Books

Book recommendation that came out of Venture Cafe.  Not the best, but some takeaways as usual. Godin argues that in today's rapidly changing world, where automation and outsourcing are increasingly prevalent, it's crucial for individuals to become linchpins in order to thrive in their careers. Linchpins are not merely following instructions or doing repetitive tasks but are actively contributing their creativity, innovative thinking, and emotional labor to bring about positive change. THE SEVEN ABILITIES OF A LINCHPIN Providing a unique interface : Linchpins have the ability to connect people, ideas, and resources in a way that is distinctive and valuable. They act as bridges between different parts of an organization or between individuals, facilitating collaboration and communication. Delivering unique creativity : Linchpins bring their creativity to their work by offering fresh perspectives, innovative ideas, and unique solutions to problems. They have the ability ...

Ok, you've finished a book and now you've nothing to do, so you call to cancel and they give you another credit right away and extend your trial for another month. So you go through about three or four books. Good. Did you know you have access to unlimited books during your free trial through the Plus Catalog? Click on the Discover button, and search for "plus catalog" and then use the filter tool to narrow down the results to those of interest. Dankeschoen Daniela.

WIP. Definitely worth a second listen. PDF enhancement :  https://hc.a.bigcontent.io/v1/static/MagicWords_ENHANCEMENT Tips :  Want to promote readership of your posts and tweets? Use the word "you" more often. Highlight hurdles - if people perceive you as competent, then telling them about past struggles will make them like you more. Not less! Build a roller-coaster - the best stories blend highs AND lows. Successes are amplified by the contrast with failures. Smooth sailing is not as engaging as a bumpy ride - when it comes to story-telling and presentation 😊 Plugging something that is sensual - like a movie or a massage parlor? Then use emotional language. What to plug something with utilitarian value like a tool? Then leave out the emotions! Connect and THEN solve - begin with warm, emotional language.  Evoke uncertain (Eg. surprise) emotions at start of a presentation.  You can use similarity to grab/hook, and then difference as a novelty.  Use concrete phr...

SWAT is for Special Weapons And Tactics. If you think it's odd that a word like "and" makes it to the acronym, you're absolutely right - it was put in later. The first name that occurred to Gates was "Special Weapons Attack Team" and his boss said there was no way he would allow the word "attack" in the name. So Daryl said, how about "Special Weapons And Tactics?", and got a green light. What is hardest to comprehend is that people who perform these kinds of acts are not necessarily mentally unbalanced. That's what's scary. THey understand right and wrong. They are just evil. Society flinches from the truth. We do our best to find psychological and sociological reasons to excuse behaviors that our mind won't accept for what it is - evil.  We've been bothered by how easily the murderers have been able to coax the victims to go along with them. Now, this witness confirmed our worst fears. Hiding in what could be mistaken for...

Finally, found time in my busy public-library audio lineup to squeeze in these not-so-riveting reads - James Dewey Watson's "The Double Helix" and "Chief - My Life in the LAPD" by Daryl Gates. I was stunned to see this one rated at just four stars ****_. When I was done, I had exactly one bookmark - which confirms that this is, in fact, not a five star book. Most of the books I finish with more than 10 bookmarks tend to belong in the success/self-help category, but a lot of non-fiction - Eg. true crime, ones do get to double digits.  Not Watson 😒 I expected a cliffhanger. I got a nice TED talk. For instance, from the superb "The Secret of Life" by Howard Merkel, you learn about Watson that he learned three key principles at Chicago: (1) To go directly to the intellectual source and not to parrot the interpretation of others. (2) To develop a theory of how a particular set of facts may fit together. (3) To not memorize facts - learn to think and rid yo...

I had this one on my list, but till a personal reco from Tony Hansmann, it didn't get on my phone. Within a few hours of that encounter, it did. And it displaced "Magic Words" by Jonah Berger - which is not a bad read, I should add. You should definitely check it out. This is a WIP, but I should say right away that, upon hearing it, I was immediately obsessed with getting hold of Mark Cranney's sales training manual. If you have any ideas on how, please comment. In this podcast, Mark is asked what his thought were on what Ben wrote about him in HTAHT (there were positive references, but one person also wanted to give a negative reference - agreed that Mark was effective, but would be a terrible cultural fit. What? Why? Let me give you a story - he showed up at a company's sales training event and said "I don't care how well you've been trained. If you're not bringing in at least 500k a year in sales, I'm putting a bullet in your head"). ...