First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

I keep coming back to it, and I do so this morning because I’m nervous. The “it” is the brilliant book by Michael Lewis, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. It is about the Oakland Athletics, and how they are able to compete against the “big boys’ with much less money than those [.].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 1, 2012

Scott Simon had a short piece this morning (September 1, 2012) on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday: Without A Career, How Do We Know Who We Are? Though it is primarily about how we find and define our identity through our work, this piece reminds us that the world of work is dramatically different than it [.].

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Simon Career Blog 113

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 21, 2012

I’ve been asking the same question(s) to the leadership teams of a few different groups over the last few weeks. (It’s actually a two-part question) The questions are: When your leadership team sets your strategy, are you succeeding in these two ways: #1 – Are you listening to the “troops” (everyone in the organization) before [.].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 10, 2012

We haven’t run out of good books yet… Every month since April, 1998. we have presented synopses of two business books. Though it is no substitute for reading the books for yourself, many find our synopses valuable tools in their life-long-learning tool kit. For our October 5, 2012 First Friday Book Synopsis, we have chosen [.].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

In conversation with some business leaders, I ran the famous “three questions” from Peter Drucker by them. The three questions: #1 – What is your business? #2 – Who is your customer? #3 – What does your customer consider value? They had a pretty easy time answering questions #1 & #2. But regarding question #3, [.].

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Drucker Blog 106

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 25, 2012

I have now finished reading The Coming Jobs War, in preparation for the next First Friday Book Synopsis. Jim Clifton, the author, is the CEO of Gallup, and he calls this the most important finding ever for Gallup. The book is so very clear about the need of jobs. Consider this call to arms: The [.].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

“Obviously when you go through something like this, it’s painful for everybody,” Goodell said on a conference call about 12 hours after the deal was struck. “Most importantly, it’s painful for fans. We’re sorry to have to put fans through that. Sometimes you have to go through something like that in the short term for [.].

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Short-term Examples Conference Blog 99

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

In his latest book, Ken Robinson observes in Chapter 7 that being creative is not only about thinking; it is also about feeling. For example, “Among the legacies of the Enlightenment and Romanticism are many common-sense but mistaken assumptions about the differences between the arts and the sciences.” (Page 186) What follows are brief excerpts of Robinson’s subsequent narrative.

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Creativity Examples Process Books 98

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 24, 2012

When conducting research for his latest book, Creating Innovators, Tony Wagner interviewed hundreds of thought leaders in creativity, innovation, and talent management. One of them is Judy Gilbert, director of Talent at Google. Whether or not you have any interest in being employed by Google, you need to know which skills this pioneering company values most.

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Gilbert Skills Talent Management Innovation 95

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

In the world of blogs, there are some really “big” ones (like Andrew Sullivan’s The Dish), and countless others that begin with a “hello world,” and disappear pretty quickly. We are certainly not one of the “big” ones. But we’ve continued to offer content that we hope is valuable as you think about your work and [.].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 10, 2012

Last Friday, I presented my synopsis of Every Nation for Itself: Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World by Ian Bremmer. Mr. Bremmer describes the rise of the G-Zero world this way: If not the West, the rest, or the institutions where they come together, who will lead? The answer is no one—neither the once-dominant [.].

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Blog 95

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

Throughout its history, the United States has valued innovation more than security, technological change more than traditional ways of doing things, and hope for the future more than veneration of the past. In a world of constant change, these qualities are likely to serve the country well. America’s culture of innovation, its economic resilience, its [.].

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Innovation Quality Technology Blog 95

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

“The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.” Horace Walpole “Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for t’is better to be alone than in bad company.” George Washington “If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, [.].

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Reputation Quality Company Drucker 90

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

So, I was reading along in The Flat World and Education: How America’s Commitment to Equity will Determine our Future, by Linda Darling-Hammond. It is the selection for tomorrow’s Urban Engagement Book Club, sponsored by CitySquare. Ms. Darling-Hammond is a professor at Stanford, and this academic and pointed book is absolutely worth reading if you [.].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

Adam Bryant conducts interviews of senior-level executives that appear in his “Corner Office” column each week in the SundayBusiness section of The New York Times. Here are a few insights provided during an interview of Jacqueline Novogratz is C.E.O. of the Acumen Fund, which invests in businesses aiding the world’s poor. She advocates initiatives when humility and audacity go hand [.].

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Execution How To CEO Books 85

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 29, 2012

Practice Perfect: 42 Rules for Getting Better at Getting Better Doug Lemov, Erica Woolway, and Katie Yezzi Jossey-Bass/A Wiley Imprint (2012) How and why ”practice doesn’t make perfect, practice makes permanent” For several decades, Anders Ericsson and his associates at Florida State University have been conducting research on peak performance, and he began to attract attention after the publication of a Harvard [.].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 14, 2012

My guess (only a guess) is that whenever a list of the greatest storytellers throughout history is compiled, Charles Dickens would be among those included. The creative talents of other novelists (notably Balzac and Dostoevsky) are probably ranked higher but I think Dickens’ skills with setting a scene, introducing characters and their conflicts, and then developing a compelling plot, are unsurpassed.

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Storytelling Power Creativity Skills 85

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

How can we design schools that foster innovative thinking? At TEDxNYED, Tony Wagner outlines how an overemphasis on individual achievement, hyper-specialization, and an aversion to risk have stymied inventiveness and describes what specifically teachers and parents can do to sow the seeds of creativity. To watch this program, please click here. Tony Wagner recently accepted a position [.].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

Here is an excerpt from an article written by Donald Sull and Kathleen M. Eisenhardt for the Harvard Business Review blog. To read the complete article, check out the wealth of free resources, and sign up for a subscription to HBR email alerts, please click here. Artwork: Nuala O’Donovan/Photography: Sylvain Deleu * * * A decade ago, in the [.].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Here is a brief excerpt from an article written by Paul Tough and featured in The Wall Street Journal (September 8, 2012). There continues to be so much bloviating BLAH BLAH BLAH about the importance of education at all levels (K through post-graduate) and yet all indications from reliable sources suggest that the quality of education in [.].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Adam Bryant conducts interviews of senior-level executives that appear in his “Corner Office” column each week in the SundayBusiness section of The New York Times. Here are a few insights provided during an interview of Mark B. Templeton, president and C.E.O. of Citrix, the Internet software company. To read the complete interview as well as Bryant’s interviews of other executives, please [.].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

Soren Kaplan is the author of Leapfrogging and a Managing Principal at InnovationPoint, where he works with organizations including Visa, Colgate-Palmolive, Medtronic, Disney, Philips, PepsiCo, and numerous other global firms. Soren previously led the internal strategy and innovation group at Hewlett-Packard (HP) during the roaring 1990’s in Silicon Valley and was a co-founder of iCohere, one of the first web [.].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 21, 2012

In “The Bell Curve,” an article written for The New Yorker (December 6, 2004), Atul Gawande uses the term “positive deviant” to describe unusually effective performers in the field of medicine. In fact, there are outliers in all fields. To Gawande, it is highly advisable to study outliers and learn from them to improve our own [.].

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Positioning Article Sample Blog 80

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

According to Frans Johansson, “When you step into an intersection of fields, disciplines, or cultures, you can combine existing concepts into a large number of extraordinary new ideas. The name I have give this phenomenon, the Medici Effect, comes from a remarkable burst of creativity in fifteenth-century Italy.” He agrees with Richard Dawkins who suggests (in The Selfish Gene) that ideas, or memes, compete, [.].

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Innovation Creativity How To Review 80

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

Adam Bryant conducts interviews of senior-level executives that appear in his “Corner Office” column each week in the SundayBusiness section of The New York Times. Here are a few insights provided during an interview of Jarrod Moses, founder of United Entertainment Group, a marketing agency, who says traveling with his colleagues by bus builds trust and candor, and stirs creativity. [.].

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Travel Creativity Marketing Execution 80

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 10, 2012

I check out TED videos every chance I get because they comprise a treasury of information, insights, and wisdom provided by thought leaders in one or more of three fields: Technology, Entertainment, and Design. Dan Pink has much of value to say about all three. He is the author of several provocative, bestselling books about the changing world of work. [.].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 9, 2012

Adam Bryant conducts interviews of senior-level executives that appear in his “Corner Office” column each week in the SundayBusiness section of The New York Times. Here are a few insights provided during an interview of Ben Lerer is a co-founder and the chief executive of the Thrillist Media Group, which oversees men’s lifestyle and shopping Web sites.

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Media Execution How To CEO 80

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

The Art of Procrastination: A Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing John Perry Workman Publishing (2012) “The early bird may get the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese.” As I began to read this book, I was reminded of the Steven Wright observation that I selected for the title of this review. There [.].

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Review Books How To Education 80

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 25, 2012

Lead By Greatness: How Character Can Power Your Success David Lapin Avoda Books (2012) “Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer “Greatness” is one of the terms that have become essentially useless because their meaning depends almost entirely on the person who defines them.

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First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

Lead with a Story: A Guide to Crafting Business Narratives That Captivate, Convince, and Inspire Paul Smith AMACOM (2012) “Experience is the best teacher. A compelling story is a close second.” This book is among the best that discuss one or more aspects of storytelling, notably those written by Doug Lipman, Annette Simmons, and Stephen Denning. Paul Smith duly acknowledges [.].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

The Open Innovation Marketplace: Creating Value in the Challenge Driven Enterprise Alpheus Bingham and Dwayne Spradlin FT Press/Pearson (2011) How and why global networks of highly specialized expertise create value in the challenge driven enterprise In Open Business Models (2003), Henry Chesbrough observes, “An open business model uses a new division of innovation labor – [.].

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Open-book Innovation Business Model Review 75

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 14, 2012

Here is an article written by Steve Tobak for CBS MoneyWatch, the CBS Interactive Business Network. To check out an abundance of valuable resources and obtain a free subscription to one or more of the website’s newsletters, please click here. * * * (MoneyWatch) The management fad of the millennium is employee [.].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

Here is a brief excerpt from an article written by Tony Wagner that first appeared in Education Week (November 11, 2003). Don’t let the publication date fool you. If anything, his recommendations are even more urgently needed now than they were then. To read the complete article, please click here. © Tony Wagner * * [.].

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Education Article Simon System 75

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative Ken Robinson Capstone Publishing Ltd. (2011) How and why to think differently about learning to be creative This is a “New Edition, Fully Updated” of a book first published in 2001. Why a second edition? As Ken Robinson explains in his Preface, “…the first reason is that [.].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

In his recently published book, The Art of Procrastination: A Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging, and Postponing, John Perry observes: “All procrastinators put off things they have to do. Structured procrastination is the art of making this negative trait work for you. The key idea is that procrastination does not mean doing absolutely nothing.

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First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Adam Bryant conducts interviews of senior-level executives that appear in his “Corner Office” column each week in the SundayBusiness section of The New York Times. Here are a few insights provided during an interview of Tracy Streckenbach, president and chief operating officer of Innovative Global Brands. She said she might spend months to define the right goals for a company and set the benchmarks [.].

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Globalization Chief Operating Officer Brand Innovation 75

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 1, 2012

The new and fully updated edition of Ken Robinson’s Out of Our Minds has just been published. He explains how to learn to become much more creative. In Chapter 3, “The Trouble with Education,” he introduces what he characterizes as “The Septic Focus” when discussing his friend Dave, a 280-pound actor, who loved beer and [.].

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