Blogging on Business Update from Bob Morris (Week of 5/6/13)
I hope that at least a few of these recent posts will be of interest to you:
BOOK REVIEWS
Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die
Eric Siegel
Smart Leaders, Smarter Teams: How You and Your Team Get Unstuck to Get Results
Roger Schwarz
Smart Thinking: Three Essential Keys to Solve Problems, Innovate, and Get Things Done
Art Markman
From Smart to Wise: Acting and Leading with Wisdom
Prasad Kaipa and Navi Radjou
Customer CEO: How to Profit from the Power of Your Customers
Chuck Wall
INTERVIEWS
Amy Jen Su and Muriel Maignan Wilkins
BOB
Steve Case (Revolution) in “The Corner Office”
Adam Bryant
The New York Times
Peter Gray: Part 2
BOB
COMMENTARIES
“5 signs a workplace is family-friendly”
Amy Levin-Epstein
CBS MoneyWatch
“Why Ken Robinson is so important”
TED
“What great coaches do — and leaders should [comma] too”
Laura Vanderkam
CBS MoneyWatch
“A Tribute to Steve Jobs”
The Charlie Rose Show
“Risk: The story of America’s greatest idea”
John Dickerson
Slate
“Never Embolden the Naysayers”
Josh Linkner
“These Soft Skills Can Go a Long Way”
Paul H. Eccher and Dave Ross
Talent Management
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Blogging on Business Update from Bob Morris (Week of 3/25/13)
I hope that at least a few of these recent posts will be of interest to you:
BOOK REVIEWS
HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Making Smart Decisions
Various Contributors and Editors of Harvard Business Review
It’s All About Who You Hire, How They Lead…and Other Essential Advice from a Self-Made Leader
Morton L. Mandel with John A. Byrne
Win-Win Partnerships: Be on the Cutting Edge with Synergistic Coaching
Steven J. Stowell and Matt M. Starcevich
Ahead of the Curve: A Guide to Applied Strategic Thinking
Steven J. Stowell and Stephanie S. Mead
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
Sheryl Sanberg
Getting Innovation Right: How Leaders Leverage Inflection Points to Drive Success
Seth Kahan
INTERVIEWS
Ivar Kroghrud (QuestBack) in “The Corner Office”
Adam Bryant
The New York Times
The Thought Leader Interview: Cynthia Montgomery
Ken Favaro and Art Kleiner
strategy+business
COMMENTARIES
“9 Initiatives Employers Must Take to Support Women’s Success”
Kathy Caprino
Forbes
A McKinsey Classic: “The granularity of growth”
Mehrdad Baghai, Sven Smit, and S. Patrick Viguerie
The McKinsey Quarterly
“How Innovative Is Your Company’s Culture?”
Jay Rao and Joseph Weintraub
MIT Sloan Management Review
“Why Organizations Are So Afraid to Simplify””
Ron Ashkenas
HBR
“Six social-media skills every leader needs”
Margaret Heffernan
CBS MoneyWatch
“Why to Change Small Things, Not the Entire Culture”
Management Tip of the Day
HBR
“Want to Change Behavior?”
Marshall Goldsmith
Talent Management
“The Making of an Expert”
K. Anders Ericsson, Michael J. Prietula, and Edward T. Cokely
HBR
“Two Great Talks by Ken Robinson”
TED
“Beyond corporate social responsibility: Integrated external engagement”
John Browne and Robin Nuttall
The McKinsey Quarterly
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Blogging on Business Update from Bob Morris (Week of 1/28/13)
I hope that at least a few of these recent posts will be of interest to you:
BOOK/CD REVIEWS
Executive Toughness: The Mental-Training Program to Increase Your Leadership Performance
Jason Selk
The Art of Doing: How Superachievers Do What They Do and How They Do It So Well
Camille Sweeney and Josh Gosfield
Leadership: The Power of Emotional Intelligence: Selected Writings
Daniel Goleman
a fine line: how design strategies are shaping the future of business
Hartmut Esslinger
Resonant Leadership: Inspiring Others Through Emotional Intelligence (CD)
Richard Boyatzis
INTERVIEWS
Terry Leahy (Tesco) in “The Corner Office”
Adam Bryant
The New York Times
Whole Foods CEO John Mackey‘s advice for entrepreneurs
Rebecca Jarvis
CBS MoneyWatch
THE NORMAL WELL-TEMPERED MIND: A Conversation with Daniel C. Dennett
with John Brockman
Edge
Kevin Cashman: An interview by Bob Morris
Simon Pont: An interview by Bob Morris
COMMENTARIES
“Why the Publishing Industry Isn’t Doomed: Readers’ Control In the Future of Reading”
Baratunde Thurston
Fast Company
“How To Make Your Employees Happier”
Anne Creamer
Fast Company
“Five of Steve Jobs’s Biggest Mistakes”
Peter Sims
HBR
“The Narcissistic Leader: Not as Good as He (Or You) May Think”
Maria Konnokova
“Leadership lessons from the Royal Navy”
Andrew St. George
The McKinsey Quarterly
“10 Creative Block Breakers That Actually Work”
Susan K. Perry
Psychology Today
“Several of the Major Business Challenges to Be Faced in 2013″
Gerard J. Tellis
“Preparing for a new era of work”
Susan Lund, James Manyika, and Sree Ramaswamy
The McKinsey Quarterly
“My Favorite Quotations About Women: Part 2″
BOB
“This Explains Everything: 192 Thinkers on the Most Elegant Theory of How the World Works”
Maria Popova
Brain Pickings
“Who says it’s a man’s world?”
Emily Bennington
from Who Says It’s a Man’s World?
“The 5 rules of happy employees”
Lydia Dishman
from It’s Always Personal
“How simple ideas lead to scientific discoveries”
Adam Savage
TED
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Blogging on Business Update from Bob Morris (Week of 12/17/12)
I hope that at least a few of these recent posts will be of interest to you:
BOOK REVIEWS
Into the Storm: Lessons in Teamwork from the Treacherous Sydney to Hobart Race
Dennis N.T. Perkins with Jillian B. Murphy
The Leaders We Need: And What Makes Us Follow
Michael Macoby
Metaskills: Five Talents for the Robotic Age
Marty Neumeier
INTERVIEWS
Karl Heiselman (Wolff Olins) in “The Corner Office”
Adam Bryant
The New York Times
Charles R. Morris
Bob Morris
Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind
Bob Morris
David Horsager
Bob Morris
Robert J. Murray (iProspect) in “The Corner Office”
Adam Bryant
The New York Times
COMMENTARIES
“Albert Einstein on just about everything that really matters”
BOB
“Cognitive Science: Fifteen Perspectives”
TED
“Two Rules for Keeping Employees Happy and Engaged”
Management Tip of the Day
HBR
“The 50 Best Companies to Work For”: 2012
Glassdoor
“How can our organization eliminate waste?”
Bob Morris
“The Top 100 Speeches throughout United States history”
American Rhetoric
“Social Media as Change Catalyst”
Elizabeth S. Choo, Walter Gossage and Trinity Martin
Talent Management
“Voltaire on the human race”
BOB
“Searing business insights”
Richard Tedlow
Giants of Enterprise
“Leon Leonwood Bean’s Integrity”
Anna Bernasek
The Economics of Integrity
“Nine Ways Successful People Defeat Stress”
Heidi Grant Halvorson
HBR
“The Dark Side of Charisma”
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
HBR
“Who is Theodore Dalrymple and why is he important?”
Anthony (A.M.) Daniels
Wall Street Journal
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Blogging on Business Update from Bob Morris (Week of 12/10/12)
I hope that at least a few of these recent posts will be of interest to you:
BOOK REVIEWS
Turn the Ship Around!: How to Create Leadership at Every Level
L. David Marquet
The Dawn of Innovation: The First American Industrial Revolution
Charles R. Morris
Selling to China: A Guide to Doing Business in China for Small- and Medium-Sized Companies
Stanley Chao
X-teams: How to Build Teams That Lead, Innovate and Succeed
Deborah Ancona and Henrik Bresman
Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History
William Safire
The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything
Ken Robinson with Lou Aronica
Creating the Strategy: Winning and Keeping Customers in B2B Markets
Rennie Gould
INTERVIEWS
Toby Lester
By Bob Morris
Matthew May
By Guy Kawasaki
Google+
Cynthia A. Montgomery
By Bob Morris
Betty Sue Flowers
By Art Kleiner
strategy+business
Paul Smith
By Bob Morris
COMMENTARIES
“12 Jobs on the Brink: Will They Evolve or Go Extinct?”
Heather Dugan
Salary.com
“Where the Jobs Will (and Won’t) Be In 2013″
Susan Adams
Forbes
“How to Be Assertive While Being Yourself”
Management Tip of the Day
HBR
“The Collected Wisdom of Warren Buffett”
Michael Moritz.
“Where the Jobs Will (and Won’t) Be In 2013″
Susan Adams
Forbes
“How to Capture Your Audience Right Away
Management Tip of the Day
HBR
“Innovate by Looking for Problem Patterns”
Clayton Christensen
HBR
“Have you heard any good paraprosdokians lately?”
BOB
“Always Question Assumptions about Talent”
John Boudreau
Talent Management magazine
“How great leaders inspire action”
Simon Sinek
TED
“Authentic Leadership”
Scott Weiss
A16Z
“Are you willing to invest about 19 minutes to nourish your brain?
Sir Ken Robinson
TED
“My favorite church marquee messages”
BOB
“Bennett & Vivian Levin Honor America’s Heroes On Special ‘Liberty Limited’ Train to Army Navy Game”
Ronnie Polaneczky
Philadelphia Daily News
“Five Secrets to Business Success”
Sir Richard Branson
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Gabe Zichermann: How games make kids smarter
Do kids these days have short attention spans, or does the world just move too slowly to accommodate their energy and creativity? Gabe Zichermann suggests that today’s video games are making children smarter – and we should all embrace gamification.
Click here to check out a TED program during which he explains how games make kids smarter.
Here is a TEDx Talk that is a follow-up to another event TED had on August about video games. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience.
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Gabe Zicherman was the chair of the Gamification Summit 9/15-16/12 NYC (GSummit) where top thought leaders in this burgeoning industry gather to share knowledge and insight. Gabe Zichermann is an entrepreneur and author whose work centers on gamification–and the power of games to help engage people and build strong organizations and communities. In 2010, he chaired the Gamification summit, a conference dedicated to gamification and “engagement mechanics.” An avid blogger on the subject, he co-authored two books with Christopher Cunningham: Game-Based Marketing and Gamification by Design: Implementing Game Mechanics in Web and Mobile Apps in which he examines the innovative trend of using game mechanics to engage and build a customer base.
A resident of NYC, Gabe is a board member of StartOut.org, advisor to a number of startups and Facilitator for the Founder Institute in Manhattan. For more information about Gabe and gamification, visit the Gamification Blog at http://gamification.com.
Never Speak with your Back to the Audience – One of Three Use-of-Powerpoint Suggestions
(First, a confession. I’m not much of a fan of Powerpoint. I seldom use it (actually, I prefer Keynote), and when I do, it is mostly images, and mostly to introduce my speech/presentation. So, take this as criticism from one who is not a fan).
Here is the deal. You should speak to your audience. So look your audience members in the eye. Eyeball to eyeball. You are not speaking to a projection screen, you are speaking to people. So look at the people – eyes front at all times!, toward your audience members. They, and they alone, are your audience.
Have you watched any TED talks? The speakers always look in the direction of their audience. Yes, they have a pretty big budget, with multiple monitors in front of the speakers. But the principle is crystal clear – eyes front!
Never stand facing this direction
Recently, I saw again what I have seen too many times to mention. A speaker was presenting a report to a room full of folks. For practically the entire time, he stood facing the screen, with his back to his audience, reading the slides at times almost word for word.
Aaaauuuuugggghhhh!
So – here are your communication tips of the day, for when you speak with PowerPoint or Keynote slides.
#1 — Never speak with your back to the audience. Not one word. Look at your audience at all times, and not, not ever!, at the screen.
#2 — Never have a chart or graph on a PowerPoint slide that is too small for the audience to read easily. If you just have to have it on the screen, even if it is too small to read, make sure your audience members have a copy in their own hands that they can read clearly and easily.
#3 – Darken the screen when you want your audience to pay more attention to you directly. Do this frequently throughout your presentation. In other words, be in control of the eyeball direction of your audience members. When you want them looking at the screen, then have a slide on the screen. When you want them looking at you, darken the screen.
Instead, stand facing this direction
All of this should remind you that PowerPoint slides are not the presentation. They are presentation aids. You are presenting your presentation. So look your audience members in the eye, speak directly to them, every minute, every word of your presentation.
(And, read my earlier blog post, A Set of PowerPoint Slides is NOT a “presentation” – a rant)
Continually Innovate, Or Else – Hinting At TED’s True Value
What do we mean when we say that every company, every organization, needs to continually innovate?
It means that every company and every organization needs to continually innovate! Or, they will be left behind, and maybe even cease to exist.
There is no alternative.
This post is prompted by a question that I asked a good friend. First, the background. There is an article critical of the TED conference, written by Nathan Jurgenson. (I read about it on Andrew Sullivan’s blog: TED Talks: “The Urban Outfitters Of The Ideas World. The full article, Against TED, is available at The New Inquiry here).
I am a big fan of TED; I have watched many of the videos, and shown them to my speech students. I’m not sure that I buy Jurgenson’s criticism. Here is one line from his article:
At TED, “everyone is Steve Jobs” and every idea is treated like an iPad.
Now, I own an iPad, I have presented a synopsis of the Isaacson Steve Jobs biography, I am a raving fan of the innovation of Apple, and I got to thinking… Is it in fact “fair” to compare all companies and organizations to Apple? Should we expect that level of innovation in all the rest of the world of business, and nonprofits? In other words, does every company and every organization need to continually innovate?
Now, acknowledging the obvious, that genius like Steve Jobs’ genius is not available for purchase on the shelf at your local grocery store, let me say that yes, the quote is not that far off: ”At TED, “everyone is Steve Jobs” and every idea is treated like an iPad.” And, that is what we should do with ideas. We should keep looking for that next profitable, successful idea, and then the next one, and then the next next one. It is the only path to innovation. And if we do not continually innovate, we are in deep, deep trouble.
After reading the TED criticism, I called a friend of mine; an exceptional business consultant/coach. You’ve seen his face on TV, representing a company that became more successful with his help. My question went something like this:
“I know that companies that are directly impacted by technology have to keep innovating. But, does every company have to continually innovate? Aren’t there companies that simply provide a product of service, and basically they keep providing the same product or service. Oh, sure, they will upgrade their software occasionally. But, continually innovate? Really?”
I wondered if this pressure to continually innovate just might not be so “necessary” in quite a few arenas.
Well, this is a smart man, and when he was through with me, I was fully whipped. He told me of one client of his: they provide a product that was basically put out of business by a previously unknown competitor who developed a cheaper, better way to provide the same product. It had to do with what goes inside the “shell” of the product that they manufactured and sold. So, this company had to adapt, quickly. They had to modify what they put inside their own shell, find a new market for their product, and then churn out the product for less than they thought possible. Their innovation saved their company – and quite a few jobs. If they had failed to innovate, they would have had to close the doors.
I started thinking about other examples — example after example. Just look around. What restaurants did you used to eat at – and they are now shuttered? (Does anyone else miss the Steak & Ale salad bar?) What about hotels that you used to stay at? Recently, my wife and I stayed at a three year old Holiday Inn. It is nothing! like the Holiday Inns we stayed at early in our marriage (we married back in the dark ages, when there was no cable TV, not even a remote control, and tennis rackets were still made of wood. I played with a Jack Kramer autograph).
Maybe the only path forward is to treat every new idea like an iPad – a breakthrough for this moment, but soon to be outdated by the new version. Someone will come up with the new version. It is better that you do this yourself.
No matter what your business, it really is a “you’d better learn how to continually innovate” world out there. And here is the value of TED. TED, if nothing else, keeps asking, “Since the world is going to keep changing, what are the ideas that will drive that change in the best direction?”
Look at the TED logo — it is right there in the wording: “Ideas Worth Spreading.”
And out of these presentations, and the many conversations that such a conference and on-line resource sparks, (and, of course, the many other conferences and conversations from other sources), we think about the future differently. And so we ask, how can we do our job better? How can we continually innovate?
Somebody is asking that question right now — someone who is itching to put some other company out of business. Not because they are mean (though they may be); it is just that they want to build a profitable enterprise themselves. They want the customers, and if that means taking them from you, then so be it. And so somebody keeps looking for that next, better idea.
You’ll be smarter if you make that somebody “you.”
In a “Keep Learning” World, TED is Custom Made for those Life-long Learners
Last Saturday, I had the privilege of attending TEDxSMU (thanks to a generous, unexpected gift from a First Friday Book Synopsis regular. Thanks, Dan). It was our “local” version of the TED conference, held each spring, and now viewed by millions (literally! millions!) of people online. Click here – (a good place to start – with the “most viewed”). But, trust me, there are so many great presentations.
This year, for the first time, they are awarding the TED Prize not to a person, but to an idea — the City 2.0. From their announcement:
About the TED Prize
The TED Prize is designed to leverage the TED community’s exceptional array of talent and resources. It is awarded annually to an exceptional individual who receives $100,000 and, much more important, “One Wish to Change the World.” After several months of preparation, s/he unveils his/her wish at an award ceremony held during the TED Conference. These wishes have led to collaborative initiatives with far-reaching impact.
We work closely with the TED community, off- and online, to obtain pledges of support for the TED Prize winners. These pledges can take the form of business services, hardware and software, publicity, infrastructure, advice, connections, feet on the ground and more. This is in addition to the funding and support from the Sapling Foundation and TED staff.About TED
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.
The TED Conference, held annually in the spring, is the heart of TED. More than a thousand people now attend, the event sells out a year in advance, and the content has expanded to include science, business, the arts and the global issues facing our world. Over four days, 50 speakers each take an 18-minute slot, and there are many shorter pieces of content, including music, performance and comedy. There are no breakout groups. Everyone shares the same experience. It shouldn’t work, but it does. It works because all of knowledge is connected. Every so often it makes sense to emerge from the trenches we dig for a living, and ascend to a 30,000-foot view, where we see, to our astonishment, an intricately interconnected whole.
Notice this phrase:
It shouldn’t work, but it does. It works because all of knowledge is connected.
The Carole and Jim Young Fellows
Yes, all knowledge is connected, and there are people who are champions of connecting people to that knowledge. Here in Dallas, we can point to Carole and Jim Young. Regulars at, and cheerleaders for, our First Friday Book Synopsis, they sat on the floor at lunch with their “Carole and Jim Young Fellows” at the TEDxSMU conference. I sat with them, and was immersed in stimulating conversation with two very sharp young minds. (Read about this, and the remarkable group, here). What an impressive, solid group of young adults. (And there are rumors that Jim and Carole hosted a few of these folks, and shared their well-stocked freezer full of ice cream. I’ve also heard rumors that the ice cream is Graeter’s. Now this is how people get spoiled!)
But TED is all about the learning, and the networking, and you will find few lifelong learners, or few connectors, to rival Carole and Jim Young. Their commitment to this life long quest, to keep learning, is clearly what drives them to be involved in such efforts as TED. (By the way, their daughter, Kelly Stoetzel, served as host, and serves as the TED Content Director).
Carole and Jim in their natural state: enjoying life together, nametags on, at some conference...
As for the conference itself, well, it was a wonder. Wonderful presentations, great music, terrific networking.
Yes, TED is a place for you, and me, to learn so much. I am still amazed when I run into people who have not yet discovered the videos from the TED site. So, if you are one of those, head on over. There are many I could recommend as your “first’ video, but at this moment it is this one, by Chris Anderson, the curator of TED:
Chris Anderson: How web video powers global innovation
There is so much to learn, and the resources are waiting for us all.
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