Sep 27, 2009

Bounce

The market is shifting. And your company is facing hard times. But you don't want to just survive it; you want to move to the next level. And maybe predict where the market is going and be ready for it.

The book, Bounce, deals with such a scenario. I'm sure thousands of books have been written on this subject matter. This one deals with the situation using new terms ("Bounce", "Manage the Mission", ...) and a new way of looking at it: from the perspective of Rangers in the Army and the training they go through to perform under enormous pressure. I think this book was mainly written for managers, so I couldn't connect with it.

But I've been seeing more and more business books of this sort: a long (made up) story that illustrate a few short principles. I think Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the Box and The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict are two of the best books in that category. (They are also amazing books in general.)

Sep 26, 2009

Three Laws of Performance

I finished reading The Three Laws of Performance a few months back. I'm pretty sure that its an amazing book, but the concepts were a bit hard to understand. So I'll need to read it again to be able to explain what's going on in it. (That's why I didn't take any notes on it -- or maybe I was just lazy :) Anyway, here are the 3 laws (which in the book are illustrated with some amazing stories):

  1. How people perform coorelates to how situations occur to them.
  2. How a situation occurs arises in language.
  3. Future-based language transforms how situations occur to people.

Sep 24, 2009

Born to Run

I just finished Born to Run. A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. And it is one of the best books I've read in a long, long time! Why? Because it has great stories (and stories within stories within stories...), lovely characters and great science that links humanity & running.

But I was really fascinated by two things. First, by what the human body can achieve. The book follows ultra-marathoners who run 50-150 mile races! It takes them anywhere from 6-25 hours to complete them. Quiet amazing!

And second, by the critical role of feedback:

the more cushioned the shoe, the less protection it provides (p173)
So with a modern shoe, with lots of cushion, while running, the foot comes down hard and pushes "through the soles in search of a hard, stable platform." But when it comes against a hard surface, the foot goes into self-defense mode. And so, you come down lighter. Thus, without that "harsh" feedback the foot get fooled, and this is said to cause all sorts of running related injury.

But the best part is that I now have an urge to run, just like the people described in the book