I like having a page on this blog to explicitly introduce myself, even though you can get a sense of who I am from reading the various posts and browsing the archives. I call myself an Unrepentant Generalist, because I am interested in many different areas and decided not to limit myself to just one […]
Play to win, or play to include?
I’ve been thinking about different ways to approach situations in life. One is to play to win – look at the rules the way they are, and figure out how to exploit those rules to your advantage to the maximum extent possible. James Carse calls this playing the finite game. Examples include: Figuring out how […]
The Power of Onlyness, by Nilofer Merchant
Amazon link Official book site When I met Nilofer Merchant at a Seth Godin workshop several years ago, I was impressed by her presence and her clarity of thinking on the emerging social-network-based world. I finally got around to reading her latest book, The Power of Onlyness, where she makes the emphatic case that each […]
Find Meaning in the Present Moment
Earlier this week, I was listening to this Reboot podcast conversation between Jerry Colonna and Parker Palmer, which discusses how leaders measure their lives. In particular, the podcast summary has this line: “For many leaders, the draw can be to gaze upon external outcomes as a manifestation of our life’s meaning, allowing our worthiness to […]
Find the Others
Admit it. You aren’t like them. You’re not even close. You may occasionally dress yourself up as one of them, watch the same mindless television shows as they do, maybe even eat the same fast food sometimes. But it seems that the more you try to fit in, the more you feel like an outsider, […]
Factfulness, by Hans Rosling
Amazon link Official book site I learned of this book through the blog of Bill Gates, where he temporarily offered to give it away to every college graduate this year. Rosling is famous for his TED talks where he uses graphs and data to show things are better than most people think they are…and yet, […]
Immunity to Change™ methodology
I attended the facilitator’s workshop for the Immunity to Change™ methodology a couple weeks ago, and was surprised how powerful this simple methodology was at uncovering assumptions that hold people back from change. It can drive insights even when done in a perfunctory fashion, as when I did it on my own before the workshop; […]
Changing the pattern of a relationship
When people are in a relationship, whether as romantic partners, friends, or co-workers, they often fall into a routine of how they interact with the other. Once this pattern is set early in the relationship, it often does not change. This can be problematic if the pattern does not serve one of the participants, or […]
Radical Candor, by Kim Scott
Amazon link Book site Kim Scott starts this book with the story of how she once had an employee Bob, who was really nice and had great credentials, but who did not deliver great results when he started working for her. At the first big review of his work, she was worried about being too […]
The Real Wealth of Nations, by Riane Eisler
Amazon link Book site n.b. I read and reviewed this book as part of my coaching program, hence the references to coaching throughout this post. Subtitled “Creating A Caring Economics”, Riane Eisler’s book is a fierce attack on the capitalist economy many of us take for granted. Her thesis is that we think that economics […]
