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.
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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.
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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..
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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.
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In my previous post G5 Leadership – Getting Things Done, a main assist mentioned was to make lists for tracking.
For the past year or so I’ve transitioned from my traditional methodology of filling traditional notebooks to using the LiveScribe system.
Specifically, I’m been using the Echo SmartPen. This allows me to have a digital copy of anything written in the notebook. It also allows for synchronized audio recordings.
It has the ability to OCR your notes (well, not my notes, but most people’s notes). It can’t process mine as I write in fully-connected cursive.
I really appreciate that the system understands when it’s using a different notebook. The pen itself is charged via USB. I charge when the pen whines at me (every two weeks or so). I use the pen on a fairly constant basis. data is transferred off the pen to digital version in a computer-based application. Bits of these can be shared to various online services.
My only real complaints are that the replaceable pens tend to stick for me and that you only get one color at a time. The pen sicking is due to my writing angle. I’m hard on pens. The color thing is just a personal thing. I spent years writing in four colors.
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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:
- identify the things we have to do (make lists)
- determine what’s important and what isn’t
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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I’ve finally gotten around to finishing The Best Buddhist Writing 2006. It’d been gathering dust on my ‘to read’ bookshelf. I find it interesting to see how 9/11 has become a cultural touchstone for so many people. As has been said, humanity tends to define itself in terms of the conflicts it has survived.
I found the book to be interesting and incisive. It is worth reading. As with all best of collection, it has a rather short shelf life, so you’ll need to go the online route to acquire it.
Posted in Books, Buddhism | Tagged books, buddhism | 1 Comment »
Just finished the G5 Leadership session by Connie Dieken entitled The Pitch, by the author of Talk Less, Say More.
It’s about how to present with power and persuasion to get people to buy-in to your ideas.
Important take-away, presentations should influence, not inform. I’ve got to agree, so many people just get up and read the slides.
Nobody wants to sit through that. Nobody wants to endure someone who likes to hear themselves talk.
She’s the first person who I’ve ever heard talk about the need for a presentation to have a single statement summary.
Good material on intent vs. impact.
PowerPoint presentations should be the backup to your lead vocals.
Nicely done.
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I just watched the G5 Leadership session by Steve Smith, Pure Confidence.
It’s about leadership, ego and balance. The book referenced by the session was Egonomics.
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Watched the G5 Leadership session by Jeremy Daniel The Color Code.
An interesting way to look at individual dynamics based on core motivations and needs.
As an amusing note, my color code breaks down as follows:
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