Innoveering Nebraska

Book Review:   Sway – The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman & Rom Brafman

There are many books that we all read (i.e. anything and everything by Seth Godin and Malcolm Gladwell).  The Brafman brothers should also be on that list.  If you enjoyed “Flirting with Disaster” by Marc Gerstein you’ll probably love Sway. 

Ori is an organizational expert.   He wrote “The Starfish and the Spider” – another great book.  Briefly organizations with a centralized spider leader sitting on the top of an org chart struggle greatly when they lose the spider.  Starfish organizations have decentralized autonomous divisions that survive the departure of many leaders and can thrive when cut off from the rest of the organization.  Starfish good, spider not so much.  Rom is a practicing psychologist.  Together the two have a funny, engaging and sneakily educational writing style.   

The book pulls together a large amount of research concerning how we make decisions and spoon feeds it to us in yummy easy to swallow bite size pieces.  Time and time again the brothers will make you aware of thought patterns you unconsciously fall into on a regular basis.  It would be down right spooky if it weren’t so fascinating and if you didn’t feel greatly empowered by your new awareness of these mental traps. 

There was only one aspect of the book that I didn’t like and that was the intentionally disjointed chapter summaries.  They’re annoyingly reminiscent of the format found in “The Black Swan” by Nasim Nicholas Taleb and make just about as much sense.

Sway is an enjoyable, educational and absolutely irresistible read.

Book Review: The time Paradox by Philip Zimbardo & John Boyd

The core of the book is the concept that each of us sees the world through time tinted glasses. If we increase our awareness of how we relate to time and how those around us relate to time, we can improve both our quality of life and our ability to effectively interact with others. The authors believe there are six time perspectives:

1. Past-negative ($&%# childhood)

2. Past-positive (happy memories)

3. Present-fatalistic (no use trying/can‘t change a thing)

4. Present-hedonistic (live it up/enjoy the moment)

5. Future (work & save for tomorrow)

6. Transcendental-future (religious beliefs regarding future impact present behavior)

Included early in the book is a test to help you determine your particular perspective. Sprinkled throughout the book are means of identify the time perspective of others.

All of this may seem obvious, but it isn’t. For example, nearly all intervention programs are written by people with future time perspectives for people who aren’t future oriented. This is why most intervention programs don’t work! What futures worry about and what futures know will impact their own behavior has little or no impact on individuals with other time perspectives. Consider prison. If you don’t believe you have a future or if you never think about your future, prison isn’t a large concern for you. However if you have a future time perspective, the fear of imprisonment would be a definite deterrent.

There is also a fascinating section describing how the predominant time perspectives of the societies spawning suicide bombers must change if this behavior is to be stopped. As westerners, we need to work on understanding these other societal time perspectives and their causes before we can hope to instigate real change. This same idea could be applied to pockets of our own culture.

The book doesn’t include much advice on viewing the world through the time perspectives of others. However, there is a small section at the end with advice regarding how to change your time perspective for the better. “The Time Paradox” is copyrighted 2008, so it’s possible that the duo is working on another book which will expand on this topic for those of you who find yourselves with the Eeyore-like present-fatalistic and past-negative time perspectives. Of course, if you are present-fatalistic or past-negative, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll have much hope for a sequel…

No time to read the book?  Check out the authors’ Authors@Google talk. 

Want to take the test without reading the book?  Check out the book’s website. 
　

Book Review: Imagination First 

byEric Liu & Scott Noppe-Brandon

Innovation is highly valued in today’s economy and the authors strongly argue in “Imagination First” that the best means to increase innovation is to first increase the time and energy we invest in expanding our imaginations and creativity.  This seems obvious enough, but seriously, when was the last time your boss told you to go to your cubicle and use your imagination or be creative for the next hour or two?  Can you even imagine that scenario?

The bulk of the book is spent on 24 and 1/2 surprisingly uncheesey practices individuals and/or organizations can use to foster imagination and creativity.  The practices remind me a lot of IDEO’s 51 method cards.  I can’t choose a favorite, but I love the authors’ references to specific individuals to exemplify a particular practice.       

This was my go to book for several months.  I carried it nearly everywhere I went, discussed it with anyone who was interested and rationed its chapters as though it were an excellent work of fiction I just didn’t want to end.  But it’s nonfiction and you realize when you’re done reading that it doesn’t have to end – especially if you find the right group of people.

The authors, Eric Liu and Scott Noppe-Brandon have close ties to the Guiding Lights Network and Lincoln Center Institute.  Their collective expertise and experience in fostering and promoting creativity is evident throughout the book.   

You’ll have to order the book on-line or sweet talk me into loaning you my copy – I couldn’t find a library or bookstore in Nebraska with a copy.

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