You make many tiny decisions every day, on every project.
If you are not making them, you are facilitating the process.
Some you care about. Some you don’t. (AIWATT)
Tag: Tim Ferriss
Handpicked: Speed Reading is not the goal, Inception levels, and Rule for Conflict
Plenty to share this week. I got through more podcasts and articles this week than I have in a while. Good ones too.
Enjoy.
Articles I Saved
A few themes emerged this week.
The first stemming from the end of The Obstacle is the Way, see below, where Tim Ferriss interviews Ryan Holiday about the book. That lead me to Ryan’s site, to his newsletter, and to the articles you see here. Continue reading “Handpicked: Speed Reading is not the goal, Inception levels, and Rule for Conflict”
Handpicked: Interns Get Fired and A Fungus Network
Articles I Saved
Building intentional networks that drive impact (part 1)
Intentional networks have shared purpose. They use network principles to design how they make decisions and coordinate projects. And they show up in the world in different ways than traditional, top-down authority structures
Continue reading “Handpicked: Interns Get Fired and A Fungus Network”
Handpicked: Hallelujah
It has been a while since my last handpicked post as life got really busy for week or two.
Here is a collection of articles, podcasts, and even videos I have consumed over the last two weeks.
Articles I Saved
Mastering the Art of Observation with Dan Pink and Amy Herman
“You could be the best observer in the world but if you can’t communicate what it is that you see, it doesn’t do you any good.”
Handpicked: Classifications, A Listening Politician, Grown Men Cry and Leceister City
Articles I Saved
Intertwingled Book Excerpt
Benchley’s Law – there are two kinds of people in the world, those who believe there are two kinds of people in the world, and those who don’t – points us in the right direction. To collaborate, we must admit ambiguity and complexity, and avoid premature classification.
Intertwingled is in my top 10 non-fiction books. I enjoyed it enough to have read it twice within 12 months.
This article is one of a series of excerpt that Peter Morville, the author, has been writing from his books.
This article covers one of the core messages in the book, classification.
I am intrigued by the idea of how we classify things. It influences our conversation and the way we see the world. Many of the difficult topics are in some sense bounded by their classification; race, religion, equality, feminism etc. are all forms of grouping. We like to believe that there are clear boundaries, but the truth is never that binary. Things are never that clear.
The real world is grey. Everything is grey. We think it’s not. That is just an illusion.
It all depends on where you start from. If you can change the way a person classifies what they see, you change how they see, and therefore how they think about it.
I work with ambiguity all day. As a business analyst you have to be comfortable with ambiguity and complexity, because that is where the truth is. Continue reading “Handpicked: Classifications, A Listening Politician, Grown Men Cry and Leceister City”
Handpicked: Listening, Censorship, Thresholds, and Writing
A much shorter version this week. I was travelling with work and ended up reading and listening less than I thought.
Book am I reading (Non-Fiction)
People Skills by Robert Bolton.
The chapter I have been slow to read this week is called ‘Improving Your Reflecting Skills’.
Put another way this is about improved listening.
I won’t comment much further but leave you with a few selected quotes.
Many times a person will discuss his problems with a spouse or friend and leave without any solution in sight. The speaker will often have greater insight into the problem and the alternatives facing him. He may need time to mull over these ideas and options before moving on to a firm decision.
Though it can be frustrating for the listener to get involved with another and not see the problem resolved immediately, that kind of tension is part of the cost of being a creative listener.
That last passage gets to a question that has been on my mind reading this book, and probably gets to something I need to work on; When do you do more than listen?
He goes on:
When people are not heard and responded to, time can be saved in the short run, but in the long run, the resulting misunderstanding and alienation will often require far more time or take an enormous toll on efficiency. Experience has demonstrated that when employers do not take time to listen to employees, when salespersons do not understand their customers’ needs, and when teachers do not hear the concerns of their students, they are far less efficient in accomplishing their tasks. Listening often seems to be inefficient, but when there are strong needs, deep feelings, or important concerns, the refusal to listen is very detrimental and can result in wasted time, effort, and money.
It is hard to take the step back and listen. I find it easy at times, at work in particular. In my job I know that listening and getting it right up front pays off later in a project.
* Emphasis on those quotes is mine.
Knowledge for Action: A Guide to Overcoming Barriers to Organizational Change by Chris Argyris
Continue reading “Handpicked: Listening, Censorship, Thresholds, and Writing”
Heath 