Hats off to Dick Richards (that's him over there on the right) -- his book "Is Your Genius At Work?" is a finalist in ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Awards! (details)
This week, I had lunch with Bren and we both agreed that this book is one of those that grabs you someplace deep in your soul/psyche/heart/head and won't let go. As I mentioned when I reviewed this under the topic "A Quest for Genius" last year, I've had a tough time distilling my Genius down to it's essence. This has been - simultaneously - the most rewarding, maddening, intriguing, elusive process I can recall. If you haven't read the book, you should - it'll help you discover so much about yourself.
Congratulations, Dick - you deserve the Gold when they award it in May! (By the way, sometimes I think my Genius must be "Chasing Genius")
Read MoreCheck out a free excerpt from Ram Charan's book "Profitable Growth Is Everyone's Business : 10 Tools You Can Use Monday Morning" - Lisa's serving it up on Management Craft.
I've not been that "into" Ram's books in the past, but this excerpt has piqued my interest. It's on its way to me from Amazon (by the way - is it just me, or does that arrow logo on their shipping boxes look just a bit suggestive?).
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I've been reading "Conspiracy of Fools" by Kurt Eichenwald and I can't believe how much of a page turner I've found it to be. If you're not familiar with the book, it's a novelization of the events that surrounded the Enron scandal - beginning in the early days of Enron (before it was called Enron, in fact) and taking you through the entire saga.
The relevant facts and historical are all there -- Eichenwald is an investigative reporter with the New York Times -- and the color and context that's been added around these facts provides a strong feel for what it must've been like during the highs and lows of this scandal.
Even though we all know how it ends, I find this to be a book filled with a sort of suspense and intrigue. And, I find it fascinating (and a bit disconcerting) how Ken Lay and others seemed to start out with good intentions, have lots of good data and advice right there in front of them, but still managed to come to the wrong conclusion. There are a lot of lessons in here for people living in the corporate world.
A captivating read. Highly recommended.
Read MoreLately I've been frustrated that, even after a very busy day, I don't have as much to show as I'd hoped. So, I have gone back to the classic approach as I wrote about last year: I'm time logging again.
This year, my time logging is going more smoothly - I'm doing a lot of it electronically. Here are the basics:
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I'm using a Microsoft Word document called "timelog.doc" and have added a shortcut to this document to my Startup group on Windows. Therefore, my time log opens up every time I boot my system.
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I have created a few
ActiveWords macros to make things easier.
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"newday" adds a divider, inserts today's date, and moves me down a couple of lines to start my logging
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"ct" inserts the current time and a couple of spaces so I can easily timestamp things
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"log" opens up my time log document (because I accidentally close it a few times a day)
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I'm logging more "extra" details than I did last time, such as:
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the activity I need to be doing (or should be doing, or want to do) for the next chunk of time ("Need to review slides for xxx meeting")
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this allows me to see how many times I end up doing something other than what I intended to do
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if I deviated from the plan, I fess up on the next timestamp if I didn't do what I set out to do
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I also record unexpected obstacles - like yesterday when I tried to print my credit card statement for expense purposes, but Chase's card member site was down for a flippin' long time
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how many messages are in my Inbox (I only do this periodically - usually before I start processing my inbox, then again when I shift to a new task
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how many caffeinated drinks I'm consuming
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my energy level (on a 1-10 scale)
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what and when I eat and have snacks
I'm only a few days into it, but I'm already uncovering some sources of unproductive time, particularly during the work day. Here are some things I'm seeing so far:
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It seems my days are either too structured (filled with meetings) or too unstructured (on days when I don't have meetings, I am not being deliberate enough about what I *want* to work on - this is what triggered
my previous post)
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Any time email processing takes me to a web browser, I'm in danger land
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My mid-morning and mid-afternoon Zone Bars are really good for my energy level
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I've been drinking way too much caffeine - I've cut it by 75% in the last couple of days
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I feel better when I take a walk outside at lunch (vs. sitting inside the whole time)
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I gain energy from making phone calls, but lose energy when I receive them
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I don't schedule enough "catch up time" after meetings to write up notes, etc.
I'm going to keep doing this for a few more weeks to see how I can tune my behavior, and I know I'll learn more. I'm also looking for a good PalmOS-based time logging system that is easy to use and (ideally) synchs easily with a PC. I'll let you know if I find anything I like.
I highly recommend time logging periodically. If you're interested, a couple of good places you can learn about it are:
Related posts:
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On my last flight (seems like I start a lot of things that way, but that is when I have a lot of time to catch up on my reading) I read some excellent articles from some of my favorite bloggers. Here's the catch - I wasn't online, or even using a computer. I was reading a book called "More Space - Nine Antidotes to Complacency in Business," edited by Todd Satterstein (with a foreword by the inimitable Seth Godin).
The concept is simple - take nine bloggers, and give them lots of space to express their thoughts about business. The results are quite impressive.
The authors are Jory Des Jardins, Lisa Haneberg, Rob May, Johnnie Moore, Marc Orchant, Robert Paterson, Evelyn Rodriguez, Curt Rosengren, and Jeremy Wright.
The wide array of styles brought out a wide array of responses from me as I read. At various points I was intriqued, enraged, inspired, and (surprisingly) touched by the material. These folks shine in this book.
Just to give you a taste, here are some things I liked from the book:
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