Practical Genius

The other day, I read Gina Amaro Rudan's book, "Practical Genius: The Real Smarts You Need to Get Your Talents and Passions Working for You." I found this book to be a very down-to-earth approach to unlocking your creative juices, through a well-ordered method.  In other words, it made sense, was prescriptive enough that you can apply it immediately, and it feels like an approach that will actually work for most people.

In "Practical Genius," the author takes us though a 5-step plan for figuring out what your best skills are, and coming up with a plan to leverage those skills.  The steps are:

• Identify Your Genius,
• Express Your Genius,
• Surround Yourself With Genius,
• Sustain Your Genius, and
• Market Your Genius

Throughout the book, the author shares her perspective, techniques, and a lot of personal stories that bring things down to a tangible level. The stories helped make it real for me.

What struck me as most powerful in this book were the two sections on "Surrounding Yourself With Genius," and "Sustaining Your Genius."  What I liked about these sections is that they help you change your circumstances in a way that reinforces and amplifies your strengths, rather than draining or sabotaging them.  I have seen very creative people who gave up on their gifts because they didn't think they were good enough, or were hanging around with people who didn't support or appreciate their gifts.  In this book, you'll learn some techniques and new habits that will help you find people who add energy to your gifts, instead of taking it away.

You'll also find sensible guidance on when to seek the help of others -- I like the section on finding a "Yoda for hire," enlisting the help of "ambassadors," and building your "tribe."

I got a lot out of the section on "Sustaining..." because I found some techniques to help me re-start some of the fun and creative things I've drifted away from, due to some parts of my life getting a bit too busy.  Throughout the book, the author shares little tips labelled as "Playboooks," and I found the "Sustaining" playbooks to be the most useful for me.

If you feel like you're stuck, have writer's block, or your creative juices just aren't flowing the way they used to be, I think "Practical Genius" can help.

Then, once you've gotten things unstuck, take advantage of the ideas in "Marketing Your Genius," to increase your value. You can apply the marketing tips for "getting famous" kinds of things, or just to increase your impact in your job and community - it's up to you.

[Review] Innovation You

I just finished Jeff DeGraff's book, "Innovation You: Four Steps to Becoming New and Improved," and I really enjoyed it.  I'd heard about DeGraff before  -- that he had good techniques to help people come up with creative solutions to life's challenges -- and I've learned a lot more about him through this well-written book.

In "Innovation You," DeGraff provides some very practical advice for how to approach problems and go beyond your "default" approach for innovation. The notion is that we all have preferred ways of handling various situations, but that we don't always do well at adapting our approach to better fit the situation.  The result? We stay in our comfort zone too long, while our situation fails to improve.

Why do we do this?  I think it's mostly habit and fear of trying the unfamiliar.  As DeGraff says so well, "To grow requires that we temporarily suspend our need for certainty and control."

Four zones - where's your comfort?

At the heart of this book is a model that DeGraff uses to articulate the most common approaches to innovation and problem-solving.  The model is known as the "Innovation You Model," which is what is represented by  the 4-color circle inside the letter 'o' on the cover (at right).  Each of the pie slices represents a different approach or bias for solving problems or pursuing innovation:

• Yellow is "Collaborate," which means you are most likely to team up with (or tap into) others as a default method for solving problems.
• Green is "Create", which means you are most likely to try to create your own new and innovative solutions to a problem.
• Blue is "Compete," which means you have a need to 'win' and are going to try to find a tangible goal within the problem space and doggedly pursue it.
• Red is "Control," which means you'll collect the facts, figure out the rules, and be very systematic in solving the problem.

if you're like me, you can easily figure out which one of these is your dominant approach, which ones you can use effectively, and which one you have the most trouble applying (green is my favorite, I'm good at yellow, I am handy with red in a crisis, and blue is my least natural position).

Throughout the book, DeGraff uses interesting and relevant stories to share how these approaches can be used to solve problems.  This includes some analysis techniques & tools you can use to try to figure out the best innovation approach to use, or diagnose why your current approach isn't working.

It, we, or I?

Another model used in the book is one that DeGraff describes as a sort of 3-layer Russian nesting doll.

• The outermost layer is the "universal" layer, or the "it" layer.  Things at this layer sort of happen to us and are not really within our direct control. Think natural phenomena, market forces, etc.
• The middle layer in is the "communal" layer, or the "we" layer.  Things at this layer involve our relationships with others, whether at work, in clubs, churches, and our family.
• The innermost layer is the "personal," or the "I" layer.  This is the layer that defines us as people - our values, health, intelligence, motivations, etc.

The interesting notion here isn't that we need to "pick a layer" when we solve problems or try to innovate - it's that we need to "consider other layers."  In other words, trying to find solutions that work on multiple layers - not just solve for a local optima at a single layer.

Again, DeGraff provides some great examples and stories (I think of them as mini case studies) to help you internalize what this really means.

Become new and improved, a step at a time

This book is an easy read - the concepts are straight-forward, the chapters are short, and the stories are engaging.  I think the thingI like most about "Innovation You" is that it is both prescriptive and practical.

This book would be a great gift if you know someone who feels stuck or overwhelmed by a difficult problem.  One line I liked from the book: "Where is the pain so high that trying something new would be an improvement?" - if that hits the mark, get them a copy of this book!

It is also the sort of book that would be great for a book study group, particularly if you wanted to go through the book with an intact team (at work, in an organization, etc.) that needs to work together to solve problems.

Bare Knuckle People Management

I got an early copy of "Bare Knuckle People Management," this week from one of the authors, Sean O'Neil. Sean, along with co-author John Kulisek, have created a fantastic resource for managers.  I started reading it on a cross-county flight this morning and couldn't put it down.

The subtitle of the book is "Creating success with the team you have - winners, losers, misfits, and all."  Their focus is to help you identify the traits, strengths, weaknesses, etc. of the folks on your team and then come up with individualized management / coaching approaches that map to each person's strengths and weaknesses.

The book is written in a very direct, "in your face" style that is clearly rooted in real-world experience.  What do I mean?

What's your Cast of Characters?

The authors discuss people in terms of 16 "Character Profiles" that I clearly recognize from people I've worked with.  For example, one of the "people types" they talk about is "Needy Ned," described as follows:

"Although he has the tools it takes to make the starting lineup, Needy Ned's anxiety and constant need for approval and assistance keep him on the bench.  He has an insatiable appetite for your attention, is afraid of everything, and requires kid glove treatment in order to avoid a display of tears.  If you can manage his anxiety and resist the urge to kill, perhaps you could boost his productivity."

I know that guy - I used to manage one back in the 90's, and I thought of them as "high maintenance" (or more politly, "high touch.")  The other 15 types conjured up specific people in my mind, as well.

This book not only helps you identify the types of folks you are dealing with, it also offers good, practical advice on how to better manage them, tap into their strengths, and manage around their weaknesses (which will help you and them in the long run).

It also deals candidly with the subject of whether you should really try to coach them, or just manage them out of the team.  And yes, there are some comments on whether you are really a good manager if you can't get more out of some of these folks - worth thinking about, for sure.

Get the Team right

Another thing this book does well is discuss team dynamics.  For each of the 16 Character Profiles, they discuss who you should (and shouldn't) pair people up with, with regard to helping both individual and team effectiveness.

The book gets you to think in terms of:

• Your "Starting Five," which are your go-to people for "wow" results.
• Your "Utility Players," which are predictable - the bedrock of the team.
• Your "Benchwarmers," who have potential but should be coached up or out.
• Your "Trading Block Candidates," that really ought to be off the team.

This model helped me frame my thinking very clearly and I like how it's discussed in the book.

The last section of the book is more about the chemistry of teams, and how to use your team of Characters most effectively.  There is a good discussion of 5 team types, ranging from awesome to has-been, and I picked up a lot of good tips along the way.

This book is a great tool box for managers.  Some of my team members are actually combinations of the 16 Character Types, but I have some practical, immediately applicable tools I can use in my next coaching sessions.

My Recommendation

I recommend "Bare Knuckle People Management" to anyone who's responsible for managing a team, but especially to those who are new managers or have just inherited a new team.

Connecting Top Managers

A couple of months ago, I received a copy of "Connecting Top Managers: Developing Executive Teams for Business Results," written by Lisa Haneberg and Jim Taylor.  I read it weeks ago but am just getting around to posting this review due to a busy schedule.

"Connecting Top Managers" is a tremendous resource for any organization that wants to build a more effective management team, or would like to address dysfunction or ineffective teamwork at the managerial level.  One of the things that makes this book particularly impactful is the research behind the text.  Haneberg and Taylor engaged with a variety of organizations through direct observation, project work, surveys, and other means and learned a lot about the ins and outs of executive teams.  Those learnings fed the recommendations and techniques presented in this book.

Be and be perceived

One aspect of the book I really liked is that it not only deals with how executives interact with their peers in the management team, it also addresses how the management team can improve or repair its image with the rest of the company.  Of course, some of the root causes of poor perceptions of management are a direct result of ineffective relationships within the management team, so it's not surprise both of these are dealt with in the book.

One of the sections in the book, "Dysfunction Reverberates," sums it up nicely: "...leaders [can't] expect their management and employees to be any more committed and passionate about the business than they demonstrate through their own actions. The same goes for teaming. You cannot expect the rest of the organization to work well together if the leadership team itself does not seem to care enough to work well together."

This book contains a lot of practical advice and strategies that you can apply within your own team, as well as some techniques you can apply personally to effect change even if the rest of the exec team is not on board.

Change begins at the top

Another element that is discussed very effectively in the book is how to influence the culture of the organization overall.  Much of this comes through willingness to address conflict rather than avoiding it, and setting a tone of constructive engagement and accountability throughout the organization.

Of course, all of this works best when there is consistent "tone at the top," which begins with the executive team. In other words, leading by example is not just a saying - it's a mandate.

Another notion in the book with which I am in enthusiastic agreement:  the most effective organizations are open to learning, and encourage learning as a part of how they do business.  What better way to make this real than to embrace learning as an executive team and tackle the challenge of becoming a more effective, high-functioning team?

I loved this book.  If you want to improve your executive team's effectiveness, I highly recommend Connecting Top Managers as a tremendous resource.

Shift: 13 Exercises to Make You Who You Want to Be

I've just finished a new book called "Shift," by Takumi Yamazaki.  I hadn't heard of the author before, but apparently he is a very well-known Japanese author who's sold over 800,000 books and is a self-made millionaire.

The subtitle of Shift is "13 Exercises to Make You Who You Want To Be," and I think that's a very appropriate description of what you'll find inside.  This book is essentially a set of guided thought sessions to help you identify your goals and set specific plans in motion to achieve them.  In each section of the book, you will find a set of stories and advice, accompanied by short (but very deep) exercises to focus your mind and get you to write your thoughts down.

SHIFT

Each section is described in terms of a "Shift," through which you change your outlook on life.  For example, the Shift 2 deals with thinking about how your perspective and preconceived notions can limit your success.  Shift 2 is accompanied by an exercise in which you examine situations in which you feel you weren't able to do something - one example given in the book is:

• "I had plans so I wasn't able to go to the party on Sunday."

You then rewrite the statement in which you describe it in as a choice:

• "I didn't want to go to the party - I chose not to go."

Pretty simple, right?  This exercise is similar to ones I've done before, and I always find it a bit jarring, yet empowering to realize I really do choose what I will or won't do over 90% of the time in my life.  This reminded me of a saying from a friend of mine: "Pretend you create everything that happens to you. Now, decide you will create better things for yourself."  It really changes how you approach life to think of things this way.

The other 12 Shifts are compelling, too.

Exercise your mind

The point of Yamazaki's book is to help you reframe your approach and (hopefully) achieve better outcomes that align with what you really want.  I have been trying to get back on the Getting Things Done (GTD) bandwagon, and I find that Shift puts me in a frame of mind where I'm able to come up with better Next Actions.

Also, this book is a good reminder that you don't have to go it alone - one of the cool things about this book is that many of the exercises include special instructions on how to apply the Shifts in this book as part of a group.  I think this would be a fun book to explore with a book club or a group of friends.

Shift is easy to read and has a lot of interesting visuals.  The exercises are the main attraction, though, and I highly recommend Shift to anyone who wants to take control of what's going on in their life.