Strategy Central

Do More On Less

Struggling to get things done on your most important projects?  Maybe getting to the end of the month and realizing that you haven't moved an inch down the field on the one thing that will make the greatest difference?  Take a few minutes and listen to this great interview with Michael Kanazawa (author of BIG Ideas to BIG Results: Remake and Recharge Your Company, Fast).  Really worth a listen.  All about focus and alignment, on making tough choices, saying no more often, killing projects that ought to be killed.

Looks like a fantastic book.  I've ordered mine.  You want to pick one up and read along you can do that right here.

By the way, I haven't linked to Lisa Haneberg's blog, Management Craft in a while but is has been the source of several podcasts that have alerted me to some really good insights.  I highly recommend it. 

What If Robin Williams Hijacked Your Meeting?

Imagine you run into a technical difficulty and your program is delayed momentarily...when the show is suddenly preempted by Robin Williams with an impromptu stand-up performance.  Can you imagine it?  Here it is:

Herding Cats

How do you herd cats?  Can you herd cats?  Good questions...probably most of us would automatically say, "No."   I'd be right there with you!  Until I read the following:

What if you changed something about the conditions in which you were attempting to herd the cats?  Allan Cohen claims "the ability to herd cats...by tilting the floor, which changes the conditions under which the cats are operating (p. 27, Community)."

One of the things you always get in a Peter Block book is exposure to a world of ideas that you'd otherwise miss.  Community: The Structure of Belonging is his latest.  Not an easy read, but packed with insights and understanding into how community happens and can be created.

Community: The Structure of Belonging

Picked up a copy of Peter Block's latest, Community: The Structure of Belonging.  Always interesting, Block comes at a core interest of mine from a very interesting angle.  There's something really "take the pebbles from my hand, grasshopper" about Block's writing.  This book is no exception.  Several cool discoveries already.  I'll put some up tomorrow.

News from the Jungle

Anytime we're near the Indiana Jones ride...we just have to stop in. Debbie's favorite ride. And cool stuff along the way.

Mother's Day at Disneyland

Here we are...the Happiest Place on Earth. About to hit the Tower of Terror. The one on the right is Eric.

What's Your 4 Minute-Mile?

One of my favorite blogs is Mavericks at Work.  If you haven't added it to your regular reading you're really missing out.  In a recent post Bill Taylor referred to the 70 year effort to break the 4 minute mark for the mile.  It seemed unreachable.  Then it happened, followed by a sudden burst of sub-4 minute efforts.  Taylor's question today is appropriate.  What's your 4 minute-mile?

What goes for runners goes for leaders running organizations. Progress in business doesn’t move in a straight line. It’s not incremental. Whether it’s an entrepreneur, a scientist, or an athlete, someone does something that was thought to be impossible—somebody changes the game—and what was unreachable becomes merely a benchmark, something for others to shoot for and surpass.

Wharton Professor Jerry Wind, writing about the four-minute mile in his book, The Power of Impossible Thinking, offered this assessment of Bannister’s feat: “The runners of the past had been held back by a mindset that said they could not surpass the four-minute mile. When that limit was broken, the others saw that they could do something they had previously thought impossible.”

Don't you love that line?  "When that limit (the 4 minute-mile) was broken, the others saw that they could do something they had previously thought impossible."  I guess there are really two questions.

• What limits have already been eliminated, that maybe in the form of antiquated assumptions mean that you're still operating according to yesterday's ceiling?
• What are today's limits that are really only thought impossible?

What does it mean to run the four-minute mile in your business—and how are you going to do it?

 

News from the Patio

Sunday afternoon.  A little after 5:00 p.m.  62°F.  Listening to a little Long Road Out of Eden.  Digging the 5 and 0 playoff Lakers!  Kobe is the MVP!

Getting the coals ready for a little chicken with the jammin' Asian Sesame Dressing from the Southern Living "Our Best Recipes."  Pair that with Debbie's fabulous potato salad...you've got a great Sunday night dinner.  Follow it up with brownies...even better! Good times in So Cal!  Wish you were here! 

The Riddle: Where Ideas Come From and How to Have Better Ones

One good thing about a cross-country flight?  I got to read The Riddle: Where Ideas Come From and How to Have Better Ones in one sitting.  Very interesting stuff.

Is it possible to improve your creative edge?   The central premise of The Riddle is that we can not only understand how people have new ideas...but can also improve creativity by practicing "the five precursors that appear to be the most effective at inspiring creative insight: curiosity, constraints, conventions, connections, and codes (p. 70)."

Does author Andrew Razeghi prove that creativity can be gamed?  I'm not sure.  I am sure that the exercises at the end of each chapter will help develop the muscles we need in order to do more than simply try to "think outside the box."   Want to take a look for yourself?  You can order your copy RIGHT HERE.

Quotebook: Courage

If you were hiring for a journey from which you might not return...what kind of want ad would you run?  What about this ad for Ernest Shackleton's South Pole expedition?  I'd say he was spot on...but definitely not a master of spin.  Unless he was only looking for heroic on the Strengthsfinder!

 Men Wanted: For hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.

Truth in advertising was part of his deal.  Gotta love it!