I think it's appropriate to start my thoughts on When with a proverb on planting trees: "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now." Not only because When is all about how to choose the best times to do things, but because this half-written article has been sitting around waiting for me to have some extra when in my schedule to finish it. Yes, it would have been better to finish it up when I first read the book. But the second-best time is today. And in When, Dan takes his magnifying lens and explores what we know about how timing affects our success personally and professionally. Big Thought Dan … [Read more...]
Steal Like an Artist – Austin Kleon
Whenever I am in Manhattan with a few extra hours, I love to visit The Strand (it's the East Coast version of Powell's for me). It's one of those bookstores that seems to embody what a bookstore should be, especially in the basement: overcrowded, a touch chaotic, and full of perfectly pleasant employees who are happy to help...but you know they'd prefer that everybody left so they could get back to reading. On a recent visit I picked up Austin Kleon's Steal Like an Artist. I recognized his name from a quote that I found (see below). It's a great example of a bathroom book: perfect for 5-minute reads or as a companion for a bathtub soak. … [Read more...]
Humans are Underrated: Geoff Colvin
Because of a shortage of shelf space at home, I usually try out a book from the library first. I only buy it if I can see myself coming back to it for reference. Here's the deal: I got one chapter into Humans are Underrated before I put it down and ordered it on Amazon. Geoff is addressing the very human capacities that I'm talking about all of the time with salespeople and professionals. When I talk about the evolution of sales that is the core of Hyper-Connected Selling, I'm constantly pointing out that computers can do lots of routine and rote tasks well, but humans are the best at being human. I've spent the past few years showing … [Read more...]
Deep Work – Cal Newport
In a world that seems more and more superficial, the idea of "Deep Work" is very attractive. I often have this nagging feeling that many of us are struggling to get to the heart of our work. Our focus is constantly being pulled away by a world that that is moving faster and bursting at the seams with information. How then can we slow down and put our attention on the important activities that will help drive the success? This is exactly the question that Cal Newport explores in Deep Work. Big Thought The Deep Work Hypothesis: The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming … [Read more...]
Social Selling Mastery – Jamie Shanks
I've been coaching and training professionals on social selling since before it even had a name. Back when LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook first came out, there was a segment of the sales world that jumped on board and saw these as powerful communication tools. As is usually the case, there was another group that saw them as glitzy trends that the marketing people would talk about...which meant that they could be safely ignored. That's not the state of the world anymore. Digital communication has become fully integrated with how we live our lives, and by extension, how we buy. That means that those of us who sell have to engage with … [Read more...]
Mindful Tech – David M. Levy
If you climbed a mountain to ask an ancient Zen master about the right approach to Facebook, what would he say? I don't think that David would make a claim to mastery, but Mindful Tech is the closest thing I've seen for a Zen response to technology. It's both fascinating and filled with common sense. Instead of directives on how to respond to email and social media requests, he examines how we relate to it on a daily basis. It was interesting to read this on the heels of Sherry Turkle's Reclaiming Conversation. In many ways, I think he picks up where she leaves off. There weren't many prescriptions for how to deal with the … [Read more...]
Reclaiming Conversation – Sherry Turkle
Is the explosion of digital technology a good thing for us as individuals and as societies? The knee jerk reaction has been to say, "Of course!" But there's a real cost, and Sherry shares what we are losing and what we aren't even aware we're losing. Until we wrap our heads around how to use technology instead of letting it use us, we're going to struggle with finding healthy ways to incorporate it into our lives. This is especially true for a generation of digital natives that has always known technology and is maturing into a key part of our society and workforce. Big Thought Even though there's a plethora of new technological tools … [Read more...]
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