Posted in Books, Society and Class, tagged books, Chrystia Freeland, class, plutocrats, Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else, society on 08 Jun 2013| Leave a Comment »
The problem with the world today is the availability of interesting things to read.
Chrystia Freeland’s “Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else” is a good example.
Her exploration of the 1% and the .1% makes for fascinating reading.
She uses both contemporary and historic examples to illustrate the emergence and issues of this class.
I found her assertion that the elite have become stateless amusing within the context of an ever more nationalized world.
Posted in Books, Computers, tagged artificial intelligence, James P Hogan, Mind Matters on 17 Jan 2013| Leave a Comment »
I’ve been reading James Hogan’s works since 1980. That being said, this is the first non-fiction book of his that I’ve read.
It also took the longest to finish.
Mind Matters: Exploring the World of Artificial Intelligence is an interesting walk through the history of AI.
As someone who’s never believed in hard AI, I found the book to be a humbling reminder of the limitations of technology.
It would be really nice to have a cybermind out there to find better cat videos, but then again I don’t have a flying car yet either.
Posted in Books, tagged enchantment, guy kawasaki on 15 Nov 2012| Leave a Comment »
I just finished Guy Kawasakii’s book, “Enchantment.”
It’s a good read. Guy’s style is very approachable and light handed.
If you are going to be in the tech industry for longer than the one brilliant startup from which you will retire to a place where time is measured in seasons, you should take the time to read this book.
Presentations, leading, following, selling (self and ideas) and scams are all covered.
Posted in Books, Leadership, tagged books, Brafman and Beckstrom, leadership, the starfish and the spider on 12 Nov 2012| Leave a Comment »
I finished reading “The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations.” It’s a good overview of centralized vs. decentralized organizations.
A must read for anyone with a desire to champion a cause.
It’s also a cautionary for anyone who doesn’t want to be owned by their ideas.
Posted in Books, Leadership, tagged enchantment, G5 Leadership, guy kawasaki, leadership on 04 Nov 2012| Leave a Comment »
Just finished watching the G5 Leadership session Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki, author of the book by the same title.
I’ve always liked hearing Guy speak.
This is a good presentation that makes the distinction between the talk and the walk.
Posted in Books, General, tagged books, Christopher Hayes, meritocracy on 26 Aug 2012| Leave a Comment »
I just finished reading Christopher Hayes’ book, Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy.
Whatever your political or philosophic leaning, this book provides an interesting analysis of the end of the meritocratic experiment.
Posted in Books, Education, Mensa, tagged books, education, Frank Lawlis, Mensa on 28 Jul 2012| Leave a Comment »
I’ve completed yet another of the volumes languishing on my bookshelf. This one is The IQ Answer: Maximizing Your Child’s Potential by Frank Lawlis. The book addresses he issue of how to enable children to achieve who have attention disorders or learning disabilities.
The book is fairly introspective. Very workbook-esque.
Posted in Books, Buddhism, tagged books, buddhism, japan, zen on 25 Jul 2012| Leave a Comment »
I’ve completed another of my book backlog, Zen and Japanese Culture by Daisut Suzuki.
A book well worth reading if you have interests in Zen and the Japanese esthetic..
Posted in Books, Leadership, tagged Fierce Conversations, G5 Leadership, Susan Scott on 22 Jul 2012| Leave a Comment »
Just finished watching the G5 Leadership session Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott, author of the book by the same title.
It’s a very good presentation about the very important, yet ignored idea that our conversations, especially within the business context, should actually be conversations and not soliloquies. They should be more than surface platitudes. As Hemingway said, we fail slowly, then suddenly. Change in any direction seldom occurs as the result of sudden, dramatic shifts, but rather the accumulation of small events.
Honest conversations are critical and by extension relationship.
I have been told that people don’t understand how their children can text (Facebook) constantly. They don’t realize that young people exist in a conversation that they never leave.
Posted in Books, Leadership, tagged David Allen, G5 Leadership, time management on 08 Jul 2012| Leave a Comment »
Just finished a G5 Leadership session by David Allen entitled Getting Things Done, author of a book by the same name.
There is a reasonable amount of good material here, although it’s a bit slow in terms of pace and speaker dynamics.
Fundamentally, it comes down to approaching life from a clear space. You cannot respond well to new and potentially intense situations if you’re preoccupied. How do we get to a point where things are by-and-large taken care of.
The presenter goes over the process of identifying, classifying, addressing and reviewing.
Important first steps are:
I would agree that we have a habit of “out of sight, out of mind” with life. We couple this with a prioritization methodology based on “latest and loudest.”
We need to know when we need to attend to the various things we have on our plate.
Finally, remember to not consider this a one-pass process. Lather, rinse, repeat.
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