I doubt I’ll ever understand why, but being busy supposedly makes a person more valuable.

I find this amusing, since it is slow time that makes you smarter and, perhaps, even wiser; both extremely valuable traits.

The pressure of social media to react impedes your ability/willingness to stop and think.

In Plato’s Apology of Socrates, Plato writes that Socrates left the encounter thinking of the politician, “Well, although I do not suppose that either of us knows anything really beautiful and good, I am better off than he is—for he knows nothing and thinks that he knows. I neither know nor think that I know. In this latter particular, then, I seem to have slightly the advantage of him.“ Ever since, Socratic ignorance has been the hallmark of wisdom in Western thinking. (…)

That’s why slow thinking is not just wise—it’s also a revolutionary act right now. In reactionary times, slowness, responsiveness rather than reactiveness, is a radical rejection of the internet’s perpetual call to action: Always be choosing sides. Deliberate undecidedness, refusing to choose and know it all, is a kind of intellectual rebellion against the relentless pressure to get with the socially appropriate program—whatever it happens to be within your ideological and informational bubbles.

A post at Farnam Street introduces the idea of first-order positive, second-order negative (shoutout to Wally Bock for this article). It parallels the  exponentially increasing need for instant gratification.

We have trouble delaying gratification, so we do a lot of things that are first-order positive, second-order negative. We buy bigger houses than we need, only to find that rising interest rates make the mortgage payment untenable. We buy the sexy car only to discover later that it depreciates faster than the commuter car. (…)

Making time to think is a great example of something that’s first-order negative with some future payoff that’s not easily visible. However, when you think through problems, you’ll not only come to better decisions on the whole but you’ll also avoid a lot of problems.

Of course, those who are too busy to think will definitely be too busy to read.

Which means they are busier than

• Warren Buffett (80% of his time was/is spent reading and thinking)
• Charlie Munger (Buffet’s partner who said, “In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time — none. Zero.” )
• Bill Gates (reads a book a week and has taken a yearly two-week reading vacation throughout his career)

And then there is Barak Obama. I seriously doubt there is anyone in the business world who is busier, or under more stress, than Obama was during his eight years in office, yet he read for an hour every day (the 5-hour rule).

Ben Franklin said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

Paul Tudor Jones, the self-made billionaire entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist, who should know says, “Intellectual capital will always trump financial capital.” 

Futurist Alvin Toffler says, in no uncertain terms, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” 

And did you ever notice that learn is earn with an ‘l’?

Image credit: Katy Warner

It’s amazing to me, but looking back over more than a decade of writing I find posts with information that is as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of what I consider some of the best posts during that time.

It’s that time of the year. No matter what media you prefer you’ll find something about the best stuff gifts for your first apartment, tech gifts, various gift categories at different price points, and on and on. You can also find a myriad of options to give experiences, instead of stuff — if you can afford to give experiences.

Below I’ve described two ways to give something unforgettable, no matter your budget,  

Read other Golden Oldies here.

During the holiday media gift frenzy it is the truly wise who remember that the best gifts aren’t electronic or screen-dependent.

The very best aren’t paid for with money, either, but with a much more precious currency — time.

Time to love.

Time for friendship.

Time to play.

Time to talk and laugh together — F2F

Food cooked and shared together at (someone’s) home.

Not just during the season, but scattered throughout the year like diamonds on a velvet cloth or stars in a clear night sky.

Along with time, the most wonderful gift you can give a child is a love of books — real books.

Real because reading a printed page affects the brain in different and better ways than words on a  screen.

Whether your child reads or you read to them start with the books from Lost My Name, which creates personalized books using your child’s name.

Lost My Name — founded in 2012 by Asi Sharabi and Tal Oron — creates customised books based around a child’s name. The books are created and ordered online, then sent out to printing partners around the world. (…)  “As a technology company, we’re very proud to be innovating on one of the oldest media formats in the world – the physical book,” said Oron. “We think technology equals possibility. And possibility is the dominant currency in wonderful, nostalgic storytelling, where the book’s job is to inspire children to believe in adventure; that anything can happen if they imagine it. As screens become more and more seductive to children, there is an increasing need to inject more magic into books – to find new ways to spark their imagination.”

Even better are the books by Randall Munroe, former NASA roboticist, who specializes in science humor and whose 2014 book, “What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions,” became an unexpected mainstream hit.

Munroe believes that anything can be explained simply using normal language and proves it in his new book (which is a good choice for anyone on your gift list).

“Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words.” The oversized, illustrated book consists of annotated blueprints with deceptively spare language, explaining the mechanics behind concepts like data centers, smartphones, tectonic plates, nuclear reactors and the electromagnetic spectrum. In his explanations, Mr. Munroe avoided technical jargon and limited himself to the 1,000 most commonly used words in the English language. This barred him from using words like helium and uranium, a challenge when describing how a rocket ship or reactor works.

For book links and great comics (sample above; chosen for enabling holiday restraint) visit Munroe’s site.

Books are good for adults, too. There are great sites beyond Amazon that offer critiques of books that run the business gamut from being a better boss to upping your game wherever you are in your career.

Another great thing about real books is what you can do when you are done reading them.

• Some you’ll want to keep for your own library;
• some you’ll share with friends, colleagues and those you mentor; and
• the rest can be donated to your local library.

Happy reading! Happy discovery!!

Image credit: Randall Munroe

It’s amazing to me, but looking back over nearly a decade of writing I find posts that still impress, with information that is as useful now as when it was written. Golden Oldies is a collection of what I consider some of the best posts during that time. [This particular post is a follow-up to last Thursday. Sadly, I’ve already seen resumes and business emails that are almost as bad as the imaginary cover letter below.] Read other Golden Oldies here

I harp a lot on the importance of clarity in written communications and the lack of good writing skills, especially in Gen X and Y. I’m not the only one, B-schools and corporations are spending time and money trying to improve them.

I think part of the problem is that these generations grew up on TV and the Net instead of on books. Obviously, not all, but too many.

Reading helps good language usage sink in—people who read absorb how to put words together without even realizing it.

It doesn’t matter what you read; it doesn’t have to be classed as ‘worthwhile’ or ‘good’ literature as long as you enjoy it. Whether it’s adventure, biography, fiction, mysteries (my favorite), fantasy (another favorite) or science fiction you’ll get a ‘feel’ for how words work.

If writing skills keep deteriorating then in twenty years when Gen Y is the bad old establishment a cover letter may look like this—

Subject: Resimay

To hoom it mae cunsern,
I waunt to apply for the job what I saw in the paper. I can Type real quik wit only one finggar and do sum a counting.
I think I am good on the phone and no I am a pepole person, Pepole really seam to respond to me well.
Im lookin for a Jobb as a reporter but it musent be to complicaited.
I no my spelling is not to good but find that I Offen can get a job thru my persinalety. My salerery is open so we can discus wat you want to pay me and wat you think that I am werth,
I can start imeditely. Thank you in advanse fore yore anser.
hopifuly Yore best aplicant so farr.
Sinseerly,
PAT

During the holiday media gift frenzy it is the truly wise who remember that the best gifts aren’t electronic or screen-dependent.

The very best aren’t paid for with money, either, but with a much more precious currency — time.

Time to love.

Time for friendship.

Time to play.

Time to talk and laugh together — F2F

Food cooked and shared together at (someone’s) home.

Not just during the season, but scattered throughout the year like diamonds on a velvet cloth or stars in a clear night sky.

Along with time, the most wonderful gift you can give a child is a love of books — real books.

Real because reading a printed page affects the brain in different and better ways than words on a  screen.

Whether your child reads or you read to them start with the books from Lost My Name, which creates personalized books using your child’s name.

Lost My Name — founded in 2012 by Asi Sharabi and Tal Oron — creates customised books based around a child’s name. The books are created and ordered online, then sent out to printing partners around the world. (…)  “As a technology company, we’re very proud to be innovating on one of the oldest media formats in the world – the physical book,” said Oron. “We think technology equals possibility. And possibility is the dominant currency in wonderful, nostalgic storytelling, where the book’s job is to inspire children to believe in adventure; that anything can happen if they imagine it. As screens become more and more seductive to children, there is an increasing need to inject more magic into books – to find new ways to spark their imagination.”

Even better are the books by Randall Munroe, former NASA roboticist, who specializes in science humor and whose 2014 book, “What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions,” became an unexpected mainstream hit.

Munroe believes that anything can be explained simply using normal language and proves it in his new book (which is a good choice for anyone on your gift list).

“Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words.” The oversized, illustrated book consists of annotated blueprints with deceptively spare language, explaining the mechanics behind concepts like data centers, smartphones, tectonic plates, nuclear reactors and the electromagnetic spectrum. In his explanations, Mr. Munroe avoided technical jargon and limited himself to the 1,000 most commonly used words in the English language. This barred him from using words like helium and uranium, a challenge when describing how a rocket ship or reactor works.

For book links and great comics (sample above; chosen for enabling holiday restraint) visit Munroe’s site.

Books are good for adults, too. Check out this month’s Leadership Development Carnival for critiques of books that run the business gamut from being a better boss to upping your game wherever you are in your career.

Another great thing about real books is what you can do when you are done reading them.

• Some you’ll want to keep for your own library;
• some you’ll share with friends, colleagues and those you mentor; and
• the rest can be donated to your local library.

Happy reading! Happy discovery!!

Image credit: Randall Munroe

 Cut through all the noise about how fast the world is changing, how to stay competitive, constant learning, retraining, etc. and one message comes through loud and clear.

Whatever the entity or organization he/she/it needs to know how to transform in order to stay relevant.

Transformation is a must whether you’re a bookstore or an author who believes there’s a need for them.

A men’s retailer, a woman’s or the mannequin supplier dealing with human non-uniformity.

Or a record store.

Not just relevant, but happy.

A person growing or a person doing a 180 pivot.

Whether entity or organization transformation is accomplished by changing MAP (mindset, attitude philosophy™).

But transformation itself starts by choosing to do it.

Flickr image credit: DaveHuth

Are you looking for an edge when interviewing, whether as boss or candidate?

Do you see benefit from strengthening your so-called EQ?

What if all it took was the willingness to read?

[The study] found that after reading literary fiction, as opposed to popular fiction or serious nonfiction, people performed better on tests measuring empathy, social perception and emotional intelligence — skills that come in especially handy when you are trying to read someone’s body language or gauge what they might be thinking.

What is ‘literary fiction’? How does it differ from popular fiction or non-fiction stories, like biographies?

In literary fiction, like Dostoyevsky, “there is no single, overarching authorial voice,” he said. “Each character presents a different version of reality, and they aren’t necessarily reliable. You have to participate as a reader in this dialectic, which is really something you have to do in real life.”

Apparently, just as boredom is an excellent source of creativity, engaging with characters who have no obvious, predetermined course and are struggling in a plot that could go many different ways sensitizes you to the subtleties in their thoughts and actions and opens your mind to a myriad of possibilities.

The Lady and the Tiger, a short story by Frank R. Stockton, is a good example of characters, story and, in this case, an ending that guarantees deep thinking and lively discussion.

Reading is good brain exercise and choosing to read something with a great story that also gives you a decided edge in both your business and personal life is called a no-brainer.

Flickr image credit: romana klee

I love reading.

I love books—real books.

And for that reason I’m sharing a video that was sent to me by my niece—a middle school teacher and librarian who also loves to read books.

I leave you to create your own commentary and, hopefully, share it with us all.

YouTube credit: The Last Bookshop blog via bakerytv

I saw an ad in Business Week for getAbstract, which seems to be Cliff Notes for business.

Each five-page summary is presented in a crisp magazine-page format. You can read it in less than 10 minutes – the perfect length to deliver the book’s key ideas. The no-fluff summaries are logically structured to get the maximum out of your reading time.

I agree that there’s too much fluff in many business books, but that fluff serves a purpose.

It’s often the fluff that helps people learn, because the differences are in the fluff and it’s the differences to which they relate. In other words, while someone may be deaf to one presentation another might resonate deeply leading to substantial change.

Think about it; how many times have the lessons you took away from a certain book been so different from a colleague as to make you wonder if you both read the same book.

So how valuable are the summaries? Probably about as valuable as online cheat sheets if that’s all that is read.

Professors warn that these guides are no substitutes for reading great works of literature, but concede, grudgingly, that as an adjunct, they can stimulate thought and deepen insight.

Granted, I haven’t read any of the abstracts, but my experience says that you will lose much of a books’ real value—especially the subtle ideas that play directly to your own MAP—by relying on just a five page summary.

But perhaps this is the future; a world where all ideas and learning come predigested, so they can be sucked up through a straw and thoroughly homogenize the workforce.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cambodia4kidsorg/197325980/

I am a reader of books; they are my true comfort food. Books are my greatest joy; they lift me up when I’m down; make me smile when I’m sad; enhance my joy when I’m happy and keep me company when I’m lonely. They teach me; introduce me to people I’ll never meet, visit countries I’ll never see and even worlds in other universes. Books make me rich—without them I’d be bankrupt. I love books.

“We shouldn’t teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.” –B. F. Skinner (Not texts, not email, not even blogs; but literature in all its myriad glory, whether high or low; ‘improving’ or escapist.)

“Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi.” –Oprah Winfrey (They take you further than you ever dreamed possible,)

“You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.” –Paul Sweeney (But you can revisit them at any time.)

“Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings.” –Heinrich Heine (That includes the metaphorical burning that comes from people imposing their view of what’s acceptable—it’s called censorship.)

“The buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching toward infinity…” –A. Edward Newton (Mine’s been reaching for decades and I don’t expect it to stop any time soon.)

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Image credit: sxc.hu

Books on leadership, management and associated subjects abound. Jim Stroup has a great post on the dangers of buying into the books written by academics. Jim points out that many academics do do valuable work,

“But when you pick up a book by an academic, look for a sense that the author feels he or she is examining a species of being (you and me) that is not meaningfully self-aware. Such an author may interact with us while conducting research, but will not assign any validity to our own assessments of what we do or why. We are expected to cede that to him (or her), the scholarly expert, whose role it is understand and explain. Ours is merely to learn as best we can, sufficient to be able to comply with the scientific prescription for our suffering – and that with submissiveness and gratitude… Do not let yourself become vulnerable to an academic coup. Keep the scholars in the campus.”

Although I agree that countless academics have taken this approach over the years, I find the attitude not that much different from many of the business “leaders,” consultants, and gurus (self-proclaimed or otherwise) who write how-to and how-I-did-it books.

There are a few gold nuggets in almost everything written, but there are no silver bullets.

And, valuable as it is, reading takes time, so your goal should be to find the highest value for the lowest time/energy cost, which means that reviews and referrals are a good way to go.

But you need to keep certain things in mind,

• nothing will have value if it isn’t at least synergistic with your MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™)
• consider the source of a referral or review first;
• Google the book and read several reviews;
• remember that reviewers review through the prism of their own MAP; so
• trust your MAP and your reactions to what you hear/read.

Finally, never forget that you don’t have to finish a book you start—I promise that no thunderbolt will strike. If the book is a chore to read it’s unlikely that you will derive enough value to warrant the cost of reading it.

Please! Share your favorite business books here.

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Image credit: gabrielayb CC license