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Collaboration, Innovation and Vision :: A Cluster-Reading Bender

This weekend I went waaaaaaay under and took 48 hours for personal:profession development.

Actually, it might be more accurate to call it a reading bender.

I often cluster-read, or, maybe better stated, binge on a stack of books that seem to have content-related themes.

After Jeff Slobotski’s amazing Big Omaha event last weekend, I was inspired to gather together the stack of the titles sitting on my desk related to leadership/management, organizational culture, collaboration, and social media/networking. The stack was pretty tall, so I narrowed it down to 15 books, dropped them in a big bag and clocked out.

A good friend scored me a hotel room in downtown Omaha. I pounded lots and lots of coffee, a few beers and some sushi. And I read and read and read. In the first 24 hours I had finished 5 books, by the end of it I had completed 8 of the 15 books I brought with me.

Here’s what I did finish during my little get-a-way (note: it’s listed in order of quality, significance and readability):

• making ideas happen: overcoming the obstacles between vision and reality | scott belsky : I am a huge fan of Scott Belsky and think this book not only delivers on solid content, but makes it incredibly practical. It’s a think and dense book, well worth the time required to slug your way through it.
• delivering happiness: a path to profits, passion, and purpose | tony hsieh : The good people at Big Omaha somehow worked it out that Tony Hsieh donated free advance copies of this book to everyone at the event. Pretty sweet. Thanks. Anyway, during my little get-a-way, this was the 7^th book I read and the most refreshing. Totally a different style than all the others, it’s more a biography of Tony’s stumble forward and his graceful tripping into Zappos. So readable and full of illustrations and eruptions of how to create culture, discovery passion, hone vision and keep it grounded in team. Love it.
• rework | jason fried and heinemeier hansson : I think if you don’t have the attention span or intestinal fortitude to really commit to Belsky’s book, then this is the ADHD version for slackers. Pretty solid, super readable and full of helpful management advice and tools.
• the collaborative habit: life lessons for working together | twyla tharp : Sadly I was a little disappointed in this one, it’s not a bad book in any sense, it’s just a bit thin re: content. The description of the book inside it’s desk cover actually has clearer, more concise material than the book itself. The value of this one is the story that Tharp uses to unpack her ideas, many of them excellent.
• linchpin: are you indispensable? | seth godin : This was the last book I read this weekend. It had been sitting on my desk for quite some time and I had mis-assumed that it was one of those books that talk about making sure your succession plan/replacement is all ironed out. To be honest, I’ve felt a good bit conflicted about the whole “finding your replacement” conversation—especially in our community where people aren’t “cogs in the machinery” of what we collectively do, but people make it what it is. So, I was happily surprised to read this one, Godin makes the case that we need to be indispensable to the company/community we’re with—being the very best version of ourselves, the version that no one else can be or replace. Simple thoughts, maybe a little too long for the idea and content, but still pretty solid.
• crush it: why now is the time to cash in on your passion | gary vaynerchuk : I heard Gary at Big Omaha (also heard Jason Fried and hosted Scott Belsky in my library during the conference), and he is something to behold. Seriously, listening to Gary is an experience—like sheets of energy hitting you like waves crashing over your mind. His book sounds authentically like he talks, but it’s narrowly focused on building a personal brand around what you love. That’s not a bad thing, but will only captivate a small population of readers.
• socialnomics: how social media transforms the way we live and do business | erik qualman : This was the most disappointing book. I guess if you don’t use social media/networking platforms then you might be interested in this— if you actually want to utilize these sorts of tools. Otherwise, if you’re already using these tools then it’s a bit like ‘preaching to the choir.’
• wkinomics: how mass collaboration changes everything (expaned edition) | don tapscott & anothy d. wlliams  : I feel like this might have been wasted on me. It was named on of 2007’s best business books by several respectable reviewers, but have things changed so much since 2007 that many of the illustrations/case studies used in this book are already out of date? Also, this book is pretty thick—had it been 1/3 the size it would have been substantially more readable, and in fact probably pretty awesome.