Stimulaters for Successful Thinking

Here are those reviews I promised. Little and large influences to stimulate thought.

Why Now is the Time to Crush! it! by Gary VaynerChuk

Web 2.0 and the associated applications of social media may not interest everybody, but if you are in business the do and will affect you. Of course social media interests me because that is the place I can engage people with similar interests, passions, and goals. Vaynerchuk realized his passion and it became a multi-million dollar business.

Although he has done well at it, he offers a caution to new entrants. Essentially, don't get into it just for the money. Authenticity is critical and insincere carpetbaggers can be sniffed out in a minute. Capture the wave with a surfboard on which you can ride all day. Then let people enjoy YOUR ride

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

Always a proponent of the "anything is possible" philosophy, I was at first glance apprehensive with Outliers. The book begins with the Outlier group of the genius genus. Not having an IQ of 190 or ever likely to reach that lofty measurement, I waded into the audio reading with some red flags.

Gladwell then took a dramatic turn by highlighting the historical violence of Harlan County Kentucky and factors that may have influenced that feuding culture. By that time I was caught. Outliers paints a realistic picture of conditions that shape our worldview.

The key to Outliers is captured in Marita's Bargain. Gladwell writes "Outliers are those who have been given opportunities -- and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them." We all have opportunities. Some more than others. How do you know if that next opportunity won't lead to something that places you in the chronicles of the Outliers?

The Innovation Zone:How Great Companies Re-Innovate for Amazing Success by Thomas Koulopoulos

Koulopoulos offers some valuable insights regarding innovation. The writing style is strongly knowledge-transfer oriented. Although there are numerous annecdotal references, I found the strict data transfer disengaging. Those that dig lists and norms should enjoy this read. Where I found enjoyment was reading between the lines. 

For instance, the section regarding the culture of innovation tapped the role of mentoring and training. Koulopoulos writes "A culture of innovation requires maintenance." That started me on a line of thinking regarding integrating a cultural orientation of innovation through training techniques, style, and content as it relates to organizational goals.

Tribes by Set Godin

Tribes is a manifesto for the heretic of the status quo. Godin compels the reader to consider their role and perhaps ultimately their responsibility to lead in this changing world. In some places Godin acts as a cheerleader for the subjugated heretic (one that opposes the status quo of entrenched ideology). In other places, he attributes the maladies of creative stagnation to those that have surrendered to compromise and safe paths. I'll be quoting from Tribes often.

A Thousand Clowns  by Jason Robards, Barbara Harris, Martin Balsam

Caught this film on TCM. Comedy writer, Murray Burns (Jason Robards) escapes the monotony of the ordinary by his unorthodox approach to life. When social services -- welfare -- sends a team to remove his nephew (Nick, Theodore, Max, etc), Murray must decide whether to return to his old rat race life versus losing his nephew to maintain his lifestyle.

Murray is contagiously optimistic, infecting all but the most stubbornly sober. His old relationships want to cage him in with their perception of who he was before his epiphany. His new relationships want to shape him into a new man. All the while his nephew idolizes Murray as his inspiration. A neighborhood hollering Don Quixote that resists the status quo.

I want to get a hold of a script. There are some wonderful memorable quotes. My favorite quote comes from Murray's brother Albert (Martin Balsam ..he won an Oscar for his role).  [To Murray] "You're not a person, you're an experience!" Albert Burns