Quote of the Day: Daniel Levitin

"Recent research in social psychology has shown that happy people are not people who have more; rather they are people who are happy with what they already have."

Book Review: Ditch Dare Do

The book Ditch Dare Do, by William Aruda and Deb Dib, caught my eye while browsing Amazon because of its tagline "66 Ways to Become Influential, Indispensible and Incredibly Happy at Work.  At the time, I was not incredibly happy at work.

This book was incredibly helpful for another reason entirely, it helped me ask some pretty insightful questions about how I want the world to see me... what is my personal brand?  This is a question that supercedes my thoughts about how to be more successful and happy at work and instead starts to focus on what I see my value as being to any organization.

This book walks a fine line, however.  At the beginning, the topics in the book are pretty high-level, like relating to people on a personal level.  At the back of the book, it has gone pretty deep into the tactical pieces of developing a personal brand, but it has gone almost all the way into a laundry list.

Creative Space Ratings:

Readability:  B
Creates Consistent Interest:  A
Applicability:  A
Design:  C
Differentiation:  B

I have recommended this book twice since I read it and both people who read it enjoyed it and, interestingly enough, got something completely different from it.  As I read it, I did not do all of the assignments.  Maybe on a second reading I will go all the way- and this is definitely one of those books that you hold onto.

One thing that I didn't love was the name of the book.  Ditch, Dare, Do refers to some next steps at the end of the chapters.  "A ditch replaces thinking and habits that don't help you move forward.  A dare propels you to take new, exciting tasks.  A do is a critical step you must execute to build your brand."  There were also Sparks, Go-Time Grids, Know, Show Grow and Go sections, etc. etc.  It was all a a little much.  Plus I kept getting confused about what I was supposed to be doing.  The content was really good- all of the "helpers" didn't really help.  As a reader, I'm not stupid.  I got this.

Creative Space Takeaways:

1. Be YOU:  "To truly be yourself you must know who you are, where you want to go, and what drives you.  You much also understand others' perceptions of you.  Only after deep introspection and regular pursuit of feedback can you gain true knowledge of yourself and true clarity about your reputation.  That clarity - that authentic comfort in your own skin- build a confidence that is magnetic to others.  We all know people at work who radiate authenticity and confidence, and we like to be around them.  They are natural leaders; they make us feel better and do better."

2. Be Open: Arruda and Dib make the point in the book that without self-awareness, you are going to have a really hard time establishing your personal brand because you have no way of knowing your starting point or whether you are making positive progress.  Getting this kind of feedback is painful, but the hard messages will be the most valuable to your progress.  Thinking of it like doing a benchmarking survey about yourself!

3. Make Your Mark: "The difference between distracted (and distracting) multitaskers and strong brands is this:  Strong brands don't fight distraction with attention; they meet distraction with intention.  Intention means knowing how and what you want to contribute so you don't miss opportunities to make your mark- to express and leverage your brand on a daily basis.  If you've attended your meeting but were working on the report that is overdue rather than actively contributing and leaving your mark, have you done your job?  When you check your e-mail while on a teleconference or text under the table in the middle of a client meeting, have you missed an opportunity to build your brand?"

4. Ditch Dare Do incorporated a clever series of questions to ensure that not only do you have a personal brand, but that people around you will want it.  They call it the Why-Buy-ROI formula:

• Here's who I am
• I know what you need right now
• I've done it, here's how I did it
• Here's what happened when I did it
• And I can do it again.

5. Keep a Job Journal - I always send my boss a reminder e-mail of my accomplishments immediately prior to reviews.  They probably think it is annoying, but they are as busy as I am and I think that it is only fair to have the opportunity to give them a rundown of what they need to keep in mind.  Ditch Dare Do takes this concept a step forward and encourages you to keep a job journal that keeps a running summary of major accomplishments so that you can have them on the ready when you need them.

6. The Aesthetics:  Make your resume reflect you.  Choose a brand color.  Take a good headshot. Create a trademark for you.  These were some of the ways that the book suggests that you make sure you are always putting your best foot forward.

7. Brand Your Office:  After reading this article, I went and massively purged my office.  It didn't reflect how I wanted to be seen and perceived.  I got a standing desk because I wanted to be seen as someone on the move.  I got rid of a bunch of paper and hung up infographics.  I made sure to have some cool marketing books around.  Your space is a reflection of you.

8. Blog to Bolster your Brand: "A well-written blog is a direct path to virtual visibility and better Google results.  A blog lets you promote your ideas and accomplishments to communicate your value.  It helps you build community with people who are critical to doing your job.  It will make you a more branded, attractive, quoted and admired professional - and deepen your differentiation from other professionals who seemingly do what you do."  

And I started a blog.  Well, look at that!

Book Review: Fascinate

I first encountered Sally Hogshead when attending the 2014 Corporate Researchers Conference in Chicago.  She was the keynote speaker and we received free copies of her book "How to Fascinate" for attending.

I am OCD and still haven't read How to Fascinate, by the way, because I felt like I needed to start with the first book in the collection, Fascinate:  Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation.

One of the cool things about this book is that you are able to take a quiz when you buy the book on Sally Hogshead's website to figure out your fascination type.  When this book was originally written it was to determine which of the 7 triggers you gravitate to, but as her fascination research has evolved, you now take a quiz to determine which of your fascination archetypes you can leverage to become "more you." 

It's a pretty good deal- you get your archetype and a 30 page report on what that means, what it means to others, and your strengths and weaknesses.  Also, Sally sends out some pretty decent information on an on-going basis once you subscribe to the newsletter.

In case you are wondering, I am The Provocateur.

So, let's get this party started.  Here are my overall ratings:

Readability:  A
Creates Consistent Interest:  A
Applicability:  B
Design:  B
Differentiation:  A

Some of my favorite takeaways were:

1. On a first date? Measure his elbows.  Sally kicks off her book with a pretty decent description of the biological roots of fascination.  How your brain keys into fascination, how you become attracted to certain people and certain brands. This isn't immediately applicable to the book, but it provides the most fascinating (haha) "bet you didn't know that" type facts.  Things like you are most likely to attract a person with a favorable genetic profile if you are NOT on birth control.  Fascination is a complicated subject!

For more on the elbows, read the book.  But FYI, it isn't the size of the feet!

2. Why is the Mona Lisa fascinating? 

"The Mona Lisa was recently analyzed with cutting edge software developed to recognize facial emotion.  Mona Lisa, according to the program, is 83 percent happy, 9 percent disgusted, 6 percent fearful, and 2 percent angry."

So, the Mona List is fascinating because we can't quite figure her out.  I wonder what the software would have to say about RBF.  (Resting Bitch Face)

3. Trends Driving a Distracted World

The book had an interesting point about in the past you spent money to go to the movies and you were essentially "paying" attention.  Now, people are so inundated by choices for entertainment, even in your free time it is hard to make a decision.  Why all this clutter?  Sally indicates that you have to deal with an overload of distracting choices, the rise of ADD culture, and people have become more skilled at blocking out messaging.  Now if only I can figure out how to block out my incoming e-mail!

4.  So what makes a message fascinating?

There is an easily, digestible list!  The Gold Hallmarks of a fascinating message include:

• Provokes strong an immediate emotional reactions
• Creates advocates
• Becomes "cultural shorthand" for a specific set of actions or values
• Incites conversation
• Forces competitors to realign around it
• Triggers social revolutions

5. The seven triggers of fascination include:  lust, mystique, alarm, prestige, power, vice and trust.

6. Lust: "The pursuit of pleasure is often more fascinating than the pleasure itself.  Keeping that desire unfulfilled, or at least never entirely satisfied, is the key to long-term fascination through lust...  Lust engages our imagination.  It allows us to participate in the process, filling in the possibilities.  As with the mystique trigger, lust makes us want more, yet once we experience the complete truth, our desire might weaken."

7. Completely random fascinating fact from Fascinate!:  In 1636 there was a huge economic bubble driven by high demand for tulips. Many economists consider this the very first economic bubble and subsequent burst. At this point in history, a single tulip bulb was sold in exchange for four fat oxen, twelve fat sheep, four tons of butter, a thousand pounds of cheese, a complete bed, a suit of clothes, a silver cup, and large measures of rye, wheat, beer and wine.  No wonder tulips are my favorite. 

The end of the book includes some pointers regarding how to create your own fascination plan of attack... I thought the recommendations were kind of one-size-fits all, regardless of whether you were talking about becoming more fascinating, or whatever else you wanted to do to improve your company.

Overall though- it was a good read.  Definitely will read the second book, to understand some more about "personal" fascination.

Quote of the Day: Amanda Palmer

"You are an artist when you say you are.  And you are a good artist when you make somebody else experience or feel something deep or unexpected."

Book Review: Creative Confidence

I found Creative Confidence while wandering through Powell's City of Books in Portland, Oregon.  As per the usual, I had decided to limit my book-spree by purchasing only one children's book, one personal development book, and one fun book.  On this particular excursion, Creative Confidence ended up being the personal development book. 

Creative Confidence was written by Tom and David Kelley, two brothers who have somehow both gravitated to Innovation and Creativity as life pursuits.  Tom is the author of The Art of Innovation and David is the Founder of IDEO.  I know, you may of heard of it!

Here is the Creative Space rating:

Readability:  A
Creates Consistent Interest:  B
Applicability:  B
Design:  B
Differentiation:  B

For a complete description of the Creative Space rating system, click HERE.

The book was an easy read for sure.  The writers are casual, there are fun cartoons and pictures, and the book just feels good.

Creative Confidence Top Ten

1.  The Creativity Myth vs. Creative Confidence:  The creativity myth is described in Creative Confidence as the believe that creativity is limited to the traditional artsy fields like painting, writing, sculpting, whatever.  This book asserts that everyone has the potential to be creative in their given field, but we have over time lost the confidence to pull out the mental crayons and attack that blank page.

2. Go Wide then Go Deep.  I took a Harvard Business School class on Innovation a few years ago.  They opened with a discussion of Divergent vs. Convergent thinking.  Same idea.  Throw out as many ideas as possible, narrow down to the most feasible, viable, and desirable, and then dig deep to get the idea to implementation. 

3. Have a Growth Mindset:  Carol Dweck, a Stanford psychology professor, is quoted in the book describing individuals with a growth mindset.  They "believe that a person's true potential is unknown and unknowable; that it is impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toil and training." The opposite is a fixed mindset. 

4. Intentionality:  Intentionality is discussed during a description of a project worked on with Steve Jobs.  (Which I of course hate because Apple is the most overused creativity and innovation example on the planet).  It is described as the ability to see a way to improve the status quo and then seizing the opportunity.  Easier way to say it- Have an idea.  Do it.

5. Self-Efficacy:  For those not familiar with this term, it is simply the belief that you can do what you set out to do in the world.  Developing self-efficacy is of course an important first step in developing Creative Confidence, but during this book, it really got me thinking more about whether self-efficacy is a growing or declining personality trait in our society.  Conundrum.

6. Strategies to get from blank page to insight:

• Choose creativity.
• Think like a traveler.
• Engage relaxed attention
• Empathize with your end user.
• Do observations in the field.
• Ask questions, starting with why?
• Reframe challenges.
• Build a creative support network.

I think it is highly worth getting the book just to read threw these tips and tricks.  "Engage relaxed attention" was my favorite and really brings you back to some of the neuroscience findings related to the switching between focused attention and daydreaming mode.

7. Cool quote from Steven Pressfield's book Resistance:  "Most of us have two lives, the life we live and the unlived life within us.  Between the two stands Resistance... Late at night, have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to me?  Are you a writer who doesn't write, a painter who doesn't paint? an entrepreneur who never starts a venture?  Then you know what Resistance is."


8. If you want a team of smart creative people to do extraordinary things, don't put them in a drab, ordinary space.  I'm obviously a big believer in this concept.  As a former member of the khaki cubicle society, I know how stifling it is to not be able to inject a single piece of personality into your working space.  We even had template desktop backgrounds.  We were like an army of clones.

9. "Leaders can't dictate culture, but they can nurture it."  I'm in the middle of taking a class on emotional intelligence, which posits that developing resonant relationships within organizations is one of the most important functions that a manager can engage in.  Similarly, developing this creative environment and letting go of control to let your people do their thing drives creative confidence within an organization.

10. Just get started.

Creative Confidence was an easy read and a fun read.  One limitation though is that it is highly focused on the kind of creativity problems that IDEO solves, so, essentially, the examples in the book are very "stuff" driven, so if you are working in consulting or in a service industry, while there is plenty that is applicable, there is also quite a bit that won't be.