Making Things Happen

written by a former Microsoft employee, so this book describes a lot of the process of my job, and the reasoning behind it.

From reading this book, one thing occurs to me. I don't hold my team to a consistently high standard. When times are tough, yes. But I let things drift when things are easier. Perhaps I need to hold them to a different standard when times are easier-- push for more innovation, more research, more experimentation, more collaboration.

It's too easy to manage in an emergency.

Results based leadership

-- a lot of smart things that good leaders do regularly

This book explores leadership in terms of results. Leaders get results. They have qualities or skill used to achieve results.

The book explores defining results. How management often gets what they reward for.

Employee results.

Organizational Results

Customer Results

investor Results

Becoming a results based leader

1. Begin with an absolute focus on results
2. Take complete and personal responsibility for your group's results
3. Clearly and specifically communicate expectations and targets
4. Determine what you personally need to do to improve your results
5. Use results as a litmus test for continuing or implementing a leadership practice
6. Engage in development activities and opportunities that will help you produce better results.
7. Know and use every group member's capabilities to the fullest. Provide them with appropriate development opportunities
8. Experiment and innovate in every realm under your influence. Look for new ways to improve performance
9. Measure the right standards and increase rigor with which you measure them.
10. Constantly take action. Results won't improve without it.
11. Increase the pace or tempo of your group.
12. Seek feedback from others in the organization about the ways you and your group can improve your outcomes
13. Ensure that your subordinates and colleagues perceive that your motivation for being a leader is the achievement of positive results, not personal or political gain
14. Model the methods and strive for the results you want your group to use and attain.

Crucial Conversations.

Tools for talking when the stakes are high.

In this book, Crucial conversations are conversations that occur when people have different opinions, stakes are high, and emotions are strong.

One of my frustrations with this book is that I often to have an opinion. Somone is trying to discusses something very important with me, and I just don't care. The lessons of this book still apply, you just have to work a little more.

1. Establish and play attention to safety. Conversations go wrong when the person you are talking to no longer feels safe.
1. Establish Mutual Respect.
2. Establish Mutual Purpose.
2. Pay attention to the story you are telling. Is it consistent with your values? With the mutual values and meaning that you are creating with the person you are talking to?
3. Listen to other people, and there stories. Remember to keep mutual respect and purpose.
4. Use contrasting when describing a difficult situation. Contrasting is a do/don't statement. "I mean X, Not Y"
5. Start with the Facts
6. Notice your behavior in the conversation. Notice that of the person you are talking with
7. ABC. Agree. Build. Compare
8. Move to Action-- Decide how to Decide-- Conesus? Single person decision? Vote?

Winston..

W.C. always made orders and directives in writing. He never want anyone to say "W.C. said that we should... Or, W.C. told us to..." He wanted his orders to be clear, not  matter of rumor.
 
Always have a strategic reserve. Things go wrong. If you don't have a reserve then you slam into the wall.

Confidence

By Rosabeth Moss Kanter

I skimmed this book. It's not a bad book. It's just that it's one of those books that contains more case studies than conclusions. I kept thinking more of the case studies would have a twist... the winning stream broke by losers with a fresh new approach. But no. For all the sports competition stories in the book, the winning and loosing is at a higher level-- personal accountability, training and effort.

if you look at this book right, it can be mapped to "The 8th Habit" …. "Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs." "Make and keep promises" and the rest of the 7 habits.

I see now that the 7 habits is weak in "Group habits." It's wonderful guidance for people, but it's not targeted at people who coach, mentor and lead.

The work of leaders…

Espouse: The power of message.

Exemplify: The power of models

Establish: The power of formal mechanisms.

Individual and System Accountability.

Fostering Straight talk

Communicating Expectations Clearly

Making Information Transparent and accessible

Mutual respect.

Structuring Collaborative conversations

reinforcing respect and inclusion

Defining joint goals and collective definitions of success.

Initiative, Imagination and Innovaction

Opening Channels for new ideas

Treading people as experts in there own work

Encouraging small wins and grassroots innovations

External Confidence, ensuring stakeholder and public trust.

 

The second world war - alone

What can I possibly say about Winston Churchill's history of Ww2? Its writing worth remembering.

On the great depression-- easy credit meant that too many people with too little income could spend their money frivolously in stuff they couldn't afford.

Before ww2, Great Britain and France appeased Germany in a hope of building peace rather then dealing with Germany's treaty transgressions.

The Day The Universe Changed

By James Burke

I'm kind of jealous of the way Burke can mix fun historical trivia with deep philosophical meaning. At times though, you can loose site of the deep significance of what he's getting at. It can come across as a "Gee Wiz! Look at all these cool innovations!"

What do I want to remember?

That science only looks for what it expects to find.  (That people only look for what the expected to find?) This is a deep circular problem. Sure, sometimes reality laps us in the face with the evidence, But much of the time it's true nature is deep and indirect and we must build special tools to observe it. All we really know then is what our tools find. The model we build up is all in our mind. As the models in our mind change, as what we expect to find changes, as the tools we build to measure reality changes, so will science change. Always stumbling towards the truth, never quite find it. Contrast this with Christianity or Buddhism which, to its believers, has adequately explained the universe for thousands of years.

Trail running

I've started trail running. I didn't plan on trail running. I've never really wanted to trail run. I just started doing it.

For hears I've gone for a weekly hike on cougar mountain. Cougar mountain has many trail runners on it, many of whom are in far better condition than I. One time when I was walking up a steep hill, panting, four women ran by me. They were talking to each other! Not panting. Talking like the hill was nothing.

Last year work started paying for a gym membership. I started going regularly. I started doing cardio two or three times a week.

Then, last weekend, while I was finishing off on a tread mill, it occurred to me that a tread mill was boring and that I could probably trail run without walking too much.

So I tried it out. It went well. I got good trail running shoes. I've been pushing my self a bit more each time.