Power Shift: Alvin Toffler

Scanning my bookshelf for a volume I recently read, I spied Powershift: Knowledge, Wealth, and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century by Alvin Toffler. My eyes rested on the book and I recalled the foundational concepts I learned from reading it.

One key paradigm I adopted after reading this book I have used nearly everyday of my life, both consciously and sub-consciously. Buried deep in the buried deep in the middle of the book (p. 285, I still have a bookmark inserted here) in a chapter titled "Meta-Tactics," is a brief discussion on the use of data and statistics. Here, Toffler states these four points which have been pivotal for me:

1. Smart people demand to know more about the sources and reliability of the data upon which information, knowledge, and conclusions are built.

2. Smarter people take into account the channels through which the data and information flowed and who might have had a chance to "massage" them.

3. The smartest people do both of the above, and also question the assumptions and even the deeper assumptions upon which the superficial assumptions are based.

4. Finally, imaginative people, whom Toffler suggests may be the smallest group of all, question the entire frame of reference.

These four principles have provided me life changing insights into how and why I do things and how and why others act as they do.

Powershift: Knowledge, Wealth, and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century was first published in 1990. I bought it at a used bookstore about five years later. It's still as applicable today as it was 20 years ago when it was first published.

The premise of the book is that power is shifting. In the early days of man, physical power was most important. You could control people and things using your physical strength.

Later, with advent of wealth, power could be purchased. Now the person with money could purchase and use the physical strength of others to control and rule over people and things.

Eventually, knowledge became power. The person with knowledge could manipulate situations to gain wealth. Think "insider trading."

Toffler desires to help us understand how the world operates today where knowledge is power. He claims knowledge can be used as a substitute for land, labor, and/or capital. In addition, knowledge saves time.

Most important is knowledge about knowledge (see the four points above).

Two-thirds of the book is devoted to understanding how to create, store, retrieve and manage "knowledge about knowledge" for competitive advantage.

Interestingly enough, at the end of the book Toffler provides the reader 25 foundational assumptions upon which the book is built. For example, "20. Knowledge is even more maldistributed than arms and wealth. Hence, a redistribution of knowledge (and especially knowledge about knowledge) is even more important than, and can lead to, a redistribution of the other main power resources."

The Bibliography contains 592 sources. In addition, the end of the book Notes section is over 40 pages long. Highlighting the quality of the research that is evident through out this book!

The Ideal Problem Solver

The Ideal Problem Solver: A Guide to Improving Thinking, Learning, and Creativity by John Bransford and Barry Stein is not a reflection on reaching perfection as a problem solver, but on applying a method of problem solving that corresponds to the acronym IDEAL

I = Identify problems and opportunities
D = Define goals
E = Explore possible strategies
A = Anticipate outcomes and Act
L = Look back and Learn

A fairly standard problem solving methodology with a slight change of names for each step in the methodology.

One strength of this book is the inclusion of problems and exercises. These inclusions make this book suitable for use in a classroom or workshop environment. They also provide the individual reader the opportunity to test his or her own creative problem solving abilities.

The authors state that the most important implication of problem solving is that "people who want to develop effective problem-solving skills must become effective at learning about relevant conceptual tools." (p. 33) Exploring possible strategies (E), requires learning relevant conceptual problem solving tools.

The Ideal Problem Solver: A Guide to Improving Thinking, Learning, and Creativity is divided into two parts.

PART 1: A Framework for Using Knowledge More Effectively
(This part explains and elaborates on the IDEAL methodology)
PART 2: A Model for Acquiring New Knowledge

Part 2 focuses on memorization skills, comprehension and problem-based learning.

I found the discussion of problem-based learning versus traditional applications problems to be especially helpful. The authors suggest that the current traditional applications problems style most often used in education:

1. Limits students to focusing on problem solving, rather than helping them find and define the problems to be solved.
2. Focuses on rote memorization and application of solutions out of habit.
3. Tends to ignore realistic situations and focuses on contrived word problems instead.

Possible formats that could be used to combat these limitations are:

1. Poor Scholar's Soliloquy
2. Case-Based Instruction
3. Project-Based Instruction
4. Debates
5. Simulations

Leading on the Creative Edge

By page 26 of Leading on the Creative Edge: Gaining Competitive Advantage Through the Power of Creative Problem Solving by Roger Firestien, I was confronted with 12 ways to nurture my creativity. I like lists like this. They give me an opportunity to evaluate myself.

"How many of these things am I already doing?"

"Which ones have I thought about trying in the past, but decided to wait on?"

"What new ideas have I never considered before and maybe need to ponder adopting?"

"How close does my list match the list of this 'expert'?"

So try it out for yourself. Here is Firestien's list:

1. Develop creative habits.
2. Ask questions.
3. Use passive ways to generate ideas.
4. Vary your routine.
5. Read and listen to a variety of material.
6. Network.
7. Develop personal support systems.
8. Stop the action.
9. Create an environment that encourages creativity.
10. Create a healthy lifestyle.
11. Reawaken your sense of humor.
12. Be passionate about your positive compelling future vision.

Chapters 3 through 7 review commonly presented creative problem solving principles, such as:

Phrase problems in a way they can be solved.
Don't solve the wrong problem.
Defer judgment while generating many ideas.
Evaluate ideas in a positive manner.

While the principles may be familiar, any new twist provided by a fresh way of looking at something is worth investigating. I find it improves my own application of the principle to solving problems or taking advantage of opportunities.

Chapter eight of Leading on the Creative Edge: Gaining Competitive Advantage Through the Power of Creative Problem Solving explains the PPC technique. The Pluses, Potential, and Concerns (PPC) technique helps groups make affirmative judgments of possible solutions, rather than negative judgments.

This technique could be worth many times the price of the book if it leads you to a better organizational culture in positive problem solving experiences.

Firestien concludes with an invitation to become creative. He has a free newsletter you can subscribe to with the latest ideas and research in the field of creativity and innovation.

My favorite quote:
"The way to succeed is to double your failure rate."
Thomas Watson, Jr., former President of IBM

Leadership and Futuring

As a follow up to our previous post on Visionary Leadership, here is a short little book by John R. Hoyle: Leadership and Futuring: Making Visions Happen

Hoyle helps us understand ways we can bring our vision into being. One of the principles of futuring is the notion that vision is one possible scenario for the future and there is no reason your vision should not be the eventual reality. Hoyle wants to help you make your vision the next reality.

He sets about his task in four ways. He discusses leaders who have influenced him. He discusses leaders he wishes he would have known. He discusses strategic planning for your vision. And he provides some practical exercises you can do to improve your vision and it's implementation.

The three leaders he knew were his 7th grade teacher, his major professor in the Ph.D. program and Dr. Paul B. Salmon, Executive Director of the American Association of School Administrators.

The three leaders he would like to have met were Jesus Christ, Joan of Arc and Winston Churchill.

Leadership and Futuring: Making Visions Happen was written by John R. Hoyle. Hoyle is a member of the World Future Society. He promotes this organization in his book. The Society teaches and promotes futuring. Futuring is "the act of seeing and feeling alternative futures that are either in the near (5-10 year), middle (11-20 year), or far (21-50) year future." (p. 20) The terms futuring and visioning can be used interchangeably.

As a futurist, he suggests some assumptions which can be used to guide our thinking as we develop a vision for the future of the organization:

Assumption #1 is we must begin now. Now is the time when we can work to change the course of action.

Assumption #2 is we must remain flexible. Unforeseen events transpire, false assumptions are made, alternative futures are available.

Assumption #3 is before agreeing on a preferred future course of action, talk to the people who must make it happen. Convince your stakeholders the future you suggest is the correct one to pursue.

Visionary Leadership

Visionary Leadership by Burt Nanus intends to help us in "creating a compelling sense of direction for your organization," according to the sub-title. The nine chapters of this book are divided into three parts:
Part One: What Vision is and Why it Matters
Part Two: Developing the Vision
Part Three: Implementing the Vision

Many leadership gurus believe that casting a vision for an organization is the most important thing a leader can do. Nanus apparently agrees by titling his first chapter, "Vision: The Key to Leadership."

Chapter three, "Taking Stock: The Vision Audit," is particularly helpful. Nanus suggests four questions that need to be answered to determine where the organization currently stands regarding vision. Those questions are:

1. Does the organization have a clearly stated vision? If so, what is it?

2. If the organization continues on its current path, where will it be heading over the next decade? How good would such a direction be?

3. Do the key people in the organization know where the organization is headed and agree on the direction?

4. Do the structures, processes, personnel, incentives, and information systems support the current direction of the organization?

Nanus provides examples and additional questions to consider when auditing the organizational vision.

The remainder of Visionary Leadership focuses on developing and improving the organization's vision and implementing any changes needed.

I particularly like the emphasis of chapter eight, "Running the Race with No End: The Re-Visioning Process." The world changes, the organization changes, the players change. And in the midst of it all, the organization vision must be re-examined and revised as needed to express the intentions of the organization.

My favorite quote is at the beginning of chapter seven:

"When it comes to the future,
there are three kinds of people:
those who let it happen,
those who make it happen,
and those who wonder what happened."
--John M. Richardson, Jr.

The 7 Laws of the Learner

Tom Friedman, author of the best selling book The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century says the most important skill you can have as you tackle the challenges of the 21st century is the ability to "learn how to learn." Sometimes referred to as "being a lifelong learner."

Dr. Bruce Wilkinson gives principles we can apply to help us be lifelong learners in his book, The Seven Laws of the Learner: How to Teach Almost Anything to Practically Anyone. While this book is intended to help educators become better teachers, the principles , or laws, he presents can be slightly modified and applied to our own learning.

For instance, Law One: The Law of the Learner's first maxim is "Teachers are responsible to cause students to learn." If I apply that to myself it means I am responsible for my own learning. I can't expect someone else to learn for me and then just give me the cliff notes. I have to want to learn about something.

Or Law Four: The Law of Retention's second maxim is "Retention of facts is effective only after they are understood." If I apply this to myself it means I am responsible to understand the relevance of what I am learning to my life. This one seems to be much easier now that I no longer sit in a classroom "learning" what someone else thinks is important. Now I am learning what I think is important. I should believe the subject is relevant before I begin to study it.

The Seven Laws of the Learner: How to Teach Almost Anything to Practically Anyone contains seven laws of the learner. Mindsets, models, maxims, methods and maximizers are suggested for each law. Each law includes 7 maxims to help understand the mindsets and models and 7 maximizers to help understand the methods.

Wilkinson is the creator of the popular "Walk Thru the Bible" series. Using the principles in this book, he has created a program where you can learn the major events of the Old Testament in a one day session. Or if you like, you can learn the major events of the New Testament in a one day session. I attend both sessions over 25 years ago and was able to see these principles in action.

I've even had the opportunity to apply some of these principles when leading workshops or teaching classes. I've had success using them to teach others and I've had success applying them to my own learning process.

Wilkenson's 7 laws are:

Law One: The Law of the Learner
Law Two: The Law of Expectation
Law Three: The Law of Application
Law Four: The Law of Retention
Law Five: The Law of Need
Law Six: The Law of Equipping
Law Seven: The Law of Revival

Should you find yourself in the position where you need to teach others, or

Should you find yourself in the position where you need to keep learning (which is all of us)

I highly recommend you read this book!

Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills

Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills by Andrew J. DuBrin is another academic text you might find helpful in your pursuit of leadership. His textbook has 15 chapters which corresponds nicely to a college semester course.

The first nine chapters provide a description of leadership, discuss insight development and give prescriptions for leadership success. The last five chapters deal with specific leadership skills. DuBrin suggests the following skills as necessary for leadership:

1. motivating and coaching,
2. creative problem solving,
3. communication (including non-verbal and cross-cultural),
4. conflict resolution,
5. attitudes required for international and culturally diverse settings,
6. enhancing quality, and
7. capitalizing on technology.

As a textbook, Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills
also includes a chapter summary, key terms, a section called "Guidelines for Action and Skill Development," discussion questions and activities, a case study problem and a leadership exercise.

One highlight for me was the inclusion of Self-Assessment exercises in each chapter. These exercises help you assess yourself as a leader. They include:

1. Readiness for the Leadership Role
2. The Assertiveness Scale
3. What Type of Leader Are You?
4. The Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) Scale for Measuring Leadership Style
5. Rating a Manager's Power
6. Survey of Influence Tactics
7. Characteristics of an Effective Coach
8. The Creative Personality Test Intellectual Abilities
9. A Test of Communication Effectiveness
10. The Leadership Criterion of The Baldrige Award
11. Attitudes Toward Technology

Not content with just helping you figure out how effective you are as a leader right now, this book also provides a number of skill building exercises to help you improve for the future. These include:

1. Becoming a Charismatic and Transformational Leader
2. Management by Anecdote
3. Feedback Skills
4. Becoming an Empowering Manager
5. Identifying Influence Tactics
6. Shelters for the Homeless
7. The Teamwork Checklist
8. Estimating Valances for Applying Expectancy Theory
9. Thinking Outside the Box
10. Brainstorming
11. Word Hints to Creativity
12. Identifying Emotion Provoking Words and Phrases
13. Charting Your Cultural Value Profile
14. How Much Do I Value Diversity?
15. Do You Have the Right Corporate Culture for TQM?
16. The Interpersonal Skills Checklist

Lots of good stuff in this book. It will keep you thinking for hours. Very revealing about the kind of leader you are! With lots of help for becoming the leader you want to be.

LEADERSHIP: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience

Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience provides an academic perspective on leadership. Designed as a textbook for academic courses, Leadership, includes pedagogical tools such as chapter summaries, discussion questions, suggested readings, and key terms and concepts.

Designed as a textbook for a college course, the premise of this book is "Being able to analyze your experiences from multiple perspectives may be the greatest single contribution a formal course in leadership can give you." (p. 18)

The book's 17 chapters are divided into five parts. The first six chapters focus on the process of leadership. The next three chapters focus on the leader. The next three chapters focus on the followers. The next two chapters focus on the situation. And the last three chapters talk about how to put it all together.

Chapters 9, 12, and 14 focus on leadership skills and are particularly interesting.

The basic skills in Chapter 9 include: communication, listening, assertiveness, and feedback.

The basic leadership skills in Chapter 12 include: building technical competence, building effective relationships with superiors, building effective relationships with peers, setting goals, and delegating.

Chapter 14 discuss skills such as: conducting meetings, encouraging creativity, managing conflict and negotiating, managing stress, and diagnosing performance problems.

As with any good book on leadership, this book has quotes from great leaders in each chapter.
Some of my favorites are:

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18." Einstein

"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other." John F. Kennedy

"Remember the difference between a boss and a leader: a boss says "Go!" --a leader says, "Let's go!" E.M. Kelly

"So near is a falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge." Cicero

Chapter 9 of Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience has a highlighted reprint from "Organizational Dynamics" entitled the Abilene Paradox. I have repeatedly referred to the Abilene Paradox when mentoring young leaders, and even some not-so-young leaders. If you would like to know more about the Abilene Paradox click here: Abilene Paradox.

The World is Flat

If you want a thought provoking read on what is happening in the world today pick up Tom Friedman's The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century.

Friedman highlights 10 world events that have taken place since 1989 to revolutionize how businesses operate in the 21st century. He starts with the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the release of the Windows operating system in 1989.

He then discusses the dot com boom, bubble and bust which happened as a result of the Y2K software concerns beginning in about 1995. While the individual investor may have taken a beating in this market, businesses were given a world-wide information superhighway providing them access to markets around the globe. A concept Friedman refers to as "making the world flat." Or leveling the playing field of competitive advantage based on geographic location.

World Flatteners #4 - #9 include:

4. Uploading -- placing your own created work on the Internet where anyone can gain access to it and download it for themselves. Individuals are no longer just consumers of electronic products, they are now producers. Think blogging, YouTube, and Wikipedia.

5. Outsourcing -- sub-contracting all or part of your work functions to another company or individual. Then re-assimilating their work back into your organization.

6. Offshoring -- moving an entire operation, such as a whole factory, overseas or off shore.

7. Supply-Chaining -- horizontal collaboration between suppliers, retailers and customers to deliver products smoothly, quickly, just-in-time, and add value during the process.

8. Insourcing -- allowing collaborating companies to actually come inside your organization and perform functionality for you.

9. Informing -- making all the knowledge of the world available at your fingertips. No longer are you limited by the experts you can talk to. You can Google anything and learn from the best and brightest in the world.

In The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, Friedman suggests that these flatteners have allowed 3 billion new competitors to enter the global job market. Any job that is not bound by physical proximity is fair game for these new job seekers.

Physical proximity jobs include: mowing your yard, fixing your car, unplugging your toilet, serving your food, etc. But even some traditionally geographically based jobs can be done over the Internet such as: teaching you Spanish, preparing your taxes, taking your order at McDonalds (the food will still have to be prepared and served locally, but your drive up order can be taken from anywhere), and providing you medical advice.

In these economically challenging times, you owe it to yourself to read this book to gain a better understanding of what you are really up against!

The Dilbert Principle

Now for something on the lighter side. Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, has been making fun of organizational policies and politics for over 15 years. His cartoon strip regularly makes fun of the organizational fads we are familiar with. In this book, The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions Adams expounds on his "Dilbert Principle." The Dilbert Principle is a theory Adams suggests as a replacement for the famous Peter Principle.

The Peter Principle states, "in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence." (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle)

The Dilbert Principle states, "that the most ineffective workers are systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage: management." Thereby skipping the need to ever have worked a job they were competent at.

Whether you agree with Adam's satirical view of the corporate world or not, you will find the objects of his ridicule are based on the reality he has seen and hears about in the corporate world.

Besides being entertaining, The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions provides some instructional value for leaders. It helps us see the world through the eyes of those we work with. If we take the time to examine the exaggerated spin Adams puts on corporate life, we realize the absurdity of the situations he describes in this book.

However, if we back up a few steps to the less exaggerated, less obvious real life situations these scenarios are based on, we might find that we engage in the same or very similar behavior in our own organizational life. Adams claims we regularly receives e-mail from people all over the world who swear he must have intimate knowledge of their organization because of his accurate descriptions of what's going on there.

Read it.

Enjoy it.

But reflect on how this book might be describing the very situations existing in your own organization.


And as you would hope, this book is full of cartoons to compliment and illustrate the principles being discussed.

The Fifth Discipline

The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization by Peter Senge is built on systems thinking, the application of formal systems theory. Formal systems theory became popular in the biological sciences in the 1950s. The basic premise is that all things operate in a system and are never stand alone objects. In addition, all systems are composed of sub-system and are part of super-systems which operate by the rules of systems theory. Applying the assumptions and rules of formal systems theory involves systems thinking.

Along with systems thinking, Senge suggests the following disciplines or areas of the learning organization: personal mastery, mental models, building shared values, and team learning. Systems thinking is the "fifth discipline" and, thus, the name of the book.

Some gems from The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization include:

"When placed in the same system, people, however different, tend to produce similar results."

"Today's problems come from yesterday's 'solutions.'"

"Virtually all natural systems, from ecosystems to animals to organizations, have intrinsically optimal rates of growth."

"Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes."

"Reality is made up of circles but we see straight lines."

"I would suggest that the fundamental 'information problem' faced by managers is not too little information but too much information. What we most need are ways to know what it important and what is not important."

"Only mediocre people are always at their best."

"The greatest unexplored territory in the world is the space between our ears. Seriously, I am certain that learning organizations will find ways to nurture and focus the capabilities within us all that today we call 'extraordinary'."

"Leader's worth is measured by their contribution to other's mental models."

"People do not focus on the long term because they have to, but because they want to."

"The committed person doesn't play by the 'rules of the game.' He is responsible for the game. If the rules of the game stand in the way of achieving the vision, he will find ways to change the rules. A group of people truly committed to a common vision is an awesome force. They can accomplish the seemingly impossible."

This book includes excellent examples of models of systems. The ideas you can get from reviewing the different representations of problems model with systems thinking is worth the price of the book.

Top Dog

Top Dog: A Different Kind of Book About Becoming an Excellent Leader by J. David Pincus and J. Nicholas DeBonis is about communication. They propose that CEO should be changed to CCO which stands for Chief Communication Officer so important is the role of communication by the head of the company.

Their book is a mixture of nonfiction and fiction. They share facts and findings from studies and interviews, offer recommendations and insights all with a matter of fact style. To illustrate many of their points, the fictional tale of CEO Arlen Burch Royster is woven throughout the book. Arlen encounters many of the common communication dilemmas experienced by CEOs today.

The book opens with Arlen Royster gathering his troops to face a financial situation uncovered by forensic auditors. Millions of dollars have been mismanaged, perhaps illegally and the situation must be handled before answers ae required by the company board, stockholders, and society in general.

Situations of this magnitude have materialized dozens of times. Think of Tylenol in the 1980s, Exxon in the 1990s, or British Petroleum in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. All major catastrophes requiring management and communication. Some handled well, some not so well.

Top Dog: A Different Kind of Book About Becoming an Excellent Leader really is two books in one. I find myself reading the novel part separately, skipping from section to section in the book. Then I find myself reviewing the factual parts looking for the leadership gems.

Such as:

"Employees want managers who share information with them openly during good and bad times."

"Leadership = Relationship-Building = Communication"

A formula for CEO Communication: The C-C-O-S Model

Consistency -- meaning what you say and saying what you mean all the time. This is the principal determinate of your credibility.

Compassion -- showing concern for and understanding others' emotional, as well as pragmatic needs. And you have to do it in a way that's believably demonstrated.

Organization -- creating an appropriate message, merging the message into the organization's overall communication plan, and correlating that plan with other manager's communication activities.

Selectivity -- deploying communication to maximize its impact on the organization and its people, while guarding against usurping or interfering with other managers' communication roles and relationships with employees, customers, and others.

Nuts!

Nuts! Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success tells the story of the creation and development of Southwest Airlines and CEO Herb Kelleher. The remarkable story of Southwest starts with a diagram on a cocktail napkin. The triangle has as it's points Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. And thus began a company trying to break into the big leagues as the lowest price, by far, competitor. But their greatest contribution for the greater good may be to open up air travel to the masses.

"What Southwest has done is create democracy in the airline business." Roy Spence, President of advertising agency GSD&M.

The airline began on June 18, 1971 with 6 roundtrips between Dallas and San Antonio and 12 between Dallas and Houston International.

Some Leadership principles and quotes gleaned from Nuts! Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success:

"The warrior mentality, the very fight to survive is truly what created our culture."

"We treated our job like it was our own business."

"Owners think differently from nonowners because ownership is a state of mind."

"A vision must be so strong that it can outweigh the egos of managers that might want to take off in a different direction."

"Fun is about attitude, so Southwest hires for attitude and trains for skill."

"We'll train you on whatever it is you have to do, but the one thing Southwest cannot change in people is inherent attitudes."

"Southwest's people go out of their way to make sure employees have access to the information they need."

"Adaptiveness is an individual's or a company's capacity to change when forces in the environment threaten the accomplishment of it's goals."

"People will automatically assume ownership for protecting the right to be engaged in work that gives them a sense of meaning and significance. Why? Because there's a tremendous amount of spiritual, emotional and psychic gratification that comes from meaningful work."

"People who are curious listen more attentively, ask more questions, and display a genuine interest in what others know."

"People learn more easily and retain information longer when the lesson is housed in a story, illustration, or metaphor."

"Kelleher and Barrett believe that culture is one of the most precious things a company has, so you must work harder at it than anything else."

"Celebrate everything."

"When you're having fun at work, it doesn't feel like work at all; it's better than tolerable, it's enjoyable."

"Leadership is getting people to want to do what you want them to do because they share your purpose, vision, and values."

By the way, the book is called "Nuts!" because Southwest was the first airline to serve only peanuts instead of full course meals in an effort to keep costs low.

Bass & Stogdill's Handbook of Leadership

This book is not for the timid. Bass & Stogdill's Handbook of Leadership is an academic review of the theory, research, and managerial applications from more than 7,500 references in academic research literature. It's written in an easy to understand style. However, there are 37 chapters and 1182 pages of this easy to read style. Your best bet is to select a particular topic of leadership that appeals to you and read about it first.

This book is organized into eight sections. The leadership literature is covered as follows:
1. Introduction to Concepts and Theories of Leadership
2. Personal Attributes of Leaders
3. Power and Legitimacy
4. The Transactional Exchange
5. Leadership and Management
6. Situational Moderators
7. Diverse Groups
8. Improving Leadership and Leadership Research

As Bass and Stogdill organize and discuss research findings, they include a plethora of in text citations, figures and tables. These references can assist the reader who wants to investigate the original sources for themselves.

Investigating some of the older theories of leadership can be fascinating. For instance, in the first half of the 1900s (1904-1947) one of the primary theories of leadership was trait theory. It was believed that leaders possessed certain characteristics. Numerous studies were conducted during this time period to analyze the correlations between leadership and the traits of the leaders such as:

age,
height,
weight,
physique,
health,
energy,
athletic prowess,
fluency of speech,
talkativeness,
tone of voice,
intelligence,
scholarship,
knowledge,
judgment and decision,
originality,
adaptability,
introversion-extroversion,
humor,
excitability,
popularity,
prestige,
social skills,
and many, many more.

Each chapter of Bass & Stogdill's Handbook of Leadership includes a chapter summary and conclusion. The reader will find it beneficial to read all the chapter summaries and conclusions first. Chapters of further interest can be identified in this manner while allowing for exposure to all the major findings of leadership research over the last century.

Even reading just the first 58 pages would be worth the time of going to the library to check out a copy. This introduction to the concepts and theories of leadership would provide a skeleton upon which to hang the muscle of what you are currently reading about leadership. The better you understand the history of thinking about leadership, the better you can interpret the present and speculate about the future.

The Seven Laws of Teaching

Today let's see what we can learning from the education field. John Milton Gregory worked for 13 years to establish the foundation of the University of Illinois upon its conception in 1868. He was by all rights, an educational leader during his time. In 1884, he published The Seven Laws of Teaching.

Recognized as a timeless masterpiece, Gregory's book has been used as a staple to train 1000s of educators. In some way, all great leaders engage in the work of teaching. So the principles in this book have value for the leader.

The seven laws are to seven factors in teaching:
1. Two personal factors -- a teacher and a learner,
2. Two mental factors -- a common language of communication and a lesson to be communicated, and
3. Three functional processes -- acts of the teacher, acts of the learner, and a final act to test the result of the educational process.

The seven laws then as they are stated in The Seven Laws of Teaching. are:

1. A teacher must be the one who knows the lesson to be taught.

2. A learner is one who pays attention to the lesson.

3. The language used must be familiar to both the teacher and the learner.

4. The lesson must be explainable in terms of what the learner already knows.

5. A teacher must excite the learner and engage the learner's mind to grasp the desired truth.

6. A learner must think into one's own understanding the new truth.

7. The test of the teaching is the application of the new truth.

Gregory identifies some practices necessary to the teaching process.

1. The teacher must know the subject being taught. (p. 28)
2. The learner must be able to link the new truth to the greater body of truth and establish necessary relationships in order to understand it. (p. 30)
3. The learner must pay attention to the material to be learned. (p. 37)
4. The two chief hindrances to attention are apathy and distraction. (and he wrote this over 125 years ago! Some things never change, they only escalate. Some would say today we have more distractions and more apathy!) (p. 48)
5. Children are often compelled by their limited vocabulary to make incorrect word choices. (p. 57)
6. No teaching was ever more instructive than the parables of Jesus. (p. 61)

These are just a few of the gems found in this book. There are a total of 177 rules, principles and concepts included in this book. One hundred and twenty eight pages of educational leadership at your finger tips.

Enjoy it! I did.

Creativity & Innovation in Information Systems Organizations

J. Daniel Couger's book, Creativity & Innovation in Information Systems Organizations describes the problem solving method I have found most helpful. The Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Model was revised and enhanced by Isaksen and Treffinger to produce the model.

This model contains six basic steps:

1. Mess Finding -- identifying which group of problems you intend to address.

2. Data Finding -- collecting the facts about these problems to make sure you correctly understand and can accurately identify the problems. A "mess" indicates you are dealing with a number of interconnected problems.

3. Problem Finding -- accurately describing the problems in the mess. Once you have identified them, you can select the one or ones you want to work to solve.

4. Idea Finding -- creating alternatives and possibilities for solving each problem. This includes the traditional brainstorming activities we engage in to generate a number of possible solutions.

5. Solution Finding -- selecting the alternative which seems to be "best." Any number of methods can be used to arrive at this selection. The important thing is to select one.

6. Acceptance Finding -- determining the acceptability of the solution. Before implementing any solution, the wise problem solver checks to see how the solution will be received. Much like a politician will ask colleagues if they find a particular piece of legislature acceptable before sending it forward for a full vote. Solutions can still be tweeked prior to implementation if changes are found that increase the probability the solution will be successful.

Another suggestion I found extremely helpful, was to include divergent and convergent techniques in each step of the process. The last half of Creativity & Innovation in Information Systems Organizations presents specific divergent and convergent techniques which can be applied to each step.

The Appendix includes descriptions of 22 creativity techniques, many with which I was previously unfamiliar. Test your own creative process IQ. How many of these have you heard of?

Analogies/Metaphors
Attribute Association
Boundary Examination
Brainstorming
Brainwriting
Bug List
Crawford Blue Slip
Decomposable Matrices
Disjointed Incrementalism
Force Field Analysis
Goal/Wish
Interrogatories (5Ws/H)
Left-Right Brain Alternatives
Lotus Blossom
Manipulative Verbs
Morphological Forced Connections
Nominal Group
Peaceful Setting
Problem Reversal
Progressive Abstraction
Wildest Idea
Wishful Thinking

Creative Thinking in the Decision and Management Sciences

Decision and management sciences are usually considered to be the realm of the quantitative. Formulas and algorithms. Mathematical and logic models. So it's a bit of a rarity to find the topic of creative thinking covered in a book from experts in this discipline. James Evans is such an expert. And his book, Creative Thinking in the Decision and Management Sciences is that rarity.

He starts by defining creativity as "the ability to discover new relationships, to look at subjects from new perspectives, and to form new combinations of ideas, products, colors, textures, words, and so on. By this definition, existing quantitative models will be of little assistance. They are great for optimizing solutions to problems, but not so great for finding creative solutions.

Besides the many excellent examples and practice exercises, Evans includes a review of some of the more academically popular decision making and problem solving techniques. In the midst of this review, I came across the concept of "mess-finding" which has revolutionized my own personal problem solving.

In this model of problem solving, the first step is NOT to identify the problem, but to identify the mess. A mess, according to Russell Ackoff, can be defined "as a system of external conditions that produces dissatisfaction." Alternatively, a mess can be conceptualized as a system of problems. Or to put it simply, a mess is a group of intertwined problems. Imagine a plate of spaghetti where each individual noodle represents a problem. They are mixed together and it's difficult to identify the individual "problems" easily.

In Creative Thinking in the Decision and Management Sciences, Evans offers suggestions for improving, not only your problem solving skills, but also your problem solving characteristics. He suggests four creative problem solving characteristics:

1. Problem sensitivity -- the ability to test assumptions. We all have preconceived assumptions which are in need of constant removal and re-formulation. Your problem sensitivity is a measure of your ability to set aside your assumption while identifying the actual problem and while working to find a solution.

2. Fluency -- the ability to produce large quantities of ideas. They don't have to all be good ideas. This requires the ability to temporarily suspend judgment on the quality of ideas in order to increase the quantity.

3. Flexibility -- the ability to apply a variety of problem solving techniques to a particular problem. The old saying is "if you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail." Well if you have a preferred technique for solving problems, you tend to see every problem through that technique. If you love using analogies, then you are always trying to "fit" the current situation into whatever analogy you can think of.

4. Originality -- the ability to generate more novel ideas. Generating a large number of ideas usually means some original ideas will pop up. Tell yourself that you are creative. Then generate as many possible ideas as you can.

The Art of Problem Solving

In The Art of Problem Solving, Russell Ackoff suggests problem solving is as much art as it is science. His art of problem solving involves 6 components:

1. creativity
2. constraints
3. Objectives
4. Controllable Variables
5. Uncontrollable Variables
6. Relations

The problem itself contains most of these components. The decision maker or problem solver who possesses the creativity, and sometimes the constraints. The controllable and uncontrollable variables associated with the problem. And the possible outcomes.

This book is divided into two parts. The first part explains The Art. Ackoff includes 35 stories in the first part which he refers to as "Ackoff's Fables." Each story is intended to illustrate the author is trying to make. Each comes with it's own accompanying "moral" of the story, just like the more familiar Aesop's Fables. Unlike Aesop's Fables, Ackoff's Fables are often true stories. Because after all, truth is stranger, or at least more illustrative than fiction.

These fables are similar to the story of the factory worker who went home each night pushing a wheelbarrow full of trash. Company guards became suspicious. They thoroughly inspected the trash several times, but could find nothing of value in it. Much later it was discovered the worker had been stealing wheelbarrows. Ackoff's fables are equally enlightening.

The book is worth the price just to get access to the stories. By showing the problem solver how creativity and the removal of constraints have been applied in other situations, Ackoff provides the reader with "lenses" for viewing the problems they encounter. Or at the very least, the reader is challenged to believe there are new and exciting ways to address the problems they are dealing with.

The second part of The Art of Problem Solving: Accompanied by Ackoff's Fables discusses Applications of the principles discussed in the first part. Here Ackoff presents six real-life problems he has been involved in helping to solve. They come complete with all the "messiness" of real life which is marginalized in the fables he presents in the first half of the book.

His stories come from across several industries, including: transportation, manufacturing, government, advertising, and food and beverage.

Ackoff concludes with a chapter on monitoring the problem solution to make sure:
(1) the problem stays solved, and
(2) any new problems created by the solution are being addressed.

It seems a forgone conclusion that the solution to any existing problem will create new and exciting problems and opportunities!

Are Your Lights On?

Are Your Lights On? by Donald Gause and Gerald Weinberg is a about problem finding. Making sure you identify the correct problem BEFORE you attempt to solve it.

Many consider problem finding to be a more critical skill than problem solving. Throughout the formative education years; primary, secondary and post-secondary school, we are taught how to solve problems using previously taught methodologies. The assumption is that we will be able to correctly identify the problem type and apply the correct methods. In mathematics, this can be relatively easy. For example, when you see 56 + 72 your training tells you how to proceed to find an answer of 128. When you see (3 + 4) * (1 + 5), again, your training tells you how to proceed to find an answer of 42.

What we were not trained to do is ask "Is 56 + 72 the correct problem to solve?" or "Why is (3 + 4) * (1 + 5) a correct representation of the problem at hand?"

Gause and Weinberg attempt to expand our thinking by asking us to examine the problems we encounter and how we frame them.

Are Your Lights On?: How to Figure Out What the Problem Really Is is a series of stories used to illustrate the points the authors are trying to make.

The title of the book was derived from the solution to a problem discussed in the book. The story goes like this. A brand new auto tunnel is opened in Switzerland. A warning sign is posted at the beginning to the tunnel. The sign instructs: "WARNING: TUNNEL AHEAD PLEASE TURN YOUR HEADLIGHTS ON." So far, all is well.

About 1/4 mile past the end of the tunnel is the world's most scenic rest stop. Hundreds of tourist stop to enjoy the view each day. And every day 10 or more of the 100s return to their cars to find a dead battery. They left their car lights on and the battery is dead. What to do?

The first question we have to ask is "Whose problem is it?" Possible problem owners are listed as:
the drivers
the passengers (if any)
the chief engineer of the tunnel
the police
the mayor of the nearest town
the automobile clubs
none of the above
all of the above

The engineers of the tunnel felt it was their duty to try to remedy the situation. They crafted several well meaning messages to post at the end of the tunnel:

IF IT IS DAYLIGHT, AND IF YOUR LIGHTS ARE ON,
TURN OFF YOUR LIGHTS.

IF IT IS DARK, AND IF YOUR LIGHTS ARE OFF,
TURN YOUR LIGHTS ON.

IF IT IS DAYLIGHT, AND IF YOUR LIGHTS ARE OFF,
LEAVE YOUR LIGHTS OFF.

IF IT IS DARK, AND IF YOUR LIGHTS ARE ON,
LEAVE YOUR LIGHTS ON.

To get to a final solution, the engineers shifted problem ownership to drivers. With that in mind, a simple question prompt was posted at the end of the tunnel:

ARE YOUR LIGHTS ON?

The 20 stories in this book are intended to illustrate and highlight six questions about problem finding:

1. What is a problem?
2. What is the problem?
3. What is the problem really?
4. Whose problem is it?
5. Where does the problem come from?
6. Do we really want to solve the problem?

Mindmapping

Mindmapping is a graphical technique to help you solve problems. Mindmapping intends to find the creative ideas you already have stored away in your brain, consciously and sub-consciously, and bring them out for you see. And for you to show everyone else, if you like.

Joyce Wycoff, in her book, Mindmapping: Your Personal Guide to Exploring Creativity and Problem-Solving wants to help you tap your creativity.

Your brain is a storehouse of information. Some believe it's capacity is greater than all the libraries in the world combined. It might not seem like it when you are trying to remember where you put your keys or the name of the new neighbor you met yesterday. But it's there, and you need to be able to get at it.

It's generally accepted the brain is made up of two halves. The left half handles language, logic, sequences, processes, details, and judgments. The right half handles images, rhythm, music, imagination, color, patterns and emotions. According to Wycoff, creativity comes from exceptional interaction of both halves of our brain. Mindmapping intends to facilitate that exceptional interaction.

She defines creativity as "seeing things that everyone around us sees while making connections that no one else has made."

Here is the basic idea behind mindmapping:

1. You need a piece of paper and something to write with.
2. In the center of the paper, draw a box and write the focus of your thinking. One or two words that describe the problem or situation you are thinking about.
3. Focus on thinking about the topic. As thoughts come to mind quickly write down the key words. Draw lines showing how the key words connect to the focus topic and to each other.
4. Let the ideas and thoughts flow from the central focus and from additional key words. Draw lines to show the connections as they appear in your mind.

According to the author, two things happen when you write your ideas down:
1. Your mind is free to go on and think about other ideas, and
2. Associations are made with the written ideas.

Mindmapping: Your Personal Guide to Exploring Creativity and Problem-Solving goes on to discuss the application of mindmapping to:


Creative Writing
Business Writing
Project Management
Managing Meetings
Presentations
Listening and Note Taking
Personal Development


Remember, there are no wrong mind maps!

Creative Problem Solving

Creative Problem Solving by Donald Noone is a handy (4" x 6", 120 page) guide to liberate your problem solving capabilities. As part of Barron's Business Success Guide Series it provides practical "how-to" ideas to enhance your current problem solving skills.

Based on the premise the problem solver is often the biggest obstacle to solving the problem, Noone begins by addressing the actions and the attitudes of the problem solver. He suggests the problem solver "Fall in love with problems" (p. 14). This can be accomplished by repeating these beliefs:

"I love problems."
"Problems spell opportunities."
"Problems are the prelude to progress."
"Problems allow the expression of my power."
"Problems tell me what I have to do."
"Problems precede improvement."
"Problems are fun."

The second attitude to cultivate is "different is just different, and not wrong." When we judge something as wrong, we immediately discount it.

What if the idea of using a forklift to stack cars on top of each other was immediately dismissed as ridiculous? There might not be parking garages today.

Once the correct attitudes have been adopted, it's time to apply the problem solving skills.

Creative Problem Solving suggests the first and most important skill is to correctly define the problem. If incorrectly identify the problem, or identify the wrong problem, you will solve the wrong problem. And what's the point in that?

Other skills identified and discussed in the book include:

Asking Questions -- because statements result in limitations.
Mind Mapping -- because a picture is worth a 1000 words.
Association and Fishhooking -- because inspiration is everywhere.
Using Analogies -- because comparison leads to discovery.
Amplifying Everything -- because the unfamiliar forces creativity.

Noone ends his book with 18 reminders, or rules, for creative problem solving. Some highlights from this list include:

1. Accept stark reality -- bad things happen.
2. Welcome problems as opportunities.
4. Don't be a "but-head."
10. Asking empowering questions -- often and many.
17. When something does not work, try something else; persist until you achieve intended results.

The Effective Executive

Peter Drucker is considered by many to be the father of modern business management. He went into General Motors to study the management workings of this mega corporation way before it was fashionable.

He has written numerous books and journal articles over the course of his distinguished academic career. Most of them are enjoyable and thought-provoking reading even for the non-academic. If you are interested in managing your business or your life better, Drucker has some helpful solutions.

Written in the 1966, The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done was written to help the individual make a more valuable contribution to his or her organization. While organizational settings have changed in the half century since this book was written, the principles are still very applicable.

Drucker's first principle is that effectiveness can and must be learned. He defines effectiveness as "getting the right things done." As opposed doing things in the right way (efficiency). Or doing things quickly (expediency). You can do the wrong thing and still do it efficiently and expediently. This book focuses on doing the right things.

The second principle is that effective executives have to know how to manage their time. He suggests this is a three-step process:
(1) recording what you are currently doing with your time;
(2) managing what you will do with your time in the future; and
(3) consolidating time to make large chunks available for important tasks.

The third principle suggested by Drucker in The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done relates to contribution. Figuring out what your contribution is to the organization by asking such questions as:

"What can I and no on else do which, if done really well, would make a real difference to this company?"

Then buried deep in the book, on page 100, is the secret. Drucker states, "If there is any one "secret" of effectiveness, it is concentration. Effective executives do first things first and they do one thing at a time." The first rule of concentration is to get rid of the things in your life that have ceased to be productive.

Regarding decision making, Drucker points out in The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done, that effective executives do not make a great many decisions, they concentrate on the important ones.


So if your job is to be effective, and it probably is, then the news is good: Effectiveness can and must be learned. And this book can help!