Measuring Up

The Dip is back

Seth Godin's book, The Dip is back on my bookshelf. I'm very happy to lend it out again. Mail me if you want to read it and I'll pop it in the post to you.

Share a little book

I'm utterly hooked on books. I have been known to place two Amazon orders within 24 hours of each other and I have run out of shelf space in my office - the overflow is piling up on the windowsill. My big problem is that there is something so inviting about a new book, I just can't resist starting it immediately. This means I have varying number of books 'in progress' at any time. I've come to realise that this isn't necessarily a problem - its just the way I read.

In his blog yesterday, Seth Godin asked readers of his book, The Dip, to double its readership by lending it to someone else. Since I've already done that, I can't do it just at the moment, although I'm very happy to do so again and again in the future.

Seth's request reminded me to write about Bookcrossings. Bookcrossings is a web-based system of sharing books and letting people know what books you have available, and where they can find them. The idea of 'releasing' a book into the wild for someone else to read is really cool. Its one of the best ideas I've heard of in a long time. We like it so much that we set up a Bookcrossing drop point in our shop and its been a great success. Customers come in for a coffee or for lunch, browse, pick up a book and take it home to finish it. Our only problem is that in less than a month, we've had to find a second bookshelf. As with Seth's suggestion of lending The Dip to someone else, our Bookcrossing shelves in the shop don't make any money - but they add something special and they spread knowledge and pleasure. That has to be a good idea.

I have to remember to stay away from the Bookcrossings shelf in the shop though - can you imagine how high the pile on the windowsill would be? I'll go and have a browse once I've finished all the books I'm reading at the moment - could take a while.

(I've just checked BookCrossings, and there are two copies of The Dip currently in the wild - one in Montreal and one in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. The book gets a great endorsement from the readers (8 out of 10). So if you're in Montreal or Pennsylvania, you may want to go hunting.)

The Right Questions

Ten times a year I give myself the gift of a day of developing my business skills. As part of a fantastically powerful group called Association of Business Leaders (ABL), I have the benefit of being able to focus entirely on my business issues for a day, and share current issues, problems and suggestions with other members.

The impact of this peer coaching is surprisingly powerful given that the members are not professional coaches. What we are tapping into is the shared experiences and perspectives of a group of highly motivated people who understand the pressures of building a business. Although the industries, business sizes and specific expertise of every member is different, the common thread is the willingness to share knowledge, support a fellow member, and help each other grow in capability, and profitability. This is powerful stuff and every one of us is loathe to miss a single day despite our heavy pressures.

Our speaker this morning was Anne Miller, a highly knowledgeable and enormously talented author, inventor and entrepreneur from Cambridge. Anne has recently published her first book, The Myth of the Mousetrap, in which she unravels some of the critical barriers to getting new ideas adopted. For anyone attempting to build an innovative business, Anne's book is an essential management tool.

It turns out, we learned from Anne today, that its really important, when gathering information to back up a hunch, or provide data as the basis of an important decision - to ask the right questions. So often, we miss some critical nugget of knowledge just because we forget to ask some of the more obvious questions. Anne's example of NASA's Challenger disaster is a poignant reminder of at least one instance where this critical step wasn't included, with devastating results.

Clearly, in most situations, the consequence of asking the wrong questions (or omitting the right questions) isn't catastrophic. But even in our discussion of business issues during our ABL sessions, effective questions provide greater clarity in the least amount of time.

Consider your teams and your organisation's culture. Do you encourage lots of questions? Do you focus on asking the right questions to get the whole picture?

Ask yourself those questions.

Spread a little Lovemark

I've just finished my first reading of what is, in my view, one of the most engaging business books ever created. I say 'created' because this book is the sum of more than one part (writing). Not only is the message compelling and convincing, the design is exciting and the whole package is enticing and absorbing. Lovemarks was written by Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi who has followed it up with The Lovemarks Effect - now on my 'books to buy' list.

My brilliant designer sister gave this book to me for Christmas and I have been diving into it repeatedly ever since then. I say that I've just finished my first reading because this is a book that I will re-read. I can see that it will be dipped into repeatedly, and parts of it will be gone over many times to extract more ideas for developing our business.  Discovering the Lovemarks website felt like a fabulous bonus.

Expanding on the ideas of what comes beyond building a brand, Lovemarks incorporate elements of mystery, storytelling and intimacy. Once you've read this book, you start to recognise these qualities in the messages created by some of your favourite brands. The Lovemark stories submitted on the site make interesting reading too. Once you've read Lovemarks, its quite possible that you'll never look at brands in quite the same way again. I know I won't.

A Positively Inspiring Presentation

For once I remembered to check the programme for the Cambridge Science Festival in time to select at least one event to attend.  In the past I’ve heard some fascinating talks and taken my children to take part in some excellent hands-on demonstrations at the annual festival. I’m always annoyed with myself in the years when I miss out because I’ve not checked the programme early enough.

This year was an exception. Chris and I went to listen to a lecture by Nick Baylis on Tuesday night. Not only is Nick’s approach to positive psychology refreshingly pragmatic and useful – his style of presenting is relaxed and easy. I left wanting more information so have bought his latest book, Learning from Wonderful Lives, and so far have had to resist the temptation to start dipping into it before I finish the ones I already have on the go.

That’s pretty tough so I’m off to catch up on my reading now…

The Female Brain

Andrea Learned writes about a newly published book on the female brain. The gender difference has been the focus of an increasing array of books, blogs, training programmes and conversations in the corporate world over the past decade.

The Female Brain covers aspects of development from puberty onward and, as such, isn’t specifically a business book. But it does talk about female buying behaviour. Reading the Amazon reviews I found a comment on the reason there are fewer females than males in scientific roles. (Hint: women have more affinity with roles that include a high degree of communication. Science-based jobs are more likely to be solitary)

Female working styles and buying patterns are clearly important topics for business. Diversity has become much more than just a buzz word these days. It isn’t just the subject of a good moan about senior management, it isn’t just an excuse for a training day out of the office, and it isn’t just about the glass ceiling.

We were recently asked to develop a Diversity Culture assessment to measure cross-gender attitudes and working relations. It has been commissioned and piloted by a major high street bank (which means this subject is being taken seriously by people who are serious about business). Ultimately, it will be companies like this that gain market share – not only because they are conscious of having to create a culture where women feel valued as employees.  If they recognise the key part women play in managing their business, they will have greater retention of women as employees and also as customers.

But this is just my view. If you’re interested in finding out more about women at work, the people to talk to are Eve-olution Ltd – our partners in developing the Diversity Culture assessment.