Living in More Than One World

A very short post today, as I get ready to take a few days off. I’ll resume blogging on September 1. In the meantime, whether or not you are a CIO (Chief Information Officer), and whether or not you own a Kindle, have a look at CIO INSIGHT for the Books Slideshow: 10 Kindle Books for CIOs. There are thumbnail descriptions and covers for books aimed at busy technology executives. Many of these titles seem like they would have broader applicability for people who want to understand more about how technology is applied in organizations. The #1 book is CIO Best Practices: Enabling Strategic Value with Information Technology, by Joe Stenzel, Gary Cokins, et al; a 2007 title described as “the bible of technology leadership.” #2, CIO Survival Guide: The Roles and Responsibilities of the Chief Information Officer by Karl D. Schubert (2004), is described as “another IT leadership classic.” Some books are broader than just IT: #6  is Alignment: Using the Balanced Scorecard to Create Corporate Synergies, a 2006 title by Robert S. Kaplan, David P. Norton, the creators of the balanced scoreboard concept. Given that IT exists so an organization can do its work most successfully, #10 is The Business-Oriented CIO: A Guide to Market-Driven Management, by George Tillmann (2008), which “gives the straight dope on delivering business value through IT.” See you in September!

Justin Jacobs, in Paste magazine, combines two of my favorite topics in the August 24th article Ten Fantastic Songs Brought To You by Books. Numbers one (“Song for Myla Goldberg”, inspired by the Bee Season author) and nine, “The Tain,” on Jacobs’ list are from a great band, The Decemberists. (I also remember the ‘70s album The Tain by the Irish band Horslips.) The only other female writer to be serenaded in a title is “Sylvia Plath,” #4 by Ryan Adams. Another writer name-checked in a title is “Saul Bellow,” #8 by Sufjan Stevens. The source for #3, Radiohead’s “2+2=5,” says Jacobs, is George Orwell’s 1984. #10 is several Led Zeppelin songs (“Misty Mountain Hop,” “Ramble On,” and “The Battle of Evermore”) which Jacobs says were inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. “Although his long, blonde locks,” Jacobs writes, “and groupie-baiting ways may have suggested otherwise, Robert Plant was a big nerd.” As a lead-in to his list, Jacobs references Catherine Prewitt’s August 13th Paste interview with Jay Farrar (of Son Volt) and Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie) about their upcoming Jack Kerouac-inspired album, One Fast Move or I’m Gone, and a related film of the same name. The Farrar-Gibbard project grew out of a documentary produced by Jim Sampas, Kerouac’s nephew, about the years when Kerouac wrote the autobiographically-based novel Big Sur, published in 1962. Gibbard portrays the book’s Kerouac-like character Jack Duluoz as a cautionary, anti-role model: “After all of the wild nights, he’s become just a fat drunk man at a bar who is now not drinking because he wants to, but drinking because he has to.” The Kerouac theme continues at #2 in the above list, The Hold Steady’s “Stuck Between Stations,” which has a line from On the Road.

Garr Reynolds, on his consistently useful Presentation Zen blog, has a handy and helpful recent post, 10 Tips on how to think like a designer. The ideas and insights he presents have applicability to a wide audience, which was his intention. Whether you are designing a presentation or anything else that people will have to look at and understand, you’re likely to discover things that will help you consider your project in new ways. One of the most provocative tips is the first: embrace constraints. The inclination for most of us is to complain about what we weren’t given to do something, rather than to focus on how to make the best of the situation. Reynolds suggests cold realism instead: “Your problem is what it is. How can you solve it given the resources and time that you have?” Reaching into Zen – Reynolds is based in Japan – tip #3 is to adopt the beginner’s mind. That way you are open and receptive to fresh new ideas and concepts because you are not jaded and shackled by your own experience. In a related manner, he suggests we sharpen our awareness and curiosity of the wonders all around us, all the time. “Good designers are skilled at noticing and observing,” he writes. “They are able to see both the big picture and the details of the world around them.” A running theme through some of the tips is to remember that what you are designing is about the audience — however that is defined — not you. Try to be empathetic and see things from their point of view. I enjoyed Reynolds’ 2008 book presentationzen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery. His next book, presentation zen Design: Basic design principles & techniques for the non-designer, will be published in November.

Beth Farrell of Library Journal has an extensive survey of self-help audiobooks in Mind, Body & Soul. Although the article is aimed at librarians, anyone interested in this genre will find it useful and informative. Referencing an article from Forbes earlier this year, she notes the billions spent in recent years on these types of books, CDs and related products and services. She also calls attention to LJ’s most recent ranking of most-borrowed audiobooks, in which 15 of 20 were in the self-help category. And not all the audiobooks that libraries offer come only in the traditional CD format; others are available through web-based digital downloads from companies such as Overdrive or Ingram Digital, and in the preloaded digital Playaway format (a new one to me). Farrell writes that her aim is to go beyond the likes of Stephen Covey, Rhonda Byrne and similar big names to worthy titles by lesser-known — but many recognizable — authors with titles worthy of being offered by libraries. And by extension, worthy of our attention as library patrons. She provides bibliographic information and to-the-point thumbnail descriptions for more than 20 titles. I particularly like her description of David Whyte’s 8 CD set The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self and Relationship: “Yorkshire-born poet/business consultant Whyte’s rich, rumbling voice could turn the reading of an auto repair manual into poetry; his erudite, unique take on balancing work, self, and relationships is utterly compelling. Self-help for the literary set.” Other audiobooks worthy of careful listening include This I Believe II: More Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women, a 5 CD set based on the NPR series and Edward de Bono’s How to Have a Beautiful Mind, also 5 CDs.  Improving yourself for free with these and similar audiobooks at your public library sounds like a great deal.

Although her posting ran nearly a month ago, check out Michelle Richmond’s I can’t bear to part with… on sfgate.com, the San Francisco Chronicle’s website. She explains that she is culling her bookshelves, but that some books not only couldn’t go, but “beg to be read again and again.” Some of the ten books on the list are new to me, such as The Palace of Dreams, by Ismail Kadare and The Death of a Beekeeper, by Lars Gustafsson. What initially drew me to her post was the inclusion of one of my all-time favorite books, Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges, as well as A Mathematician’s Apology, by G.H. Hardy. I discovered and read the latter in the past year, and possibly if I had read it in high school (which I theoretically could have, since it was published well before), I might have had a better attitude about studying math. Here is her description of Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair: “This perfectly paced novel should be required reading for aspiring writers: a book about narrative, the arbitrariness of fate, and the writer’s subject – wrapped up in a riveting love story.” The whole list is informative, with beautifully written thumbnail descriptions of her keeper books. I then discovered that this shouldn’t be a surprise, as she is a best-selling novelist of such books as No One You Know and The Year of Fog, which is being made into a film. For more, see her website and her own blog, sans serif. She ends her sfgate.com post with the sensible advice that if her readers are cleaning her own shelves, they can donate books to the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. No matter where you live, your local library friends organization can serve the same function if you are doing similar book culling.

In my previous post I wrote about extending the summer through summer/beach reading lists. Another intriguing one is Michael P. Maslanka’s Summer 2009 Beach Reads for GCs, from law.com/Texas Lawyer. Maslanka is a Dallas-based attorney and writer, and though this is aimed at corporate attorneys, it is thoughtful and broad-based enough to appeal to a wider readership. He includes recent business books, such as Alan Webber’s Rules of Thumb: 52 Truths for Winning at Business Without Losing Your Self, though the list gets particularly interesting when Maslanka goes beyond business. “Books that help us do not need to be self-help books,” he observes. He includes two related to the Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius, then moves to Charlotte Higgins’ book on Latin poetry, Latin Love Lessons: Put a Little Ovid in Your Life. To honor the value of brevity, there is Haiku Mind: 108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness and Open Your Heart. The list has many more choices in a variety of categories, including mysteries and thrillers. There is even a brief reminder of why all this is important in the first place: “Books enlighten us. They free us. They uplift us,” he writes. Another angle on summer reading can be found in Some Thoughts on Infinite Jest During the Infinite Summer, Mike Miley’s Huffington Post about an online reading group dedicated to reading David Foster Wallace’s huge novel Infinite Jest by September 22. Wallace, who taught creative writing at Pomona College in Claremont, California, committed suicide last year. I haven’t read his books, but when I heard of his death I wondered if I had ever unknowingly seen him during the times I was in Claremont researching my book. It’s not a big city, and I often walked through the lovely Pomona College campus, which is not far from the Drucker School. Finally, a bestseller this summer is a book reprinting Wallace’s 2005 Kenyon College commencement address, This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life.

The only thing better than reading books during the summer is reading the summer/beach reading lists and articles. And I particularly enjoy the British ones. Genevieve Fox, on Telegraph.co.uk, presents some considerations beyond the strictly literary in her entertaining article It’s the summer holidays, but what on earth should you read? For instance, think about whether the books you’re packing are going to put you over airline weight limits. One of her interviewees says he will take both a hardback and paperback copy of the same Nick Hornby book: the former for his hotel room and the latter for the messier beach. The 50 Best Summer Reads ran on independent.co.uk in June. Their books were chosen by a five person panel including an author, editor, BBC presenter and two buyers from large British booksellers. The list unfolds as a picture gallery of covers, with short descriptions and panelist quotes. To learn what UK newspaper critics are reading this summer, check out the survey Booktrust’s 2009 summer reading roundup, and the related guardian.co.uk article Sarah Waters tops critics’ summer reading chart. On July 5th, the newspaper published Text on the beach – the 50 best summer reads ever.  The Guardian made a number of its own recommendations, but also included entries from luminaries of the British arts world, including the ubiquitous Alain de Botton, who recommends The Death of Ivan Illich, by Leo Tolstoy. Why should you read this on vacation? “Because reminders of mortality tend to accentuate pleasure,” de Botton reasons. I was happy to see that one of my choices for summer reading (just started), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by the late Stieg Larsson, was recommended by director Richard Eyre, who writes: “It’s an intelligent thriller that never disappoints: complex plot, inspired sleuthing, social comment, violence, sex and almost credible characters.”

The week is moving fast. It’s already Wednesday. But if you haven’t already done so, check out USA TODAY’s handy First Monday: New in business TV, DVDs, magazines, books. This runs on the first Monday of each month, and it’s a fun and informative feature to look at either in print (where it takes up the entire third page) or online, with the added value of links. I always enjoyed when I got the opportunity to write for this page when I worked at USA TODAY. It provides readers with quick and useful scans of upcoming things that should be on the radar screens of business people. It also deserves an audience beyond the business world. The August 3 page includes the book 1000 CEOs, with “brief biographies, career trajectories and pullouts of each executive’s traits, practices or words of wisdom.” The films featured are the advertising documentary Art & Copy, and Julie and Julia, based on Julie Powell’s hit book Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen. It stars Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. One of my favorite features each month is What I Read, in which an executive details what he or she is reading, and a bit about their reading habits. The spotlight here is on E. Kelly Fitzsimmons, CEO of HarQen. Her three favorite books: The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Good to Great by Jim Collins and Managing the Professional Service Firm by David Maister. The “5 Questions” this month features Bill Roedy, chairman and CEO of MTV Networks International. His response to what makes his network a good ambassador for American culture abroad: “We have 150 channels in 168 countries and our audience, primarily young people, wants to be connected. Our goal is to be both a medium of cultural exchange and a unifying force by integrating global and local culture.”

For a highly interesting, in-depth look into the life of a book editor, and some important aspects of the current state of publishing, see An Interview With Johanna Vondeling Editor of Berrett-Koehler Publishing, a new blog post in Ask The Agent: Night Thoughts about Books and Publishing, from literary agent Andy Ross, the former owner of Cody’s Books in Berkeley, Calif. Johanna is Vice President, Editorial and Digital for B-K, which is located in San Francisco. She is also my editor and was the person responsible for bringing my new book, Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker’s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life, to the company. The book as it exists now would never have happened without her, as I noted in the acknowledgments: “She had the vision and patience to realize there was a strong central idea in my book, but that it was not the one I originally brought to her. She also helped give the book the structure it required.” In the Q&A, Johanna also discusses the unique publishing practices that have made B-K so successful as an independent publisher since its inception in 1992. For instance, each author is invited for an Author Day at headquarters, an entire day based around you and your book, held between deliverery of your first draft and final manuscript. Mine was held last November and was an exhilarating experience. As Johanna describes it, “Authors get to meet their editor in person, they talk to production about the internal design of the book, they strategize with marketing staff about the marketing plan for their book, and they make a presentation about their book over lunch to the whole staff and invited guests–it’s their first chance to pitch their book to the world.” More publishers may try to emulate the B-K model, which would be a positive sign for an industry undergoing a significant transition.

If, like me, you are reluctant to show your sketches to other people, be sure to read Art Markman’s new Psychology Today blog post, Tools for Innovation III: Sketches and your brain. Art is a friend and a cognitive scientist at the University of Texas at Austin. The post is one of three recent ones based on ideas (in this case from a chapter by Barbara Tversky and Masaki Suwa) from an Oxford University Press book he and UT engineering professor Kristin Wood co-edited, Tools for Innovation. When you have ideas for innovation, sometimes the best ways to think about, formulate and communicate them are by making some sort of visual representation, even if it is crude, dashed off and open to interpretation. But Art correctly points out that many of us are concerned about what people will think of our less-than-stellar artistic talents, so we either don’t make the sketch, or don’t show it to others. “But it is these very limitations in our ability to sketch perfect what we are thinking,” he writes, “that leaves room for those drawings to be reinterpreted.” If we can get over this limitation, there is a potential for a real breakthrough, because other people may have interpretations we wouldn’t have considered, and that can sharpen our thinking. Another concept he points out is that since so much of the brain is visually-oriented, limiting your ideas to either spoken words, or words on paper, can act as a damper on your creativity. In a similar vein, see Dan Roam’s bestselling book The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures.