REVIEW: A Leader's Legacy (J-B Leadership Challenge: Kouzes/Posner) by James M. Kouzes (3-stars)

 If you have never read a management book before, this is a perfectly serviceable and book with solid concepts and lines of inquiry.  If you've read a bunch of management books, read on.  I had to pick up this book for a leadership/management course and wasted a perfectly nice June Sunday reading the entire thing.  It's not a terrible book - but it's not "provocative" nor earth-shattering. 

In fact, I did find it to be a bit fluffy -- and could write out the "long" version of this in 8 pages, single spaced without missing any key concepts.   At best, it's a series of PowerPoint slides that have been fluffed up to make a short book with a lot of repetition.  There's a lot of redundancy -- there are 3 chapters about "Courage" -- which is critical considering that most people manage based on fears/insecurities (per the authors of "Mastering Leadership).   

At worst - it's derivative.  There are no ground-breaking concepts, even though the authors were floored by the idea that the best way to learn is by teaching.  It's not as good as Maxwell's "Mind of the Leader 2.0" (which has a ton of repetition and fluff) and no where near the caliber of "Mastering Leadership" which dives deeper into the concepts of strengths and values.

• Chapter 1 - Leaders Serve & Sacrifice
• P 15 “Loyalty is earned when constituents decide that their needs are getting met. “
• Leadership requires commitment, suffering/passion (the same word in Latin), hard work
• P 18 “The most significant contributions leaders make are not to today’s bottom line but to the long-term development of individuals and institutions that adapt, prosper, and grow.  People should never take on the job of leadership if they’re unwilling to see beyond their own needs. If they do, they will ultimately fail.”
• Chapter 2 – The Best Leaders are Teachers
• Lesson One: The Best way to learn is to Teach: discover new methods, invent new tools, design new experiences that will help others grow and develop.  Always provide opportunity for participants in workshops to become teachers. Use performance appraisals as a mutual learning experience and transform it from from monologue to dialogue – boss/subordinate to mentor/protégé
• Lesson Two: Legacies are passed on in the stories we tell;  Each of us will become a character in someone’s story at some point: What lessons am I teaching in each interaction that I have? Am I even aware of it?
• Chapter 3 – We All Need Loving Critics
• “Pity the leader caught between unloving critics and uncritical lovers.” – John Gardner
• Leaders at higher levels don't always lead with “How am I doing?” - afraid of exposure, vulnerability.
• P 29 – Credibility – foundation of leadership – is about doing what you say – how do you know if you don’t ask “how am I doing?”
• Chapter 4 – You Are the Most Important Leader in Your Organization
• Manager is the most important to direct reports; Longitudinal studies of execs show best predictor of career success is the relationship with their first supervisor
• Leaders with the most influence are those closest to us
• You Matter – “Just because your manager doesn’t do leadership well doesn’t excuse you from doing your very best. Your direct reports don’t really care about what your manager does, but they care a lot about what you do.”
• Chapter 5 – No One Likes to Be an Assumption
• No one likes being taken for granted / overlooked / ignored / dismissed
• Work is about more than productivity – people want to know their hard work and efforts matter

PART 2: RELATIONSHIPS

• Leadership is a relationship between those who aspire to lead and those who choose to follow
• P48 “Lasting success depends on whether we like our leaders. It’s only logical that all leaders should want to be liked. Not caring about whether or not you’re liked will never bring about the best results.” 
• “Being motivated to be liked will result in more enabling actions – actions such as listening, coaching, developing skills, providing choice, making connections—will create higher levels of performance.” P48

This doesn’t mean “going along” or coddling weaknesses,  leaders have to build a team that can express differences and still be productive which requires building & maintaining trust.

• Chapter 6 – Leadership is Personal
• “People want to know about you. They want to know about your values and beliefs, your aims and aspirations, and your hopes and dreams. They want to know who most influenced you, what prepares you for the job you’re doing, and what you’re like.” P 52
• Chapter 7 – Leaders Should Want to Be Liked
• “You don’t love someone because of who they are, you love them because of the way they make you feel.” P56

We work harder/more effectively for people we like which is in direct proportion to how they make us feel

• Chapter 8 – When You Don’t See Eye to Eye, Seek to Understand
• Conflict avoidance is a natural human instinct/response that tests dedication & commitment but it's also an opportunity to show leadership skills by working with people who you don’t always agree with or who are difficult.
• There’s a lesson in every conflict about ourselves
• The only person you can change is you: Learn to adapt and change others’ perceptions by speaking their language and serving their needs/goals/values
• Focus on the Purpose and Not the Person: make sure outcomes are the primary subject
• Promote Constructive Insubordination: homogeneity of opinions and background doesn’t yield the best performance or results
• Chapter 9 – You Can’t Take Trust for Granted
• “You have to keep working on trust and never take it for granted” p74
• If you don’t trust – many things just won’t get done – you’ll have more and more work, results in stress & burnout
• When trust breaks down – tempting to hold on tighter, more control – that sends signals that you don’t trust someone – creates a vicious cycle
• Chapter 10 – Let Your People Go
• Create a climate of trust – give independence – increases sense of responsibility and accountability
• No One Wants a Micromanager: hire good people and let them do what they do best
• “we won’t know what people are capable of if we don’t give them the opportunity to grow and develop.” P 82
• Give People Freedom of Choice: motivation has to come from within; leaders can increase team confidence by giving them more input into the process or developing the framework/projects
• “Choice is the glue that binds individuals to actions, motivating them to accept responsibility.” P84

“To make a meaningful difference we each have to make our own meaningful choices. If leaders steal from others the opportunities to make such choices, they steal a bit of the legacy those others might have created.”

PART 3 – ASPIRATIONS

• “People commit to causes, not to plans.” P 90
• “…leadership development is first and foremost self-development.” P90
• “Leaders must decide on what matters in life, before they can live a life that matters.”

• CHAPTER 11 – Lead from the Inside Out
• “Become the author of your own story and maker of your own history.” P 92
• “The quest for leadership, therefore, is first an inner quest to discover who you are … find the awareness needed to lead.” P 93
•  “Clarity of personal values matters greatly to our feeling motivated, creative, and committed tour workplaces.” because it makes you feel empowered and prepared to act, and provides the foundation from which you can elicit support from others.
• Chapter 12 – Forward-Looking is a Leadership Prerequisite
• “You can leave a lasting legacy only if you can imagine a brighter future, and the capacity to imagine exciting future possibilities is the defining competence of leaders.” P99
• Need to be more mindful, pay attention to what's happening now, don't be on "auto-pilot" and look toward the horizon - get the team involved in "what's next" and "what's better"
• Chapter 13 – It’s Not Just the Leader’s Vision
• Leaders have impression they have to be visionaries – but this is not what people expect – they want leaders to be forward-looking – people want to hear aspirations and vision, not clairvoyance (don’t expect all the answers)
• People don’t like being told where/what/when – they like to be part of the process – constituents want to be involved which means leaders need to leaders communicate a vision of the future that draws others in.  This requires knowing what others want/need (dreams/hopes/motives/interests).
• Chapter 14 – Liberate the Leader in Everyone
• Leadership is Learned:  “…leadership is an observable set of skills and abilities that are useful whether one is in the executive suite or on the front line” p11
• Chapter 15 – Leaders Are Followers, Too!
• “Leadership is a dynamic relationship between leaders and followers in which the roles of leader and follower are often exchanged. It’s the kind of relationship in which leaders transform followers into leaders.” P123
• We Follow a Process and Not a Person:  “The key to high performance is not only god leaders but good leadership. It’s not the person we should be focusing on; it’s the process.” P124
• People want to follow: 
• Clear values and beliefs consistent with their own; 
• A vision of the future they share
• Creative ideas that enable the organization to make changes so the values and vision can be realized
• Other people whose strengths and talents contribute to achieving the values/vision & teams whose collective capacity exceeds their leader
• Leaders are responsible for doing what they can to maximize a team’s effectiveness
• Leaders should be thinking about what’s best for the mission not themselves – developing talent on their teams
• Everyone can be a follower and a leader at the same time; Leaders don’t have to come up with ideas by themselves

PART 4 – COURAGE

• “Ever one of us is capable of taking stands on things that matter”
• “Personal courage usually means taking the initiative in moments that matter – moments when our core values are challenged.” P132

• Chapter 16 – There’s Courage in All of Us
• Courage is a State of Mind: Gives one the capacity to face danger without being overcome by fear; persist in adversity
• Courage not purely emotional – has a rational component – requires making a choice in the face of adversity
• Courage is required to break out of your comfort zone, stay aligned with your values
• Chapter 17 – You Can’t Plan to be Courageous but You Can Choose It
• Practice "courage" by opening up conversations about it around adversities, fears and suffering
• Chapter 18 – It Takes Courage to Make a Life
• Takes courage to make a life vs just making a living; meaning & significance
• Chapter 19 – The Courage to Be Human
• Leadership – humbling, hard work, tension between expectations of others and personal limitations
• It Takes courage to admit you aren’t always right; human/humble; it may take more courage to admit to oneself
• Let your guard down – invite others to join in co-creation in something you couldn’t create on your own
• “We need the challenges, surprises, and adversities to strengthen our courage and unleash our resolve.” P 158
• Chapter 20 – Failure Is Always An Option
• If we’re doing something we’ve never done before – getting it right the first time is usually luck
• Professionals Believe in Possibilities:“despite the probabilities, professionals believe in the possibilities” p165
• Most innovations fail the first few times – leaders persist – more attempts improve the innovations and the possibility of success
• We only learn and move forward when we experiment and experience doing things differently
• Right out of Maxwell:  “…failures and disappointments are inevitable. It is how you handle them that will ultimately determine your effecrtiveness and success.” P167
• “You gain credibility when you admit you make mistakes and aren’t perfect.” P 168
• Chapter 21 – No Money-Back Guarantee
• “None of us will ever get everything right.” P172
• Strengths Can Become Weaknesses -- dangers of not maintaining balance, for example: Finding your voice and setting an example are important but becoming overly focused closes you off from the views/feedback of others -->  listen, remain open, learn from others around you
• Forward-focus is important but don’t become over-focused --> develops blind spots, makes it hard to see other possibilities around you
• Collaboration & teamwork are essential --> over reliance can can result in avoiding critical decisions or errors in judgment; too much polling/socialization --> indecisiveness/inconsistency

So, What Should We Do?

• Make everything more personal – use your gifts to help others, shape their lives
• “If we stay focused on the difference and the people, the legacy will take care of itself.” P175

Afterword: The Legacy You Leave Is the Life You Lead

• “each day provides an opportunity to make a difference.” 
• Listen better, coach someone better, more positive, say “thank you”
• Choose long-term significance over short-term measures of success
• Leaders have to be willing to turn followers into leaders, and to follow as well
• “Legacies aren’t the result of wishful thinking – they are the result of determined doing.”

REVIEW: A Leader's Legacy (J-B Leadership Challenge: Kouzes/Posner) by James M. Kouzes 

RATING: 3-stars

© Jennifer R Clark. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt this content with proper attribution.

REVIEW: Developing the Leader Within You 2.0 by John C. Maxwell (4-stars)

 John Maxwell's tone is always very "can do" -- in the first chapter, he's clear that leaders are not "born", your title, seniority and experience won't make you a leader automatically.  He's very clear that to become a leader requires a lot of work, but if you choose a path of self-awareness, selflessness and dedication to growth -- you can become a leader.  It's a process, not a destination -- and leaders must always be open to learning and listening.  

Maxwell's style is a bit different from other leadership books -- he's very practical about the process and provides very clear guidelines for self-inquiry, gaining input from others, and loads of comparison lists that provide both food for thought and a strong sense of where he's coming from in his thinking.

In the first chapter, for example, he offers a list of the differences between a "boss" and a "leader" in his discussion of positional leaders -- who have authority but who are not "leaders."

For example:

"Bosses drive workers; leaders coach them.

Bosses depend on authority; leaders depend on goodwill.

Bosses inspire fear; leaders inspire enthusiasm.

Bosses say, "I"; leaders say, "We."

Bosses fix the blame for any breakdown; leaders fix the breakdown.

Bosses know how it is done; leaders show how.

Bosses say, "Go"; leaders say "Let's go." (p16)

His levels of leadership are similar to many others: Position, Permission, Production, People Development, Pinnacle.  However, it is possible to occupy different levels of leadership with different people or in different situations in your life at the same time. 

Additionally - leadership is not like PacMan:  you have to keep working to maintain the other levels that you've achieved, you can't just coast on reputation, for example.  

Maxwell repeatedly stresses the importance of focus and clarity of vision -- Chapter 2 is dedicated to Priorities.  Everyone who works in a corporate environment knows how hard it is to get work done when everything is a "high priority" - or when your boss keeps changing your priorities and then holds you accountable for dropped projects that s/he deprioritized weeks ago.

Maxwell's key principles here are of the common sense variety, but folks who are operating out of fear or ego lose sight of them:   "smarter not harder" for higher returns or greater productivity; you really can't that you can't have it all; good is the enemy of best.  Prioritizing is critical to progress toward a vision or goal.  

"Proactive means choosing. Reactive means losing" -- another great comparison chart follows here:

• Initiators:  prepare, plan ahead, put priorities in their calendars, pick up the phone, etc
• Reactors: repair, live in the moment, put other's requests in their calendars, wait for the phone to ring, etc

Another way to better prioritize work is to ask:  what is required of me that nobody else can do? what will have the highest return/impact? what is most rewarding?   The implication being that leaders need to learn to better delegate -- and a theme throughout the book is to work to your strengths, and to develop others around you.  Being clear in your priorities, delegating allows a leader to offer opportunities to develop strengths of others.

But, at the big picture level:  "Your long-term career goal should be to align the tasks that answer your requirement, return, and reward questions."

Another great recommendation is to build in time for transition between appointments -- this is something that is hard to enforce in some environments but critical, according to Maxwell, for improving self0-awareness, EQ and renewing your energy level.  

Throughout this chapter he's very keen on the "80/20" principle -- and uses it as a general rule for exercises to increase focus and reduce clutter -- "What are 20 percent of people/possessions/activities that I get the most value out of?" and so on.  It's simplistic but for those who haven't sat down to think in this way, it could be very useful.

Chapter 3 focuses on character and includes a great story about Pope Francis which surprised me.  there are a ton of great questions about "Am I a healthy leader..."  to help increase one's awareness of character.  For example:  "To what extent do I feel superior to those who work for me?"  and so on.  

If you aren't happy with your character, or things you've done in the past - you can start anew each day -- though he doesn't talk about neuroplasticity, he does have a strong belief in people being able to change their character through self-awareness, self-discipline and good decisions that support the development of others.  Character is critical because it builds trustworthiness and you can't lead if people don't trust you.

Trust is something that is the leader's responsibility to develop -- and leaders take risks in both directions; every interaction is an opportunity to build trust.  

To build character, Maxwell focuses on these four dimensions:  authenticity, self-management, humility, and courage.  "Character is not about intelligence - it's about making the right choices."

"You cannot manage others if you don't learn to manage yourself" is a concept that Maxwell reiterates throughout the book -- including a full chapter on Self-Discipline.  From self-discipline, you can establish consistency, live according to your values and demonstrate that you are trustworthy to others -- and this increases your ability to lead others.

Courage is necessary to back up self-discipline -- so that you can make the right decisions in the face of fear, doubt or fatigue, or even pressure from those around you.  Maxwell repeats throughout that developing character requires learning from and accepting your failures and drawing strength from your weaknesses (or "shadow self"). 

Maxwell repeatedly stresses utility -- it's no good learning about things if you don't put them to use and actually learn from them.  This is the only way you can learn and get on the path of continual personal growth.  People always feel awkward doing things differently -- he's got a great story about Wilt Chamberlin experimenting (successfully) with a different way to shoot baskets from the free throw line but giving up on it because he felt it looked silly!

Without calling it "change management" - he talks a bit about the subject, and stresses that people may feel alone when there are changes required of them, and it's best to look at it as a process rather than event and to allow time for people to adapt and accept the need for the change:  Slow down, make the communication clear & simple, build in time for people to process & accept, then head into action to implement the change.

He recommends the "PLAN AHEAD" acronym which goes as follows:

Predetermine the change

Lay out steps

Adjust priorities

Notify your team

Allow time for acceptance

Head into action

Expect problems

Always point to successes

Daily review of progress

That's a really concise change management plan!

Problem solving is another key skill for leaders -- it's important to always believe there is a solution, and to self-manage so that you don't increase the magnitude of problems that need to be fixed (see also self-discipline/awareness and prioritization).  Ask lots of questions to solve problems and learn to identify potential problems in advance ("Stitch in time, saves nine!").  He recommends creating a framework for solving problems and emphasizes the value of shared problem solving -- asking other others to gain their perspective (ie, "the Socratic method").

Always socialize the ideas to get feedback from the team -- and come up with more than one solution to any problem.  Problem solving is often an evolutionary process that requires iterations and input to see incremental change.  Finally, always look for lessons in problems -- leaders can learn about themselves and their teams from the way they handle problems.

The chapter on "Attitude" continues to reiterate concepts presented earlier about being proactive, engaged and having a plan.  There's a bit of sermonizing about "kids these days" but it's a minor kvetch about nanny government that the author compensates for with a great anecdote about beating procrastination that aligns with much modern neuroplasticity research.  Maxwell saw W. Clement Stone speak in 1967, who advised the audience to follow this regimen:  for 30 days, repeat "Do it" before going to sleep and when waking up.  

This kind of positive affirmation works for many people seeking to change some habit -- I love the idea of fixing procrastination like this.  Other self-help fixes for attitude include expressing gratitude on a regular basis, especially in the face of adversity; quit whining - be proactive; learn from your mistakes and always seek to improve.  

The "Serving Others" chapter encapsulates information shared earlier in the book -- essentially, don't rely on your position or title.  Leaders have to work to connect with people, and serve them by taking an interest and developing them -- and they will reciprocate by following the leader's vision.  Always be asking questions and try to see things from others' perspective -- especially how they see you, or your vision.  Create a safe environment -- and measure your success not by "production" but by how you develop others.

As a leader, it's important to develop your vision -- share it with others and constantly refine that vision.  Equally important is spending time with people who inspire you - and always be paying attention to opportunities and lessons from what you have tried:  "Test -> Fail -> Learn -> Improve -> Reenter".

The final chapter on "Self-Discipline" repeats a lot of content from "Character" - but it's a pretty good pep talk that could stand on its own as an article with lots of positive, self-loving encouragement to focus on doing the right thing over and over for continued success.  The author connects again with self-awareness and focusing on one's strengths to see the best results.   Self-discipline allows you to build new habits based on decisions rather than convenience or emotion -- and it's the first step to being able to help others change their habits and thinking as well.

Maxwell again brings up environment as a critical factor for self-discipline -- surround yourself with people and situations that reinforce your decisions.  If you want to get into shape - you hang out with people at the gym or hiking trail, not smokers who just want to "Netflix and chill" - same goes for leadership.  Spend time with people who have positive attitudes and who are engaged in finding solutions instead of excuses.

He also encourages the reader to prioritize and focus -- and to rethink things so to spend more time on activities that are aligned with personal strengths and passions:

"Quit something you don't do well to do something you do well

Quit something you're not passionate about to do something that fills you with passion.

Quite something that doesn't make a difference to do something that does, and

Quit something that's not your dream to do something that is."

Life is short -- you can always reframe what you're doing to see it as fitting into your passion or life's purpose but really -- don't hit your head against the wall.  If you can identify something that you are good at and love to do -- that's going to make you happier and offer more opportunities to serve others as a leader.

You have to start somewhere -- and create a plan for incremental change and growth.  Maxwell emphasizes the need to focus on personal growth daily -- so much of what he advocates is contrary to the goals of modern society which wants to capture your "eyeballs" and empty your pocketbook.  

Maxwell practices what he preaches -- he's consistent -- and his message is strong and he reiterates key principles throughout the book.   You could pick a single chapter and read it as a stand-alone and because of the thorough reiteration of principles, you would still find some inspiration and value in the chapter.

The book has a little bit of fluff -- there are a lot of repeats of stories of his youthful experiences as a leader and what happened to his first big congregation when he left (it collapsed), and a few other bits of random like a list of light bulb jokes that doesn't really add much.  The book would be shorter but stronger if it focused specifically on the topics and exercises (some of which are really great!).

Quotes:

• "Character makes you bigger on the inside than the outside" 
• "How far you can travel isn't the point; it's how far you are able to take your people. That's the purpose of leadership."
• "Priorities never stay put."
• "Self-discipline moves you from good intentions to good actions. That is what separates words and ideas from actual results."
• "Self-discipline always needs fuel. The strongest fuel comes from inspiration and motivation, which are usually connected with your strengths. What you do well usually inspires you and others. And motivation is a by-product of your passion. If you love to do something, you're almost always motivated to do it." (p199)

Exercises include:

- Pick two people you want to influence, figure out which level of leadership you are currently at with that person and focus on using the guidelines at the end of Chapter 1 to begin earning the level above  your current one and to strengthen your influencer at lower levels.

- Develop the prioritizer within you by answering the 5 key questions, and then think about the people on your team in a very analytical way (there's a spreadsheet) with their names and impact to the team, and a second worksheet on how you can develop those people.  The "three Rs worksheet" also looks promising.

REVIEW: Developing the Leader Within You 2.0  by John C. Maxwell 

RATING: 4-stars

© Jennifer R Clark. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt this content with proper attribution.

REVIEW: Classic Krakauer: After the Fall, Mark Foo's Last Ride and Other Essays from the Vault by Jon Krakauer (3-stars)

 Another enjoyable read from NetGalley -- a collection of Jon Krakauer articles from the 1990s from a variety of publications.  The topics vary widely - mostly outdoors, mostly men and seem to focus on the risk of death from the power of nature.  "Mark Foo's Last Ride" is about the death of a legendary and accomplished surfer at Mavericks; followed by a tale of the risks of living near active volcanos from debris flows (forget about lava eruptions; the inequality and risk on Mt Everest;  stories of deaths of participants in the hands of outdoor guides -- both climbing and at-risk-youth programs.  The only two stories that don't talk about actual deaths are the story of a search for rock-eating bacteria during a warm, sticky underground caving campout; a profile of a cantankerous 70 year old Alpinist, and an Arctic backpacking trip.

The stories all feature Krakauer's distinctive, descriptive prose style -- though I find the word Brobdingnagian a bit over-used -- it was a thoroughly enjoyable collection of articles.  One change I might make would be to provide more context at the beginning of each chapter since they often refer to time points in the past without reference to the publication date (so "nine years ago" is really 34 years ago!).

REVIEW: Classic Krakauer: After the Fall, Mark Foo's Last Ride and Other Essays from the Vault  by Jon Krakauer 

RATING: 3-stars

© Jennifer R Clark. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt this content with proper attribution.

REVIEW: Human Errors: A Panorama of Our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes by Nathan H. Lents (3 Stars)

I really enjoyed the first half to two thirds of this book -- it was a straight forward, conversational and highly accessible discussion of quirks of evolution such as human vision, overly long nerves, and sinuses that drain the wrong way -- along with explanations of how they came to be and the advantages or disadvantages. It's comprehensive enough and covers comparisons to other species (mammal and non) -- and extremely interesting.

I especially enjoyed the chapter on diet and nutrition -- this is one of the most clear discussions around micronutrients I have read. I could actually hear this in my head like it was a seminar or an interview on "Fresh Air." The chapter on DNA and then disease were also interesting -- with particular focus on how autoimmune diseases are puzzling (esp lupus). Even the chapter on reproduction being a rather flawed process was interesting.

Then, the book makes a bit of a switch into neuroscience and cognition -- talking about how humans carry certain errors with them (like gambler's fallacy) and the advantages of young people being reckless. Near the end -- the author turns more to a bit of an existential and philosophical discussion around the impending demise of humanity due to our selfishness and potential solutions.

I can't help but feel that this is at once sincere but also a reaction to the usual charge of social science books not providing enough of a solution to the issues they raise. It's sort of general and helpful/not-helpful and doesn't really fit as a conclusion to the first 2/3 of the book: "Our population growth, environmental destruction, and poor stewardship of natural resources threaten the prosperity that we have sought to create for ourselves."

I hope future editions have a more relevant conclusion or summary -- this conclusion seemed a bit disconnected.

REVIEW: Human Errors: A Panorama of Our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes by Nathan H. Lents 

RATING: 3 stars

© Jennifer R Clark. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt this content with proper attribution.

REVIEW: Influence: Science and Practice by Robert B. Cialdini (5-stars)

This is a thorough examination of different tactics and techniques involved in influence and persuasion -- lots of great information from research and great examples.  

The book is very nicely structured and includes summaries at the end of each chapter, along with questions for discussion.  He even offers sections titled "Defense" to help understand how to diffuse or deflect the different types of influence.  He delves into reciprocation, liking, social proof, compliance to authority, scarcity, and consistency/conformity.

The premise of the book is that humans are all wired in certain ways -- we look for cognitive shortcuts to save time and energy in making decisions.  Sometimes this is useful and sometimes, not so much.  We're wired to accept things that are familiar, and to reciprocate and like people and to want to get along in certain ways.

Cialdini talks a lot about "compliance professionals" -- folks in marketing and sales who understand the concepts he describes in the book, and at the end of the book -- advises us to rebel against those unscrupulous types who seek to manipulate us with false information.  

Since the book was written in 2009 - I was curious to see what Cialdini has written more recently, especially on the recent presidential elections in the US.  It turns out that "Team Cialdini" has written quite a bit  and it's interesting reading (start here: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-presidential-election-was-donald-trumps-to-lose-2016-12-13).

REVIEW: Influence: Science and Practice by Robert B. Cialdini 

RATING: 5-stars

© Jennifer R Clark. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt this content with proper attribution.

REVIEW: Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1) by Ernest Cline (3-stars)

 This was a fun book full of adventure and pop culture references that seems more accessible than a lot of similar dystopian books with virtual reality settings. It's a very enjoyable book, mostly because it reads like a screen play with a really good mix of dialogue, description and action. The pace is great and I was able to finish this book in just a few sittings.  

Our protagonist, Wade, is smart -- he studies and sacrifices, memorizes vast amounts of information and makes strategic decisions.  The "hero's journey" is very clear -- and this is one of the things missing from the film adaptation:  Wade's parents died ignominiously, he was unwanted but motivated, chubby and isolated, went off to his own self-imposed imprisonment to pursue his quest, infiltrated the enemy to help his friends and came out victorious in the end.  

I thought that the whole concept of the "lost generation" of young Japanese who stayed in the virtual reality world who were enabled and cared for by their parents was intriguing. I also liked the concept of apartment buildings that were basically virtual reality pods with toilets and showers (which conveniently dispatched depilatories in the soap), but offered enough space for prison-style body weight exercises (and offered apps with lockouts) to maintain fitness.  You get into enough debt in the virtual world and you get taken into custody as an indentured servant with a video game creditor -- sort of a reference to "The Matrix" where the slaves are required to serve the system and can never leave because the cost of their debt & upkeep is never paid off (like coal miners and the company store).

The book doesn't cover any new ground but it's fun and a great read before checking out the film.  They are substantially different as to be two different stories but complementary and both worthy in their own rights.

REVIEW: Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1) by Ernest Cline 

RATING: 3-stars

© Jennifer R Clark. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt this content with proper attribution.

REVIEW: The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50 by Jonathan Rauch (5-stars)

 We've all heard the jokes about midlife crisis and folks who are experiencing difficulties in midlife are often pooh-poohed -- I remember one middle aged friend laughing at midlife crises as self-indulgent, saying "I can't afford a midlife crisis!"  

Would we do the same thing with respect to adolescents?  There may be many satires and jokes about adolescence but we are all very aware of the real changes and challenges faced by humans in this phase of their development.  It exists and it's not a joke.

Well, the same can be said of midlife, as it turns out.  Jonathan Rauch's book, "The Happiness Curve" starts off by diving into a huge pile of research:  dozens of research teams have seen this u-shaped curve in self-reported life satisfaction scores.   We start off VERY happy in life and our satisfaction gradually decreases at mid-life, and then begins to increase again after this midlife trough.  It's not just cultural -- it's found across multiple cultures and samples across decades.  And, it's not just humans --  researchers working with primates around the world, in various settings, have found the same curve in our nearest non-human primate relatives and may be biological.

Rauch defines this midlife slump as "normal and natural."  it's not just a "crisis" but "a change in our values and sources of satisfaction, a change in who we are."

"It is about the dawn of 'encore adulthood,' a whole new stage of adult development which is already starting to reshape the way we think about retirement,education, and human potential."

Studies have examined all sorts of extrinsic and intrinsic factors -- income, education, wealth, fast or slow growing economies, depression, and so on.  The author provides a very indepth review of these studies and how different kinds of happiness are defined (affective vs longer term life satisfaction).  

Humans are programmed to start off big and then switch gears -- so when we get to middle age and we haven't saved the world, we get a negative feedback loop that says "Something's wrong with  me."

The keys to surviving or "muddling through" this trough are to first and foremost, accept as "normal" what you are going through and resist the urge for comparison to others or to your own goals/expectations.  Then, despite your inclination to become a hermit and hide out -- connect and reach out to others who are going through it or who have gone through it:  connectedness is one of the keys to surviving.  Finally, make changes in small steps, not giant leaps -- and build on your strengths, skills and experience.  

Just before that section of the book -- the author gets into the wisdom studies and some very pragmatic and clear information on what it is and why it is important to those 

Rauch also supplies plenty of studies that demonstrate the universal principles of underlying wisdom and where people usually end up on the other side of the trough: 

"compassion and prosocial attitudes that reflect concern for the common good; pragmatic knowledge of life; the use of one’s pragmatic knowledge to resolve personal and social problems; an ability to cope with ambiguity and uncertainty, and to see multiple points of view; emotional stability and mastery of one’s own feelings; a capacity for reflection and for dispassionate self-understanding."

There are three basic components of wisdom -- and they have to be balanced with each other, and serve to enrich and strengthen the other components.  The author uses "Star Trek" as an example: "In Star Trek, undoubtedly the wisest of all television shows, a recurrent theme is that the most blazingly intelligent character, the Vulcan Spock, lacks the instinctive empathy of Dr. McCoy and the pragmatic decisiveness of Captain Kirk. None of the three alone is wise.  Wisdom arises from the (sometimes tense) interaction of the triumvirate."

The studies on wisdom align nicely with the basic tenets of Buddhism -- which may explain why so many folks are drawn to it in middle age, it provides a structure and community for their changing values and beliefs.  There's no association between wisdom and intelligence, "What wise people know about is life."

Wisdom, he says, is balanced, reflective, active -- "the happiness curve is a social adaptation, a slow-motion reboot of our emotional software to repurpose us for a different role in society."

"You may be dissatisfied, but you don’t need to be quite so dissatisfied about being dissatisfied!"

It's a long slow adjustment that is normal, not pathological, and you're NOT crazy or losing your mind!   

The book is really well written, enjoyable and informative.  I really appreciate that it doesn't focus entirely on perimenopause or "hormones" -- but I do wish that there was a bit more coverage on that area aside from a mention of "the grandmother effect" and the interesting bit of trivia that humans are one of 3 species on this planet where the female of the species long outlives her fertility (the other two species are whales).

REVIEW: The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50 by Jonathan Rauch 

RATING: 5-stars

© Jennifer R Clark. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt this content with proper attribution.

REVIEW: Me Before You (Me Before You, #1) by Jojo Moyes (3-stars)

Unlike my other attempts at pop fiction/chick lit -- this was a rather readable book and I might go find the follow-ups in this little fantasy world.   They say that we don't really know ourselves except through the lens of other people.  In this story, Will is deprived of living large and stuck in a wheelchair and casts light as if from a prism for Louisa who is living small and safe.  The feel safe with each other and she explores the world and learns more about herself in their brief time together.   Healing, trust, love and loss and laughs.  Good story!  

REVIEW: Me Before You (Me Before You, #1) by Jojo Moyes 

RATING: 3-stars

© Jennifer R Clark. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt this content with proper attribution.

REVIEW: The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle (5 stars)

 I was lucky enough to get a copy of this as an ARC from NetGalley - and devoured it! 

I'm fascinated by the subjects of leadership and teams these days, mostly because I have experienced great team leadership in the past but too infrequently.   After enjoying "Turn This Ship Around" -- this seemed like a great follow-on.

In the first chapter, the author describes an experiment in teamwork and collaboration -- conducted between two different groups:  kindergarteners and college students.  The goal was to build the highest tower with straws and marshmallows.  The kindergarteners WON because they were entirely focused on the outcome, made changes and took feedback without being distracted by status management.  That's something we all learn as we unlearn trust and vulnerability.

The book presents compelling case studies to support three sets of skills for building strong teams.  First, you have to "Build Safety" -- create environments where it is ok to provide feedback regardless of status or role.  Second, "Share Vulnerability" - describes how "habits of mutual risk drive trusting cooparation."  Third, "Establish Purpose" -- by creating a shared culture that clearly defines the group's purpose, goals and how they do things.

Much like the mythical "work" of a romantic relationship or marriage,  the author  maintains that "Culture is a set of living relationships working toward a shared goal."

In building safety, there are some real physical patterns of interaction that help create a bond in a group, these include:

• Close physical proximity
• Profuse amounts of eye contact
• Physical touch (handshakes, fist bumps, hugs)
• Lots of short, energetic exhanges (no long speeches)
• High levels of mixing
• Few interruptions
• Lots of questions
• Intensive, active listening
• Humor, laughter
• Small, attentive courtesies

When is the last time that you were part of a group where you had that kind of experience?  Would you ever want to leave that environment?  He then describes "belonging cues" which are "behaviors that create safe connection in groups."  This is basic NLP stuff combined with basic etiquette:  taking turns, body language, vocal pitch, eye contact.  These help signal energy, individualization and future orientation.  These are all translated as "You are safe here" by the brain.

Just a few of these, once in a while, is not enough -- "We are built to require lots of signaling, over and over. This is why a sense of belonging is easy to destroy and hard to build."

Coyne also dives into the neuroscience that has been on my radar for much of 2018  -- and emphasizes that the amygdala is not just about perceiving threats but also plays "a vital role in building social connections."  Those "belonging cues" are all transformed in your brain to help "set the stage for meaningful engagement."

The WWI "Christmas Truce" is one of the cases in this section -- and it's come up in popular media in my life several times this year alone.   Basically - you throw a bunch of guys into very adverse conditions, and you find that creating environments that are rich in social belonging cues is critical to their survival and cooperation.    However, as the battle dragged on -- this spilled over to "the enemy" -- and soldiers established "micro-truces" around meal times, bed time, using the latrine or picking up the dead, cumulating in a series of Christmas day truces across a pretty widespread geographic area.  Respect the power of the amygdala!

By way of contract, another type of culture that is the opposite of belonging is described -- it was designed to break up cohesion and resulted in very poor work performance from otherwise very smart people in charge of massively destructive and dangerous weapons.  You'd think people would pay attention to something as important as culture, right?

Coyne also addresses a popular conception that highly successful cultures are happy places:  "They are energized and engaged, but at their core their members are oriented less around achieving happiness than around solving hard problems together."

This goes back to "this is a safe place (to give effort" -- creating connection, giving feedback, and communicating the big picture are important.  But with the negative (say, giving feedback on poor performance) there is reward (belonging).

During the Cold War era, an MIT professor named Thomas Allen conducted research into what attributes were shared by successful projects.  In addition to the projects being driven by “clusters of high communicators,” Allen found that the most successful teams sat close to each other and could establish eye contact with each other regularly.  

Plotted on a graph, the increase in interaction against proximity is known as the “Allen Curve.”  Physical “[c]loseness helps create efficiencies of connection” even with digital communication, studies show “we’re far more likely to text, email, and interact virtually with people who are physically close.”

Many studies since have demonstrated the importance of physical proximity – the informal interactions among colleagues are critical to building relationships that foster trust.  In the past several years, it seems like this has resulted in a lot of companies tearing up their office environments to turn them into "open plan" work spaces without figuring out what works best for their teams.  Not all teams are alike, and one size does not fit all when it comes to building strong teams.

To create safety, Coyne offers a few tips, including:

• Overcommunicate your Listening (and avoid interruptions)
• Spotlight your Fallibility Early On - Especially if you are a leader
• Embrace the Messenger 
• Preview future connection -- connecting the dots between where we are now and where we plan to be
• Overdo Thank-Yous - that includes "thanks for letting me coach you" - as a way of affirming the relationship and "igniting cooperative behavior."
• Be Painstaking in the Hiring Process
• Eliminate Bad Apples
• Create Safe, Collision-Rich Spaces
• Make Sure Everyone Has a Voice
• Pick up the trash - make sure leaders are helping with tasks that are "menial" - rolling up their sleeves goes a long way to creating that safety
• Capitalize on Threshold Moments
• Avoid Giving Sandwich Feedback - handle negative and positive feedback as two different processes
• Embrace Fun - "it's the most fundamental sign of safety and connection."

In sharing vulnerability -- teams can demonstrate their willingness to accept the help and support of others in a way that makes the entire team stronger.  The case study of two pilots and a passenger who happened to be a flight instructor crash landing a plane together -- resulting in the survival of 185 of 285 on board.  Simulations run after the event failed to do nearly well as those three people -- resulting in crashes 28 times.  Coyne analyzes the content of their communication and finds that they shared information in a way that was humble and allowed them to perform in the face of catastrophic systems failure (it's a fantastic story!).

Coyne then goes on to analyze the importance of social exchanges in the team environment -- the kind that open up shared vulnerability in a way that creates a "shared exchange of openness" that forms "the most basic building block of cooperation and trust."

The DARPA Red Balloon Challenge is another fantastic case study about how people can cooperate when vulnerability is shared and support invited in a way that is reciprocal and offers mutual benefit.  That is, he points out - the whole point of groups:  "combine our strengths and skills in a complementary way."

The Navy SEALs examples are fantastic -- and you have to buy the book so you can read and understand them.  I especially like the description of how the SEALs were established -- and the type of training they undergo to reinforce team behavior.  They learn how to move together, trust each other and figure things out as they go because they trust each other and they understand how things have to be done.  He also goes into the rules around a complicated improv exercise with a successful comedy troupe where "Every rule directs you either to tamp down selfish instincts that might make you the center of attention, or to serve your fellow actors (support, save, trust, listen)."

Coyne also talks about the importance of overcoming authority bias to create successful groups -- "having one person tell others how to do things is not a reliable way to make good decisions."  This is fascinating because it goes back to the premise of "Turn This Ship Around" where the goal was to  make everyone in the team a leader -- creating a team of leaders who understand the problems that need to be solved and work together without regard for role or hierarchy is important for these successful groups.

The chapter on  "The Nyquist Method" is fascinating -- it's named after a particularly nurturing engineer who created a safe space for his coworkers to share ideas and sparked ideas with them that resulted in greater achievements than if they had worked on their own.  He then reviews other folks who perform similar catalyst roles in other environments - people who mostly just are good active listeners, encouraging others to dig deep and shape the solutions to their challenges.  Again, NLP plays a role here - or "concordances" -  body language that helps increase perceived empathy and in turn creates a safe environment for stronger teams and success.

Coyne is good about reiterating and building on the tips for creating these safe environments and strong relationships throughout his book.  Primarily - listening, being willing to be open and vulnerable, using objective techniques for sharing information (like "Before-Action Review" or "After Action Review").  

Taking us back to the previous point about successful cultures aren't always sunshine and rainbows -- "one of the most difficult things about creating habits of vulnerability is that it requires a group to endure two discomforts:  emotional pain and a sense of inefficiency."  

Finally, the section on "Establish Purpose" is really fun to read -- as he goes to lengths to repeat, a lot of the slogans and catch phrases seem hokey or corny or obvious but the fact is that teams who create compelling, clear goals and articulate them like that are described as "high purpose environments" because they know what they are doing as a team.  These catchphrases establish a link between a goal or behavior and "consistently create engagement around it."

He also talks about  how positive feedback can create a "virtuous spiral" of success (and no need to mention how the opposite happens as well!).

These kind of heuristics "provide guidance by creating if/then scenarios in a vivid, meorable way" and function "as a conceptual beacon."  These kinds of clearly articulated catch phrases make it easier to make decisions in support of specific team goals, such as "You can't prevent  mistakes but you can solve problems graciously" or "If someone is rude make a charitable assumption."

The final tips include: Name and rank your priorities; Be 10x as clear about these priorities as you think you ought, determine where your team aims for proficiency (and for creativity), embrace the use of catchphrases, measure what really matters, use artifacts, focus on bar-setting behaviors -- and go buy this book if you want to learn more about what all those things mean!

REVIEW: The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle 

RATING: 5 stars

© Jennifer R Clark. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt this content with proper attribution.

REVIEW: Outpost: A Diplomat at Work by Christopher R. Hill (3-stars)

 I get the feeling that Chris Hill loves to write and keep notes -- and much like my MA thesis, without really strong feedback from an editor (or two), folks like us run the risk of putting in too much material without a strong focus or even ensuring that everything included is actually interesting to a broader audience.

Ambassador Hill has had a VERY interesting career -- he even is able to encapsulate it (on page 317 of 430) effectively when he talks about sitting through a nomination hearing in the Senate:

"[...] I was running a grainy slide show in my head of things I had done in the course of my government career.  Peace Corps, the Solidarity movement in Poland, reporting on democracy demonstrations in South Korea in the spring of 1987, meeting in remote prison work camps with the families of political prisoners in Albania in 1991, gaining access to mass graves in Bosnia in 1995, meeting with displaced persons in central Kosovo and helping to provide them with food and shelter in the summer of 1998, a midnight visit to the Stenkovac refugee camp to protect Roma under attack from angry gangs of Kosovo refugees, working (quietly and effectively) with Chinese officials to allow North Korean refugees to get out of the diplomatic compound in Shenyang on to new homes in South Korea, convincing Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen to release immediately Kem Sokha and other arrested members of the human rights movement."

One could make a really interesting set of stories based on those highlights and still have enough space to discuss how the career impacted him personally (emotionally) and what it was like moving around a wife and family as a Foreign Service Officer.

Some of the stories are very funny and interesting:  talking about being in Skopje when protestors decided to attack, using the flag pole as a battering ram.  Everyone inside took shelter in a safe room in the basement -- cracking jokes, even when riot police arrived and knocked on the door of the vault (could be a Land Shark!) and even one Czech reporter named Bijana who was DYING to light up her cigarette.  That was a good anecdote!

Another good anecdote was showing up at midnight at the refugee camp to extricate a Roma family was also very inspiring.   Another good anecdote involves preventing his driver from being kidnapped conscripted by rebel forces:

“I owe you a beer for that.” He kept his eyes on the road, driving at breakneck speed, and said softly in a very sober tone, “Bottle of whiskey.”

Unfortunately, this is not followed up with discussion of measures taken after that incident to avoid endangering his local employees/staff in such situations.

Tips on working as an FSO include:

"Airplane flights always allowed for the best staff meetings even though there was no table and people had to perch on seats facing the wrong way or sit on the floor of the aircraft to hear."  

His boss overreacted when someone was late to a meeting, and his internal dialogue went like this:

On the one hand I thought that at forty-three I was a little too old to be screamed at in a way that I hadn’t heard since childhood.

On the other hand, I composed myself long enough to think about the unimaginable pressure he was under.

This is a great example of self-awareness and avoiding escalating a situation - and after his boss yelled at him, the late arrival walked in the door excusing himself due to bad traffic.

Tips on talking to the press during negotiations:

"Avoid citing what the other side is saying in negotiation. They could simply deny it or say something even more difficult to live with after you have called them out on it. And don’t talk specifics and certainly don’t engage in speculation or hypothetical questions.  Beyond that, there is much that can be discussed."

Tips on changing verbiage in agreements that have been approved for two weeks -- pass it off as a translation error, and make sure you have a wingman:

“Really, ‘exist peacefully together’ is much better English. Ambassador Randt, don’t you think so?” “Absolutely.” (Memo to self: buy that man a beer.)"

He goes into a hilarious <i>Lord of the Rings</i> fugue when Hillary Clinton calls him to a meeting to ask him to take on the assignment of Iraq, finding himself in a friendly meeting "as if I were a sort of Foreign Service Bilbo Baggins at the conclusion of my adventures."  He jokes "Oh my God, Iraq, the real fire of Mordor, wait! I thought dealing with North Korea was the fire of Mordor!?"

His wry observations of Foreign Service worker motivations for working in Iraq are ascribed to specific motivations or career goals:  Arabists who want to tick off a box; a place of penance where previous errors made in one's professional career could be absolved; folks close to retirement building their nest egg with the extra hazard pay.  This is funny stuff!

He talks about the generosity of others from time to time - after accepting the assignment, on the way out of that meeting, then goes into another great anecdote (and reading list) where he passed someone in the hall who recognized him as the  new appointee: "...just met someone on the other end of the sixth floor whom I had never laid eyes on before, but who opened up his heart and his bookshelf to make sure I was going to get off to a good start."  

I love the subtle and not so subtle criticisms of folks -- he presents Cheney as a pitiable figure but not effective, while Biden is earthy and engaged.  

The concluding chapter gives great information that summarizes his perspectives on diplomacy and development:

"Finding practical answers to tough problems seems to take a backseat to ideology. Nowhere is this issue more pronounced than in weighing the rapid imposition of democracy against more evolving change."

"...human rights are not identical with democracy, which is a system of governance, certainly the best to protect those values."

"...in a country’s choice of governance, we would do well to lower our voices and offer our help when asked."

"...diplomacy is not a continuation of war by other means."

Hill also cautions against oversharing on social media -- not everything needs to be shared, and we don't have to be transparent about everything we know.

Ironically... that filter did not apply to some of the content of his book.  Now here's the stuff I didn't like:  filler and padding.  There is so much filler in the form of excess and uninteresting detail.  Like - do we really need to know the details of open bathroom doors and toilet seats left up in Holbrook's private office bathroom during Hall's first meeting?  Or mundane details about arriving at the curb on East Forty-Seventh side entrance of the Waldorf-Astoria, hallways crowded with housekeeping carts as they exited the 35th floor and someone launched an assault on a saran-wrap covered tray of appetizers? Or who asked for 2 drinks after a long dehydrating flight from his host?  I find these things excessively dishy - like referring to Condi Rice at "her petulant best." That seems to imply she got her way by acting childish.

Other times - he drops in an interesting detail that he didn't fully realize, such as "I was not surprised by the call, having been tipped off that it was coming."  Wait? Someone calls and tells you  you're getting a big fat promotion and you know this going to the meeting -- that call and an emotional reaction would have been interesting!

Sometimes it seems like he's writing more for a screenplay and providing guidance for stage direction.  He repeatedly mentions "store bought" fatigues or camo in the discussions with revolutionaries.  I beg an explanation -- what's the alternative? Being part of an army where $12MM USD is loose change found in sofa cushions and you have bespoke camo patterns and uniforms produced? I didn't understand the point of this detail. 

Hall does provide historical background information -- sometimes it feels like larger context is missing.  There are longs stretches of excruciating detail of back and forth minutiae -- like in the negotiations with Serbia and with North Korea.   Those were probably based on personal notes from his trips there but I found them to be too much detail without broader context.

Another nit:   9/11 - it's mentioned 3 times in the entire book.  I guess it had little impact to  his negotiations in other areas? To his life? How did people respond in the embassy where he was stationed at the time?  It is such a major event to give so little attention. 

Finally - why is it that the word "cigarette" is mentioned more frequently than the names of his family all tolled?  I want to know more about the balance of family and professional life. What was it like where he lived in different places -- did his wife and kids travel with him to every assignment?  

There are a few mentions of visits with his kids:  his son went to boarding school; in one move, his daughter said she was proud of him but he was ruining her life; another funny anecdote has his daughter Clara recommending dropping bombs. 

Many of us are very interested in learning what it's LIKE to live as a FSO for decades -- not just filling in stories to fit the facts or providing observations that don't contribute to a better understanding of the situations or people.  I'd trade all the filler for more personal observations about Ambassador Hill's personal preferences and experiences (like the story about a colleague bartering for cheap socks in Chinese). 

Overall, I'm glad I read the book -- it was a lot more work than it should have been and makes me wonder about the rave reviews.  Perhaps more folks are serious political wonks familiar with the details and delighted by the blow-by-blow of some of the negotiations.  YMMV!

REVIEW: Outpost: A Diplomat at Work by Christopher R. Hill 

RATING: 3-stars

© Jennifer R Clark. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt this content with proper attribution.