Many people have asked me recently for recommendations for good books either for themselves or for loved ones. So, here are a few ideas for possible Christmas presents this year.

We have kicked around many books this year that have explored the irrationality of human behaviour but one that stands out as readable, interesting and thought provoking would be Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behaviour This is an ideal gift for anyone who is fascinated by how people behave.

Robert Cialdini’s ‘Influence’ is a real classic but this book, Yes! 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion, is a more up-to-date and accessible take on this material. And because it’s broken into 50 individual fascinating stories, it’s ideal for those of you who like to read in the bathroom!

Christmas time is, apparently, all about celebration and good cheer, so what better time to be reading about how to be happier! In Happier: Can you learn to be happy?, Tal Ben-Shahar shares some of the learnings from his popular class at Harvard on this very topic. This book is easy to read and provides us with some pointers as to how we can be happier. Only problem here is to make sure the gift recipient doesn’t think you’re saying they’re a grumpy so-and-so.

Once upon a time, it was very common to see a Compendium of some description given as a gift at Christmas. Just like Annuals of our favourite comics, it was the kind of book you only tended to see at Christmas. If you’re buying a book for a new business owner this year, then you could do a lot worse than this compendium of business wisdom from Guy Kawasaki called Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging and Outmarketing Your Competition.

As Greg Canty has been rightly highlighting, there are plenty of great Irish book options available this Christmas. There are quite a few from ‘experts’ with their views on the economic crisis. Too much of this genre is weighed down by excessive finger-pointing but one exception is Marc Coleman’s Back from the Brink: Ireland’s Road to Recovery. This is a very sharp analysis of Ireland’s recent economic history with some challenging and stimulating perspectives on the future.

And finally, to the perfect present for a father-to-be, or any recent first-time father. In fact, you don’t have to be a father to love this book. Adam Brophy writes a weekly column on fatherhood in the Irish Times and his book The Bad Dad’s Survival Guide is a gently comic walk through the stages of being a dad. If you are bothered by the question ‘what do you give the man who has everything?’, this is a good answer.

He claims that companies that declare they intend to dominate everything wind up dominating nothing.

This makes a lot of sense to me. Yet, I’m guilty of trying to succeed in too many markets. And most of the businesses that I interact with tend to do the same. Why do we do this? Is it related to our irrational compulsion to keep options open? Or is it as a result of legacy work – just because we once did some good work in a particular space, does this mean we commit to it forever?

You might say that this is related to how large a business is or how many resources we have available. And this is somewhat true. Bigger businesses can afford to play in multiple markets but it doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. Jack Welch, in his time as GE CEO, famously introduced the #1 or #2 rule (if we’re not #1 or #2 in the market, then we get out of that business). And I can’t think of many companies that are larger or more diverse than GE.

Harari outlines seven steps to dominating and the one that resonates strongest with me is ‘Be a Laser, Not a Floorlamp’. How many of us are trying to spread our focus too wide – trying to illuminate the entire floor instead of focusing on a particular spot?

We spend a lot of time telling the market what it is we do. Maybe we should be thinking more about what we DON’T do. Figure out where you are not dominant, or are unlikely ever to be dominant. Ask yourself the question ‘am I better off leaving this market behind?’ And then tell the market. Here’s what we do, we’re focused and you need to hear our story. Here’s what we don’t do, we suggest you talk to others that will help you.

Do you want to be dominant? Then, maybe the first question you need to answer is ‘what market should I leave?’

One of the advantages of living in a free society is that we have many choices available to us. Very few aspects of our lives are mandatory, even if some of us tend to lose sight of this at times.

High value is placed on having multiple options. The more choices we have the better. The greater the possibilities we have, the more opportunities open to us, the better our lives will be.

But can we have too much of a good thing?

In Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, Dan Ariely suggests that there is a price to be paid for having many options.  He claims that we have an irrational compulsion to keep ‘doors’ open. He suggests that we ought to shut a lot of them because they draw energy and commitment away from those that we should keep open.

This resonates strongly with me as someone who’s lucky enough to have a growing business where many possibilities are opening up with every passing month. Both my energy and focus are finite entities. In a world of many doors, I can’t afford to keep every one open.

So, a question to consider: how many ‘doors’ do you like to keep open?

When was the last time you examined all of your commitments and activities and asked ‘do I need to keep all these doors open?’

If you closed half of the doors open to you now, what difference would that have on how effective you are?

They want to be different, to be remarkable, to break from the pack.

They have found fresh ideas for their business in the company of a supportive group of like-minded business people.

This September, you can join them.

Smarter Egg offers a unique opportunity for you to join with other business people to learn how to differentiate yourself and your business from the competition. Our ‘Break From The Pack’ facilitated learning programme has been specifically designed for business people who are eager to learn in the company of a supportive group.

This acclaimed programme runs from September through November and has five facilitated two-hour sessions where the participants learn from excerpts from thought-provoking books and from each other’s experiences and insights.

More details can be found here.

Contact us now to reserve your place for our September group.

It seems that many have perfected the science of prediction. If you read the papers, listen to the radio or watch TV, you will find a steady stream of highly scientific predictions of what the future holds. Organisations such as the Central Bank or the ESRI, and a myriad of private institutions, release forecasts for the economic environment predicting a range of outcomes for measures like inflation, GDP, interest rates, unemployment and so forth.

Most media outlets report on these forecasts as if they are actually going to pan out as predicted. The headline reads ‘Ireland’s economic activity WILL increase by 5% next year’. How can we be so certain? The answer, I’m afraid, is we can’t. And it gets worse. The majority of these forecasts are wrong, most of them by significant margins.

So, the next time that you are tempted to make a business decision based on what you read in the paper from an economic ‘guru’, ask yourself “does this allow for the possibility of a black swan event?”

A Black Swan event?!

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, in his book ‘The Black Swan, the impact of the highly improbable‘, introduces the image of a black swan to represent the reality of unlikely occurrences. For many hundreds of years, bird watchers believed all swans were white. There was simply no reason to think otherwise. That is, until the sighting of the first black swan.

Taleb defines a Black Swan as a highly improbable event that has three attributes: it is essentially unpredictable, it carries an extreme impact and after the event we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random, and more predictable, than it was.

You could reasonably argue that the financial crisis of 2008 was a Black Swan. Yes, there were signs that an economic contraction was due but few predicted such a severe liquidity crisis. Of course, people are now queuing up with their retrospective analysis on how all of this was eminently predictable.

Taleb’s book is a remarkable exploration of the impact of the unexpected event on our lives. He suggests what we don’t know is far more relevant than what we do know. He believes that we need to use the extreme event as a starting point and not treat it as an exception to be pushed under the rug. He also believes that the future will be increasingly less predictable.

If you still believe you are immune from the impact of unexpected events, consider the existence of a turkey. In the months leading up to Christmas, the bird is happily eating and growing and enjoying a full and predictable life. Then one day in December, he is introduced to an unexpected event. Taleb highlights that the turkey’s knowledge was actually of negative value to him as he had no demonstrated reason to suspect, or prepare for, his impending doom.

So, how do we prepare ourselves for the Black Swan events that will inevitably impact on our lives? Taleb’s advice is straight-forward and quirky: don’t take a forecast from someone wearing a tie, go to parties, maximise trial and error and learn to fail with pride.

My less quirky advice: read this book.

This review originally appeared in the Goodbiz.ie newsletter.

This was the dilemma facing Andy Bounds as he grew up. He recalls how as a child, he sat on his mother’s knee and asked “What’s the best way to describe this room to you, Mum? How can I explain it so you understand it instantly?” This experience allowed Bounds to realise a critical fact about human communication: the natural way you speak is not the natural way for somebody else to understand.

In ‘The Jelly Effect – How to make your communication stick’, Bounds applies to the world of business the insights in communication that his unusual circumstances have given him. In particular, he examines the art of making presentations, how to sell effectively, how to network and build new business relationships and consequently, generate more referrals for your business.

As he describes it, the secret ingredient to magic communication is his AFTERs model; audiences don’t care what you say, they only care what they are left with AFTER you’ve said it. And therein lies the real value of this book. Bounds very skillfully examines the implications of the AFTERs model for communicating, for networking and for selling.

This book is easy to read, and the key points are very clearly explained. Anyone who has recently experienced frustration with apparently ineffective communication, networking that has not created any real connections or would like more business referrals (and let’s face it, that’s pretty much everyone in this economy) would stand to benefit from reading this book and applying its smart advice.

Oh yes, why the ‘jelly’ effect? Bounds suggests that ineffective communication is akin to throwing large amounts of jelly at the intended target. Unfortunately, very little of the jelly will stick. So, next time you find yourself communicating to an audience, go easy on the jelly!

This review originally appeared in the Goodbiz.ie newsletter.

]]> http://smarteregg.com/why-too-much-jelly-can-be-a-bad-thing/feed/ 2 http://smarteregg.com/growing-the-goodbiz-tribe/ http://smarteregg.com/growing-the-goodbiz-tribe/#comments Mon, 04 May 2009 14:06:25 +0000 Aodan Enright http://smarteregg.com/?p=247 In challenging economic times, we all have choices as to how we respond. We can choose to resign ourselves to surviving, curtailing our ambitions and revising what we believe is achievable. Or we can take a risk. We can put ourselves out there, on the line, and try something completely new. 

One fine example of innovation in tough times is Goodbiz.ie. This is an Irish association of ‘good’ businesses i.e. those who are solvent, tax compliant and committed to meeting the credit terms of fellow members. Smarter Egg is a proud member of Goodbiz. It makes so much sense. 

And if you thought Goodbiz.ie was just a bunch of stuffy accountants, think again….

I’m delighted to provide Goodbiz.ie members with some articles on insights gained from books and related facilitated discussions. The first such article was distributed to members last week and is reproduced below.

How business people can learn from plane crashes

by Aodan Enright

It may be tempting to think that all plane crashes are caused by extraordinary and unpredictable events that are outside our control. The obvious example would be the recent drama in the Hudson River in New York when Captain C.B. “Sully” Sullenberger expertly guided a fatally damaged US Airways jet to a safe emergency landing, protecting the lives of all on board. That aircraft had suffered the misfortune of a catastrophic collision with a flock of birds. But how can we explain the many examples of perfectly functioning aircraft that have tragically crashed with massive loss of life?

In Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book, Outliers, the author introduces an ‘ethnic theory of plane crashes’. He highlights that most plane crashes are, in fact, caused by human error. He introduces some chilling tales of how apparently straight-forward miscommunication amongst flight-staff can result in tragedy. In particular, he suggests, somewhat controversially, that where pilots are from can have a bearing on the likelihood of them being involved in a disaster.

Why is the cultural dimension so important? In essence, it comes down to how we communicate. In some cultures, social status has a direct impact on how two people will interact. In a culture with a high ‘power distance index’, someone who is perceived as being at a lower status, e.g. a first officer, will tend to be indirect in the way they speak to a superior, e.g. a captain. Unfortunately, this ‘mitigated speech’, any attempt to downplay or sugarcoat the meaning of what is being said anywhere, contributes directly to the kind of miscommunication that causes planes to crash.

I have explored this concept with dozens of business people in recent facilitated discussions and the consequences for business are quite stark: ignoring the cultural context for our business communication, just as with flying planes, can lead to disaster.

Specifically, two primary lessons emerged from our review of this topic. Firstly, clarity of communication is vital. It’s important to be clear and unambiguous in our communications to our colleagues and to our customers. It is critical to remember that the effectiveness of communication is measured by how well the receiver understands the message, not how good we feel about delivering it.

Secondly, we need to be wary of the dangers in making assumptions. We often assume that other people know what we mean. We often assume that because we have given an instruction that someone will comply precisely. We often assume that customers understand our value proposition because we believe we’ve communicated it. All of this is dangerous and potentially damaging to our businesses.

Let’s stay aware of the cultural differences that exist amongst us. And don’t forget that it’s how our message lands with the recipient that really counts.

He introduces a number of ‘laws’, which, as he describes it, interpret the wisdom of Google’s ways. One such law is “Give the people control and we will use it”. He uses his own story of how a frustrating experience with Dell customer service resulted in him posting on his blog about how ‘Dell Sucks’. This became the focal point for hundreds of other dissatisfied Dell customers and whipped up a storm of negatvity that caused serious damage to Dell. The story has a reasonably happy ending, but I guess you need to read the book!

I thought of this yesterday when I saw Leo Babauta’s post about how he had received a legal ‘cease and desist’ warning from Susan Jeffers, author of the classic book Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway. Her lawyers had objected to his use of the famous phrase in his blog post and demanded that he place the (R) symbol after the phrase and credit her appropriately. However, Leo is not for turning. He is not intending to comply with the request.

But this story is not really about the rights and wrongs of Ms. Jeffers’ lawyers or Leo’s subsequent response. It’s what happened next that is a valuable lesson for any of us who have an online presence. There was a massive response to Leo’s blog post. At present count, he has over 550 comments, the vast majority of which are very supportive. This has created a little web storm. But, what about the impact to Susan Jeffers? Just have a look at the Amazon.com page where customers review her book: the mob has descended and are leaving stinky reviews. No review seems to mention the legal controversy, thus making it difficult for Amazon to edit these out. Not good!

So how could Susan Jeffers have handled this differently? The laws of WWGD? would suggest that instead of hiring someone to scan the web for mentions of her magic phrase with a view to protecting its use, she should have directed that focus to engage positively with anyone who is making a reference to her work. What if she, or someone representing her, had joined the conversation on Leo’s blog? What if she congratulated Leo for his interesting post and at the same time introduced her own book and offerings to Leo’s many readers (one fascinating element of this story for me is that Leo, nor it seems most of his readers, had even heard of the book)? Would this not have resulted in more incoming traffic to her website and also more sales of the book itself?

Of course, many are enjoying the irony in the actions of the lady who has encouraged millions to act positively despite their fears but hasn’t really demonstrated that behaviour here. For what it’s worth, I’m a fan of her book. And I don’t think this controversy changes that for me. If Susan is in the Cork area next week, she’s more than welcome to join a Smarter Egg learning group as we discuss the applications of WWGD?; it seems she has already learned one of the key lessons the hard way.

This is why I’m delighted to run special open taster sessions every now and again to give curious enthusiasts the opportunity to participate in a live discussion with a diverse group of people. We have two such events coming up soon in Cork and there are still a couple of remaining places available.

Session 1: Cork International Airport Hotel, Monday 23rd March, 6pm to 7.30pm
Session 2: Imperial Hotel, Cork, Tuesday 24th March, 12.30pm to 2pm

Contact us asap to reserve your place. I will be operating a wait list so even if the group is full, you may still get a call in the 24 hours before the event.

We will be using Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers as the nominated book and have selected Chapter 7 – The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes as the focus of the discussion. Refreshments will be served at both events.

Further details here.

Not really. In fact, I have managed to finish just one book so far this year. It was a Christmas present and a pleasant read: Carole Coleman’s personal account of covering the US Presidential Election. Obama literature understandably has popped up everywhere. Not sure if it’s due to the frustratingly long transition period or the impressive velocity of the publishing industry, but it’s possible to read several books about the election before the man ever takes office.

Should I have the opportunity to compile a list of my ten favourite reads of 2009 a year from now, I wonder how many of the books that are presently at the top of my ‘to read’ pile will figure in the shake-up? I think it’s fair to expect that quite a few new or unheard of titles will emerge over the course of the year; the ‘known unknowns’ as Donald Rumsfeld used to say.

One of the pleasures of the Bookbuzz and Smarter Egg learning group work is that clients make passionate recommendations for books they have found to be very powerful, useful or just a lot of fun to read. Some of those recommendations feature on the list below and I’m always open to new suggestions (via comments below is good too!).

To the list:

Making It All Work by David Allen

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder

The Power of Less by Leo Babauta

The Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam

Touching the Void by Joe Simpson

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

The New Leaders by Daniel Goleman et al.

Thinking for a Living by Thomas Davenport

The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp

Focus by Jurgen Wolff