September's Book to Read

Don Kardux is back with another fascinating book report.  It makes me want to download this book immediately and spent the day reading it!

Here it is!

My good friend and one of my librarians, Kate S, recommended this wonderful book.

Michael Gelb has an interesting premise.

Amazon said it this way, “Genius is made, not born. And human beings are gifted with an almost unlimited potential for learning and creativity. Now you can uncover your own hidden abilities, sharpen your senses, and liberate your unique intelligence—by following the example of the greatest genius of all time, Leonardo Da Vinci.”

I won’t argue with the premise, but this book has opened some very interesting observations.

Part one sets the stage clarifying in 45 pages the “Dark Ages” through the “Renaissance” as well as anything I’ve read before.  He ends this part by revealing how Da Vinci was ahead of his time. Just the headings on page 45 shows how he predated the great thinkers of the world.

·         40 years before Copernicus

·         60 years before Galileo

·         200 years before Newton

·         400 years before Darwin

The meat of this book is in the remaining 264 pages.

Michael’s approach is to reveal Da Vinci’s ‘Seven principles of behavior’ and follows each with questions we can ask ourselves so that we might move closer to Da Vinci’s genius.

Here is his summary of the Seven Da Vincian Principles.

• 1.     Curiosita-An insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning.

• 2.   Dimostrazione- A commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence, and a willingness to learn from mistakes

• 3.     Senazione- The continual refinement of the senses, especially sight,as the means to enliven experience.

• 4.     Sfumato- (literally “Going Up In Smoke”)- A willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty.

• 5.   Arte/Scienza- The development of the balance between science and art, logic and imagination. “Whole-brain” thinking.

• 6.     Corporalita – The cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness, and poise.

• 7.  Connessione- A recognition of and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and phenome.na. Systems thinking.

I often relate the quality of books I read to food. From ‘Cotton Candy” to “Steak and potatoes”. ‘Thinking like Leo’ is a feast lasting for several weeks.

The author’s summary at the end of his discussion concerning ‘Mind Mapping’ is illustrative of his approach.

“Look at your life mind map from the perspective of the Seven Da Vincian principles”

1.     Curiosita-         Am I asking the right questions?

2.    Dimostrazione- How can I improve my ability to learn from my mistakes and experiences? How can I develop and independence of thought?

3.     Senazione- What is my plan for sharpening my senses as I age?

4.     Sfumato- How can I strengthen my ability to hold creative tension to embrace the major paradoxes of life?

5.     Arte/Scienza- Am I balancing Arte and Scienza at home and at work?

6.     Corporalita – How can I nurture the balance of body and mind?

7.     Connessione-  How do all the above elements fit together? How does everything connect to everything else?

Thinking like Leo doesn’t have to be read in a linnear fashion. In other words if you want to start with ‘Senazione” you can however, reading ‘Part One’ first is a must.

This is one of the best examples of a ‘Come back to it’ book I can think of using.

Bon Appetite 

Reading for the Month

I am so lucky that Don Kardux, Business Navigators,  is willing to review a favorite book of his each month.  Enjoy and hopefully get inspired to read, too!

Here's the August edition of what Don has read!

In July of 2013 I reviewed Ken and Sheldon’s book “Raving Fans” which focused on helping customers turn into full fledged fans of a company. This book does the same for employees and is well worth the read.

Both books read like short entertaining novels.

In “Raving Fans” the mentor to the “Area Manager” is Charley his ‘Fairy Godmother’ and in “Gung Ho! “ Peggy Sinclair, new General Manager of Walton Works #2, has as a mentor an American Indian department head, Andy, who learned the secret of “Gung Ho! from his grandfather.

You see, first Peggy learns about the ‘Spirit of the Squirrel’ the ‘Way of the Beaver’ and the ‘Gift of the Goose’  

Like “The Goal” this story is incremental. Peggy’s fear and confusion at times is ultimately replaced by positive anticipation and clarity of purpose.

The end of the book has some very useful summaries and insights.

On page 169 is the Gung Ho game plan diagram which after reading the story is an excellent visual reminder of what can happen.

Page 170 summarizes ‘The Spirit of the Squirrel’ WORTHWHILE WORK and includes:

A.                  Knowing we make the world a better place

B.                  Everyone works toward a shared goal

C.                  Value guides all plans, decisions and actions

 

It's Not What You Think

Below is Don Kardux's newest book report.  I always look forward to seeing what Don brings us to think about each month and July's offering, Our Iceberg is Melting, by John Kotter, continues to serve in that way!

Don begins, "See, this book is a fable. It’s not real. It’s about penguins not people.

Well, this story is about penguins who kinda act like people.

That’s beside the point. 

Nope, that’s not right, it is the point.

Fred was a penguin who was bit of an odd bird. While diving, under their colony’s iceberg he made the discovery of a cave that shouldn’t have been there. This cave was caused by iceberg erosion which would undermine the integrity of everything, break the iceberg apart killing a lot of penguins and nobody but Fred knew it existed.

How will Fred get other penguins to believe him and feel a ‘sense of urgency’?

What can they do to fight those who don’t want to change?

Is there a strategy that will allow the colony to not only survive but, flourish?

Well, this is a fable so, of course, many good things occur, they live happily ever after and as everyone knows that isn’t the way it is in ‘real life’. It’s just a good story to tell.

 John Kotter, the author and storyteller, writes on page 126:

“The End

(of the story, but not the book)”

In the following 21 pages, Kotter, shows us that there are connections between Penguins and People.

He believes we can apply ‘lessons learned’ on the ‘berg’ to the ‘business of life’

Beginning on page 130 we see ‘The Eight Step Process of Successful Change’ and two pages later we can explore the roles of ‘Thinking and Feeling’.

This relatively short book reflects accurately my experience of being a ‘Change Agent’ for the past thirty years.

It’s deceitful simplicity masks and then reveals the complexity of change and is best visited several times."

Table Sponsorships That Don't Work

I was at a chamber lunch where the sponsor of the lunch was a large law firm.  There were 17 attorneys from this firm at the lunch and when each one was introduced, they were all sitting at one of two tables.  I couldn't help but wonder what bang they were getting for their marketing buck by sitting with each other.

What would have happened if instead, the 17 attorneys sat at 17 different tables?  Do you think their ability to gain a positive return would have doubled, tripled or even quadrupled?

I can never understand the concept behind a company "paying for a table" at an event and then not even thinking about how to use that to their best advantage.

A couple thoughts beyond the one above are:

• They could invite an equal number of clients to sit at the table so a table of 10 would have 5 from the company and 5 outsiders.
• They could spread around to multiple tables, but each staff person can ask one client and one prospect to sit with them.  The client can tell the prospect how wonderful it is doing business with the company!
• The staff person again sits at a table and invites four to eight people, either clients or prospects or friends, who benefit from meeting each other.  Have all sit at the staff person's table.  The staff person gains ginormous bonus points!

I'm sure you can come up with more ideas.  Share them with us.

The Apple Tree

It's funny how real life provides great example of business sense!  This is all about my apple tree.  So first let me digress.

In the word-of-mouth marketing world, someone who provides multiple and ongoing referrals is nicknamed an apple tree.  The person who buys is the apple.  Good analogy, right?

Well, enter my apple tree, an heirloom, Arkansas Black.  It is a couple decades old.  It didn't start producing till about 2 1/2 years ago and then by golly, it gave us so much that we didn't know what to do with all of the apples.  Same last fall, only I think there was more fruit.  We have given it minimal care, but it is protected from the winter's evil winds and is a tree that the grand girls love to climb.  It
gets plenty of water where it is located.

Wow!  My tree is just like a the business apple tree.  It didn't produce overnight, in fact, in the referral world, I probably would have not gone the extra years to get to production.  With people "apple trees" they are a long term project.  They have to get groomed and talked to to develop the strong relationship before that first referral is ever issued.  But if we stay long enough, the apples are so many that we just have to keep calm and enjoy the abundance.

What Could Make You Happier?

I am excited to again bring the reading knowledge of Don Kardux, of Business Navigators, to you with his monthly book report.

Don says, "John Bunyan and Dan Harris have something in common.

In February of 1678 Bunyan published an allegory titled ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’.

Three hundred and thirty six years later Dan Harris published ‘10% Happier’.

 

• In each book the central character is in search of relief from the burden they carry..

• In each book they meet an assortment of good and bad characters.

Bunyan’s characters are clearly defined by their names, Evangelist, Mr. Goodwill, Mr. Legality, Mr. Worldly Wiseman and Mr. Giant Despair (who lives in Doubting Castle).

Harris also meets interesting characters who are not so clearly defined, Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer, Peter Jennings, Ted Haggard ( a Christian preacher), Eckhart Tolle (an expert in meditation) and Deepak Chopra to name a few.

But it’s Dan’s journey to get relief from his burden and the steps he takes and the people who help (or don’t) is what makes this twentieth century ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ fascinating and a great read.

Dan says, “According to the Nielson ratings data, 5.019 million people saw me lose my mind. It happened on June 7, 2004 on the set of  Good Morning America”.

Yep, Dan Harris, our author was and still is an anchor on Good Morning America.  You can see him most any day.

And that’s part of the fun of this book. Television personalities become, for many of us, very real in a personal sort of way and so reading how Dan got into and finally out of his “Valley of the Shadow of Death” is significant and enlightening.

For Dan the answer was a form of Buddhist meditation. It made him 10% happier.

The appendix: Instructions is a practical way to implement this approach. 

My son Chris introduced this book to me and says that it works. I believe him.

Finally Dan has these thoughts on the last page of the book.

“Forget your preconceived notions. Forget the dopey packaging and the unfortunate cultural baggage. Meditation is worth the work- even if you’re too embarrassed to admit to your friends that you’re doing it.

Under the sway of the ego, life becomes a constant low-grad crisis. You are never sated, never satisfied, always reaching for the next thing, like a colicky baby. Meditation is the antidote. It won’t fix everything in your life, make you taller, or (most likely) land you in a state of bliss on a park bench. But it can make you 10% happier, or maybe much more.”

I urge you to read this book. It might make your life better."