or Tweeting about it. Golden Egg The Tipping Point of an Epidemic "The name given to that one dramatic moment in an epidemic when everything can change all at once is the Tipping Point.” The Tipping Point, page 9 In order to understand the emergence of television shows, products and fashion trends, or “the transformation of unknown books into bestsellers”, Malcolm suggests that we “think of them as epidemics”. epidemic: a rapid spread or increase in the occurrence of something: an epidemic of riots. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/epidemic Not only are epidemics a result of some form of contagiousness, where little changes can have big effects, but also, and more importantly, epidemics don’t start gradually – they occur dramatically. And it’s that third aspect of an epidemic – the dramatic change; the point at which an epidemic actually becomes an epidemic – that’s called The Tipping Point. Every emerging television show, product, fashion trend and book, has a Tipping Point. “The Tipping Point is the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point.” The Tipping Point, page 12 But what determines when, and how fast, the idea, product or message, tips? What determines the “tipableness” (my term, not Malcolm’s) of an epidemic? The following GEMs outline the three fundamental areas that determine when, and how, an epidemic tips. “Epidemics are a function of the people who transmit the infectious agents, the infectious agents itself and the environment in which the infectious agent is operating.” The Tipping Point, Page 18 GEM # 1 The Law of the Few: Finding Connectors, Mavens & Salesman “…the success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of the people with a particular and rare set of social gifts.” The Tipping Point, page 33 People play a critical role in tipping an epidemic. But it’s just not anyone. These are people with a “particular and rare set of social gifts.” Malcolm calls them Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen. It’s “The Law of The Few”. And a single person can be one, two, or even all three of these “types of people”. Connectors have “a special gift for bringing the world together.” They are the kind of people “who know everyone.” Perhaps the most important trait of a Connector is that they genuinely enjoy connecting with, and keeping in touch, with people. And that’s why they blur the line between acquaintances and friends. They don’t mind taking the time to connect with someone, even if that person isn’t their best friend. As a result, they have a wide circle of friends,

"Self confidence is a purifier of sorts that reduces the chatter in your head and allows you to fall into a state of flow." Today We Are Rich, page 39 Tim Sanders, author of Love is the Killer App, The Likeability Factor and Saving the World at Work, has a knack for humanizing, and making actionable some of the great intangibles of our lives.  In the The L-Factor, Tim tackled the nature of "Likeability" - the speed and depth with which people are drawn to you upon meeting you.  His examples and exercises are clear and succinct, leaving readers with a clear understanding of his message and a sense of "I can do this".  They're great books, with great lessons.  His latest though, Today We Are Rich is something special.  It's something more.  Today We Are Rich is Tim exposing himself to the world; sharing his unexpected and unusual upbringing and the events and teachings that shaped him into the man who would become a senior executive at Yahoo! and ultimately a world renowned speaker and author. Abandoned by his mother, and orphaned by a murdered father, Tim was raised in relative poverty by his grandmother, Billye.  It was from Billye that Tim learned the lessons that he shares in Today We Are Rich.  Lessons on self confidence. Lessons we can (and should) all learn from, regardless of our title, responsibilities or station on life. At a high level, the self confidence development lessons in Today We Are Rich focus on three key areas: 1.       "Feeding Your mind Good Stuff", 2.       "Exercising Your Gratitude Muscle", and 3.       "Preparing Yourself" Sanders explains (and provides examples of proof) that it is through these three practices that we can increase our confidence, not only in ourselves, but from and in others, and in a higher power.  And it's through an increased sense of confidence in these three areas that we can live the life we imagine for ourselves. While the book is loaded with actionable tips, exercises and thought provoking questions for each of the three aforementioned key areas, there was one particular section that rang true as particularly important to me; the importance of keeping promises. Golden Egg Keep Promises "When you keep your commitments, you maintain your sense of integrity and self-respect and see yourself as a person who can be trusted." Today, We Are Rich, page 250 Perhaps one of the reasons the "Promises" piece was so valuable to me was due to the fact that it simultaneously builds confidence internally (you feeling good as you keep your word), and from other people (their trust and respect for your integrity increasing every time you deliver).  I also think it might be because keeping promises is becoming an increasingly difficult thing to do, the busier we get and the more forms of communication we have with people.  But it sounds so simple, right? "Keep your promises.  Do what you say you're going to.  Follow through on commitments." I doubt there's anyone among us who would argue the value and importance of keeping our promises.  And yet, can any of us say with 100% certainty that we've never broken one?  Why is that? GEM # 1 Casual integrity doesn't work "The reason many promises aren’t kept is that they are treated as randomly as idle conversation." Today We Are Rich, page 251 How many times have you half listened to someone's needs and jumped in with "I can help with that!" or "I should totally introduce you to ...” We have an innate desire to help our fellow man.  When we hear a need expressed, we want to help.  Which is not the same as saying we can help, or should help.  Real integrity comes from fully understanding what the request means for you, before offering to help.  An offer for assistance, an introduction, or access to other resources at your disposal should not be a casual thing.  Which is challenging.  It feels good to jump in (as Sander's calls it, being "Johnny-on-the-spot").  It's fun.  Exciting even.