Extreme Question Challenge

The Extreme Question Challenge Video by Liz Wiseman

Leading Like A Multiplier in Detroit

Why do some leaders drain all the intelligence and capability out of their teams while other leaders amplify intelligence and capability? This was one of the questions that led Liz Wiseman, former Vice President at Oracle, to research 150 leaders from around the world.

She discovered that while leaders who drain intelligence (Diminisher) and leaders that amplify intelligence (Multipliers) did many things the same, there are five key behaviors that separate the two types of leaders and the results that their teams achieve. These findings are the focus of her Wall Street Journal bestselling book “Multiplier: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter”.

The research suggests that Multipliers can receive much more from their teams (even twice as much) without adding resources or overhead. Addition information can be found in two of Liz’s Harvard Business Review articles, Managing Yourself: Bringing Out the Best in Your People and Smart Leaders Get More Out of the Employees They Have.

The Man Who Saved the Union: A Q&A with Author H.W. Brands

Pulitzer Prize nominee H.W. Brands’ latest book, The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace, is a masterful biography of the Civil War general and two-term president who saved the Union twice, on the battlefield and in the White House, holding the country together at two critical turning points in our history. Brands is also the author of Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin.

Thanks Mr. Brands for taking time from your busy schedule to answer a few questions.

 

Q. Why did you write The Man Who Saved the Union?

A. I wanted to tell the story of how the Union almost fell apart in the early 1860s and how it was put back together after the Civil War. I also wanted to tell the story of an important American who came to fame for being a soldier. Grant fit my needs on both scores.

A Review of Two Must Read Books for All Parents and Educators

For twenty-five years Jonathan Kozol has followed the lives of many inner-city children and documented their struggles, tragedies and successes in his new book Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America. These are children who live in horrid condition and are placed in disadvantaged educational institutions. The most disturbing part of these stories is that these kids have grown up in the United States.

Meanwhile, conventional wisdom believes that cognitive development and stimulation in children, especially before school age, is the major factor in determining their future educational success. In How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, author Paul Tough has challenged these thoughts and provides awareness of the important role that character plays in the development of children.

Both of these books provide valuable lessons and insight into actions we need to take to ensure all children are able to reach the full potential of their natural abilities.

Project Management Lessons from a Magician

I recently finished reading Alex Stone’s intriguing new book Fooling Houdini: Magicians, Mentalists, Math Geeks, and the Hidden Powers of the Mind in which he traces his steps along his path of becoming a magician while providing interesting insights into the world of magicians and mentalists. I had no idea as to the numerous magic societies and annual magic tournaments held all over the world!

You may be asking yourself how a book about magic could possibly be related to project management. Although I am sure most experienced project managers would agree that at times it seems like magic to make a project come together, there is no magic to project management. In fact after reading this book it is clear that we should never introduce any magical tools or techniques into our project management processes. On the other hand both magicians and project managers need to step back from their tools and techniques and remember it is critical to make their audience care. Let’s start by looking at the technique of misdirection.

The Art of Misdirection
You may not be surprised to learn that magic is not really magic at all, but a series of very clever and well planned techniques. Magicians who perform feats such as making objects disappear and then reappear are practicing the art of misdirection. Misdirection is performed by capturing the audience’s focus on a particular object or other distraction while the true ‘magic’ is happening somewhere else. Many psychological studies have shown that when we focus on a particular task our brains can become blind to the other stimulus, especially visual.

An Economist Gets Lunch by Tyler Cowen

Admittedly I am not and will likely will never be classified as a foodie. In fact I am so far removed from foodies that I did not even know that the term existed. However this deficiency of mine in no way impaired my enjoyment of Tyler Cowen’s new book An Economist Gets Lunch: New Rules for Everyday Foodies. Cowen is a professor of economics at George Mason University and the author of Discover Your Inner Economist and Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World; apparently he also appreciates a good meal!

The book covers a wide range of topics from how to find the best (and most affordable) places at which to dine to the past and future of agriculture. It is very clear that Cowen has a strong appetite for his work and based on extensive research, including traveling to and dining at locations all over the world, has created an essential guide for foodies and an interesting read for the rest of us.

The (Honest) Truth about Dishonesty by Dan Ariely

The good news is that I only recommend Dan Ariely’s new book The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone---Especially Ourselves to those of us who lie or cheat. The bad news is that this immoral group includes all of us, yes even you… and your family… and your co-workers… and your elderly neighbors… and your academic instructors, politicians (how shocking!), dentists, doctors… you get the idea.

While Dishonesty will certainly not be considered the “feel good” book of the summer, it represents a very important work in the field of behavioral economics which is the culmination of dozens of experiments and studies that have been performed by the author and his fellow researchers.

For the very few of you who may not be familiar with Ariely, he is the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavior Economics at Duke University and the author of two past best sellers; Predictably Irrational and The Upside of Irrationality .

In Dishonesty, Ariely answers some very difficult questions such as; why/how do people act dishonestly and how can we prevent these acts. He starts by exploring the Simple Model of Rational Crime (SMORC) which attempts to explain the how we decide if and when we will act dishonestly. The premise of the book is that many factors and situations need to be taken into account to understand when and why people are dishonest and the bulk of the chapters are dedicated to exploring specific situations.