Posts Comments

Give Your Speech, Change The World by Nick Morgan

February 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

In Give Your Speech, Change The World: How to move your audience to action, Nick Morgan gives a comprehensive account of what it takes to master the art of public speaking. The point of any talk, he asserts, is to change the world – to move others to act in the way you’re trying to persuade them.

To do this, you must first be heard. And that means capturing and keeping an audience’s attention. That’s not an easy task. Morgan puts this into perspective with a brief history of the craft of public speaking. He points out the tried and true elements that have been effective since the ancient Greeks used them. The challenges in the modern world are different, of course, and Morgan explains how to adjust your technique.

A good portion of the book is spent on content, the essence of any talk. Structuring it properly is critical. Incorporating the power of story and engaging the audience are essential to what Morgan calls an audience-centered presentation.

A whole section of the book is dedicated to rehearsing, and another to delivery. Once you’ve got the content nailed down, you need to be able to present it well – and to interact with the audience strategically in order to get your message across most effectively.

Each chapter is well-written and carries the weight of an experienced presenter and coach. Written in a conversational style, certain points are emphasized within each topic. Conveniently, each chapter ends with a short bullet point list of its essential elements, making it easy to go back and use the book as a reference.

I’d recommend this book for anyone who speaks publicly, for any size audience. You’ll no doubt uncover tips you can use immediately.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Anything You Want by Derek Sivers

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Startup stories and lessons are always fascinating. They’re even better when relayed by a great story teller. In Anything You Want, 40 Lessons For A New Kind of Entrepreneur, Derek Sivers does not dissapoint.

Though the book is short (it can be read in an hour), it’s packed with compelling anecdotes and lessons from an accidental startup guy who stumbled into business, grew it big, and sold it for $22 million within 10 years. These are not your typical startup stories, though, because Derek is unique. And that’s the essence of the book: if you start a business, it — and your role in it — can be anything you want.

The point of the whole thing is to be happy, so put yourself in a position where you’re happy. You’ll get a lot of flack from many people, so you’ll need to ignore a lot of advice and be prepared to stand your ground. Derek’s story is one of individualism, but also of making the customer the central focus of the business. That drove many of his decisions throughout the book.

All in all this is a quick, fun book to read. It’s full of ideas that are based on experience. Ideas you can take to your role and your project, even if you’re not an entrepreneur.

Some of the stories have been made into short animated videos. You can find them at Derek’s website here: http://sivers.org/a (scroll down).

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , ,

The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely

January 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

In The Upside of Irrationality, Dan Ariely provides tons of anecdotes from his own life experiences and details of many experiments that he’s conducted. Each experiment is designed to determine some truths about human behavior, which is complex and in many ways irrational. Clearly we are not the pure logical machines who seek to work strictly in our own economic best interest. Rather we are emotional and seemingly erratic at times. But we knew that already.

What’s great about the book is that it explores and attempts to explain this behavior. At the same time, the author admits that even as we gain a better understanding of human behavior in general, and even as we learn about the biases and influences of our own personal behavior, it’s hard (if not impossible) to change it.

The ideas and experiments are similar to what you might find in similar works. I have not read Dan’s other book, Predictably Irrational, so I don’t know how it compares to that or if this work attempts to build or expand upon that. (If you’ve read that one, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.)

In The Upside of Irrationality, Dan is attempting to shine a light on and celebrate our irrational ways. And though he succeeds to a certain extent, I did not find a compelling thread through the work. It read more a like a series of interesting if somewhat disjointed stories. And some contained lots of extra details about how a particular experiment came to be designed and operated that, while interesting, maybe should have been left out.

All in all, if you like to delve into the world of scientific research around human behavior, this is worth a read. If you’re new to the topic, there are more compelling choices.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: ,

Six Pixels of Separation

October 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Ignore the opportunity to listen in on (and participate in!) conversations about your business by customers and prospective customers at your own peril, argues Mitch Joel in Six Pixels of Separation.

The way we connect and communicate has changed. Your business strategies must change too.

In a conversational tone, Joel speaks directly to business owners and makes a compelling case for getting connected while explaining how to do so in clear and simple terms.

Joel demystifies the tools, techniques, and attitude that is required to develop and refine your business strategy in a connected world. Many specific examples are given to illustrate points and many other works are cited in the book to back up his assertions, and also to provide you with guidance for further study in several key areas.

The book is a complete and actionable guide to getting started or taking your game to the next level.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

StandOut

October 14, 2011 By 4 Comments

StandOut by Marcus Buckingham is the latest in a long line of books he has authored around the “strengths movement.” The basic premise of the movement is that it is a far more effective to focus on personal strengths in order to achieve success at work.

Great managers bring out the best in their individual team members and don’t worry so much about weaknesses, the traditional focus for improvement. As individuals, Buckingham argues, we are more likely to get ahead in work and in life by focusing the same way. Most of our energy should be focused on leveraging our strengths and we should stop beating ourselves up so much about our weaknesses.

It’s a good theory, and one I got behind when I read Now, Discover Your Strengths, the book Buckingham co-authored with Donald Clifton back in 2001. And like Now, Discover Your Strengths, the StandOut book is accompanied by an online test (a unique code in the book gets you access to the test) that is backed up by lots of research and statistical analysis. The test shows you your biggest strengths and the results provide guidance on how to best leverage them.

StandOut is a simpler incarnation of the strengths books. The test results show you your top two strengths. In my case, I’m a “Pioneer” and an “Influencer,” meaning my strongest assets are about envisioning the future and motivating people to act. The custom report and the book help to explore these ideas further, and to provide guidance on maximizing strengths.

The tests and results are not as nuanced as other instruments I’ve used, but the results did resonate. It’s a simple and cheap way to get introduced to the concept and to try it out. I found it to be a useful and interesting update to the results from my experiment with Now, Discover Your Strengths.

That said, the book is very lightweight. You’re basically buying the test. The book has an introduction to the concept, and then a chapter dedicated to each of the nine strengths that the test detects, with very little useful additional material. All in all, it’s worth $12.50 to try this out. And at that price, it’s cheap to try it with your entire team. It can be a useful way to introduce the concept and to explore the idea using common terminology. I recommend giving it a try, particularly if you’ve not explored Buckingham’s earlier works.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , ,

The Happiness Advantage

October 3, 2011 By 2 Comments

Shawn Achor provides a clear and crisp introduction into the field of positive psychology in The Happiness Advantage. Positioned as a business book to help you (and others) succeed at work, the book asks you to consider flipping an age-old mindset on its head. Rather than seeking status, wealth, and success in order to become happy (the “I’ll be happy when…” scenario), Achor makes a compelling case for focusing on getting straight to happiness. If you can do that, good things will come – the status, wealth, success, and more.

To convince us that we should reverse the traditional view, Achor tells engaging stories of his experience as a student and professor of psychology at Harvard University, both of his personal experiences and his work. He also includes highlights from some of the best works in the field, quoting the work of Seligman, Csikszentmihalyi, Gilbert, and many others. In this way, the book provides a variety of reference points to deeper discussions should the reader be interested to pursue them.

Achor packages many ideas into neat, easily digestible packages – what he refers to as the seven principles of the Happiness Advantage. The principles bring focus and clarity to the ideas, and also provide a roadmap for application. It’s an easy, compelling read that will prompt deeper thought about work and happiness, and the ideas are great. I highly recommend it.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Flow

August 29, 2011 By 2 Comments

Flow, the psychology of optimal experience, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a classic book written over 20 years ago. I read through it recently, though, for a deeper dive on some ideas about intrinsic motivation in Dan Pink’s more recent book Drive, which cites this book as a reference.

Flow concentrates on that state of being we all enjoy from time to time – being in the flow of an activity. In a goal-directed activity, where all attention is consumed by immediate actions and needed feedback, we attain a state of what Csikszentmihalyi calls flow. It happens in a variety of activities – sports, music, teaching, reading, writing, work. And though the experience is universal, it’s attained in an exclusively personal manner. For, as the author argues, flow is not the result of any external impetus, but rather based entirely on a personal perception and internal interpretation of experiences.

Although the work is largely academic (though the author has made efforts to not make it overly technical), it can inform a number of practical matters, including (as in Pink’s book) work. After all, the book explains that “most enjoyable activities are not natural; they demand an effort that initially one is reluctant to make.” Sounds like work, right? The key to converting work or any other activity into a flow experience is to imbue it with “variety, appropriate and flexible challenges, clear goals, and immediate feedback.” And it’s a game of constant one-upsmanship.

Take for example, a key tenet of the book (which you already know): if your skills are completely inadequate for a task, the challenge creates anxiety (among other feelings), and if your skills easily outmatch the taks, the challenge is not a challenge at all – it’s boring. Constantly developing skills and increasing challenges is what keeps you in flow. That’s why computer games, with infinite levels, each just a bit harder than the last, are so compelling.

Gaining a better understanding of flow can be beneficial to individuals, leaders, and change agents. For a deep dive on the topic, why not read the classic work in this space? I think you’ll find it interesting.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss

August 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The 4-Hour WorkweekTim Ferriss’ over-the-top style does not stop at the title: The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. He’s quite serious. He’s done it and wants to show you how.

But, this book applies to so much more. You don’t need to take the ideas to extremes in order to benefit from them. It’s full of practical, innovative little ideas that can be used in many ways to improve your productivity, think like an entrepreneur, and assist you in making realistic goals – and living up to them.

Starting from the premise that “reality is negotiable,” Ferriss goes on to explore ways to bend or break rules to your advantage (ethically and legally). Through such a dramatic posture, Ferriss explores a variety of counter-intuitive ideas – all of which he has tried. He tests everything. It’s all a scientific experiment to him. Even the title of the book was done through methodical testing of a variety of possible titles.

Ferriss shares his personal stories, gives specific instructions and examples, and provides tons of references to specific software programs, service providers, and other tools. The writing style is direct and engaging, with an enthusiastic and supportive tone. The book is clear and well-organized. You could read it through beginning to end and then make easy reference to specific ideas or recommendations later on.

If you’re interested to explore ideas that challenge common self-defeating assumptions, that look at ways to focus time and attention more strategically, and that consider automating and outsourcing to the extreme (even at the personal level) in order to maximize the quantity and quality of time available to you, then this book is for you.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Do The Work

August 3, 2011 By 2 Comments

Steven Pressfield’s short, punchy book Do The Work reminds us that all worthwhile endeavors involve focused, determined, and disciplined effort. This is especially true for creative work, and that is certainly an area where he is experienced and accomplished – I’ve not read his fiction work, but I know at least one of his books was turned into a popular movie starring Will Smith, Matt Damon and Charlize Theron (The Leggend of Bagger Vance).

The matter is simple, according to Pressfield. In order to create, Resistance must be overcome. What is Resistance with a capital “R”? It’s the force – including your own internal voice of doubt and fear – that actively works against your efforts to create something new and present it to the world.

Resistance was introduced in his first non-fiction book, The War of Art, which is a great read and articulates the challenge of creative work quite thoroughly. Do The Work is a follow up to that piece to that work. Here, he attempts to provide more guidance for completing a creative project, broken into four parts – Beginning, Middle, Middle, and End.

In the beginning you need to start. No excuses, no preparation, just get the ball rolling. In the middle you need to work around forces that are actively working against you. In the other middle, well, that’s where things inevitably go wrong. That’s where you need to regroup, refocus, and recover. In the end, you need to ship. You need to actually deliver your creation to the world. Easier said than done. All throughout this process Pressfield points out the pitfalls, articulates the challenges clearly, and ably guides the reader through the daunting process of creative work.

With a style that is raw and direct, Pressfield challenges you to face the facts of creation and do the work. If you’re thinking of creating something, or if you’re just curious to explore the creative process more closely, check out this book.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Confessions of a Public Speaker

June 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Scott Berkun tells an interesting, well-paced and honest (sometimes raw) account of what it’s like to be a public speaker. He covers a variety of issues from a variety of perspectives to give a complete sense of how and why certain things work – and what to do when they don’t.

Though the focus is on large public speaking engagements, many of the lessons are applicable to any sort of speaking. The world would be a better place if more adhered to his advice: Be interesting. Be clear. Practice (for confidence, not memorization). Be in control (be the leader). Be prepared (for when things go wrong). And more.

The book is filled with many practical lessons – Everybody’s nervous before/when speaking: just accept that and move your attention to something else. Set the pace: the easiest way to manage expectations of the audience. Be interesting: take a strong position in the title; think carefully about your audience; make your specific points as concise as possible; know the likely counter-arguments. And many more.

Berkun also runs through several interesting first-person stories, shares behind the scenes information that is interesting and useful, and provides compelling insight into the field of professional speaking. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a speaker of any sort – particularly if I might be in the audience some day.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , , ,
« Older Posts