Net Profit How To Succeed In Digital Business by David Soskin

Net Profit How To Succeed In Digital Business by David Soskin

Net Profit is about building profitable internet enterprises.  It takes the view that web businesses are businesses like any other.  The writing feels very different than writing coming out of Silicon Valley in California, or Silicon Alley in New York.  It does not evangelize technology.  David Soskin takes a different approach to business on the web which comes from his working in Britain in a company that he bought, Cheapflights,  and then grew into an international business.

This is not about the wonders of open source, or how to reach lots of people through social media.  It is about how to protect your intellectual property and stay focused on becoming a profitable business.  He is not writing about how to make a lot of money very fast.

The books takes a nuts and bolts approach to business focusing on customers, choosing the right products, hiring for appropriate skills, raising cash, marketing, and bringing a company into the international market. He follows the conservative ideal of using your own cash and then plowing money back into a company you have started. It is only the last chapter which is speculative which is on the future of the internet.  The book starts with a chapter on the history of the internet and how it works.

This is a book that takes every day business practices and shows how they apply in a web environment.  It is for business people who are a little bit circumspect of the internet, but want to understand how it works and how to do business on the internet.

Daily Thoughts 10/29/2010 (Business Books, The Story of Stuff)

Interior with poppies and reading woman (Lizzy Hohlenberg), 1905, Oil On Canvas, by Anna Ancher, Skagens Museum

Daily Thoughts 10/29/2010

This morning, I started reading The Story of Stuff How Our Obsession With Stuff Is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health by Annie Leonard.  It is very much an environmentalist and anti-consumerist book.  It follows the path of our stuff from when it is made to when we use it to when we throw it away to when it ends in the dump.

This morning we talked about possibly merchandising (creating a separate collection) for the small business books.  I am looking at the Gaylord catalog which is a label catalog for business labels.  We also talked a bit about business dvds.

I did a little bit of weeding in the oversize books and a bit of shelf reading in the 800s.

In the New York Times book review, one book caught my attention; The Gun, The AK-47 and the Evolution of War by C.J. Chivers. 

On the way home, I read some more of The Story of Stuff.  The author is using a lot of liberal causes in her writing.  It feels very politically correct which can be annoying at times.  However, the sympathy there seems to be right.  I am not sure that I agree with everything she is saying.  I am reading this book because it is printed on recycled paper.  Ecolibris is doing a campaign to get people to read books printed on recycled paper.

Web Bits

All Hallow's Read http://www.allhallowsread.com/

If you get a chance take a look at the New York Librarians Meetup blog, it is well worth going to their events.  http://nylibrariansmeetup.blogspot.com/

Daily Thoughts 9/14/2010 (Business Books)

Public domain clipart.

Daily Thoughts 9/14/2010

While I was looking at the concept of coworking I found an interesting office called Paragraph.  Paragraph is a coworking space for writers in New York. http://paragraphny.com/space/ Coworking seems to be a new trend.

I am looking at the purchase alerts. This is a list of what people have requested to be sent to our library. One book which caught my attention was Four Fish The Future of the Last Wild Food by Paul Greenberg.  It stands out because most books with environmental themes are not requested a lot.  Also Sherrilyn Kenyon who writes dark romantic fantasy has a lot of different books being reserved; Dream Chaser, Dream Warrior,  The Dream Hunter, and Dark Side of the Moon.

Today has been interesting.  We put together a list of the different resources available for business available at our library.  This includes databases, websites, books, and other resources.  We have a strong Job Information Center collection.  We also have been buying quite a few books on business on the internet and social networking.

Smart Start-Ups How Entrepreneurs and Corporations Can Benefit by Creating Online Communities by David Silver

Smart Start-Ups How Entrepreneurs and Corporations Can Benefit by Creating Online Communities by David Silver.

David Silver is a venture capitalist and an author of over 30 books on business. This book varies between being a strategy guide to start an online community and a stream of ideas for starting a variety of online businesses. The book describes online communities as being both on the internet and on mobile phones.

I found the sections on how to start an internet company quiet interesting. He was focusing on social networks like myspace.com and twitter. Social networks are described as being successful because of the ability to generate mobs of people and focus on user generated content. David Silver describes them as requiring very little capital to create.

He argues for a different strategy in creating communities. His view is that it is important to be part of the crowd, not appear to have a lot of money, ask for tips, try to encourage people to provide content for you, and create services which people will pay for.

Part of the strategy he is describing is appearing to be in opposition to large media companies. For example if you are selling ebooks, you might tell people why you don't like paper books, or if you are selling music downloads, suggest why compact discs are obsolete. Being persuasive and generating controversy, even lawsuits will generate even more interest in your sites as well as money.

Where the book did not do well with me was the constant stream of ideas which he proposed. It is easy to generate ideas but it is much harder to show how to execute on them. David Silver talked about everything from online legal arbitration societies to social sites on how to reinvent the American car. This was distracting. The sections on strategy and implementation were much better than the suggestions for new businesses.

I liked his ideas on how to create an online business strategy. It very much describes how to think like a social networking business person. The book was written in 2007 and seems to have been right on target for 2010. If you can get past the constant stream of suggestions for new businesses this book is worth reading.

Linchpin Are You Indispensable by Seth Godin

Linchpin Are You Indispensable by Seth Godin

I read this book because Ron Hogan at the Book Bloggers Convention on May 28, 2010 used The Seven Abilities of the Linchpin as part of his part of his presentation on professionalism and ethics for blogging. It intrigued me enough to want to pick up the book.

Seth Godin is strongly tied with new media. He has a blog and runs a social network called Squidoo. I recently reviewed another of his books, Purple Cow. He is very familiar with the changing environment of work. He also has a background in book packaging and has produced over 200 books. This makes him very familiar with the world of publishing and associates him with the book trade. This makes some of what he says relevant to libraries.

In one section in the book, he tells us that the publishing world has not caught up with new technology and could face some very serious problems. He is absolutely correct. We are seeing that with newspapers, publishing, and libraries.

Seth Godin is describing a process of becoming less dispensable in the fast changing world of new technology. It requires an ability to accept change, get over fear, and get to done repeatedly. He is describing everyone as being a potential artist. This is a very apt description. People are being required to do more creative work; post to social networking, work on websites, design marketing materials, blog, and other activities associated with new media. This requires a constant, consistent delivery of content in a timely manner. "Getting to done" becomes a necessity in many jobs.

He describes a world without a map. Again, this is perfectly appropriate. I don't think it is because of lack of planning. It has more to do with constantly changing technology, economic uncertainty, and changing workplace values.

The "linchpin" in Seth's book is the person who can deal with change and technology. He is not necessarily a line worker, nor is he a manager. He is the person who has to do the new creative work introduced into many jobs. Seth Godin claims that change has accelerated to the point where the person who just comes in to do their job or to manage people will become commoditized and left behind. The person who can create value will be the person who survives in an increasingly polarized work environment.

There is a sense in this book that the "linchpins" may be sacrificing their lives for their work. Work becomes accelerated to the point where it ceases being human. Sometimes people don't realize that a purpose of technology is to make peoples lives easier. Loving your work is fine, if it does not become all consuming. There should be a bit on burnout in this book. It certainly could create it if people follow this agenda.

The other side of the sacrifice is a new kind of producer of content that is incredibly visible, Seth Godin is among them. Some of them are Cory Doctorow, Ron Hogan, and Chris Brogan. These people have built a personal brand so strong that they do not need to look for work. There is no resume, nor business card. A blog becomes a personal resume and social networks turn into professional contacts. People drive themselves to become rising stars with social capital.

Everything becomes self oriented in the "linchpin" world. You go to the library to learn, use webinars, take open courseware from MIT Open University. There is no employer driving you to take classes or go to seminars. Some people will not like this. It is very hard to tear yourself away from the idea that your employer will provide you with further training. This is happening less and less....

This book is for the driven. It could be a recipe for burnout. If you want to learn a method to stand out, overcome your fear of doing new things, produce consistently, and take a lot of risks this book is for you. This book might not work too well in a traditional corporate setting. It pushes boundaries and challenges many ideas in management thinking.

The layout of this book is very readable, there is a lot of white space on the pages, the headers break up the text well, and it flows easily from page to page. The diagrams are incredibly simple, a middle schooler could understand them. The bibliography at the back of the book is a very nice reading list. I am considering reading The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida from the bibliography. There was no index and no notes to the content.

the New How Creating Business Solutions through Collaborative Strategy

the New How Creating Business Solutions through Collaborative Strategy by Nilofer Merchant.

This is very different than most business books I have ever read. Nilofer Merchant focuses on a collaborative style of management which is designed to involve the whole organization. The focus is not on creating strategy, but how you systematically implement strategy across an organization. In this book, the author describes how every level of an organization becomes involved in strategy. It also describes how to make everyone in an organization understand a companies strategy.

The book is published by O'Relly publishing. The book has a new media feel to it. If you go to the recommended reading list in the back, many of the books and recommendations are from new media. For example, she recommends the book, Everything is Miscellaneous The Power of the New Digital Disorder by David Weinberger.

Sometimes it is hard to follow what she is saying. Some of the ideas seem far fetched. I think this is partially because many of the ideas she is drawing from are fairly new. Think of collaboration in terms of large projects like Wikipedia which is run in a collaborative manner or Cisco Systems which relies heavily on team work. There is a nice reminder that with knowledge work, the problem is not having enough ideas, it is implementing the ideas that are already available.

People are viewed as co-creators in this book and the management is not supposed to have all the answers. It is more focused on facilitating change. The author calls her methodology, QuEST; Question, Envision, Select, and Take. Question what you are supposed to be doing, envision the best way to do things, select the results which will work best, and take action.

This is a very different way to run a companies decisionmaking. It describes ways to attack basic assumptions, seek out real answers, and work in teams to select the best strategies.

I did not understand a lot of it, but because there were so many new ideas, I think that I will have gained some new insights on how to work with other people. A lot of this book is about managing and coordinating with people without having to control them. It is also about eliminating the "air sandwich" between management and line workers. It is a very much roll up your sleeves and work with other people style.

The book is very qualitative in orientation, so that there are not a whole lot of numbers and statistics. There are some simple diagrams. The author includes notes, index, and a list of recommended books to read. Many of the recommended books are about collaboration in business and leading teams. Nilofer Merchant is the CEO of Rubicon Consulting.

Viral Loop From Facebook to Twitter How Today's Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves by Adam Penenberg

Viral Loop From Facebook to Twitter How Today's Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves by Adam Penenberg

This book is about the network effect. The idea is that for every person that is added to a communication platform like email, telephones, and the internet, the number of potential connections increases exponentially. In its earliest form, it was used by Tupperware to sell products, or people creating chain letters. The book basically says that the network effect is good. I disagree with the idea that popularity is necessarily good. It may be good for business, but not so good for society.

Because I am not a huge fan of advertising, I did not find some of the effects he was describing to be beneficial. It is just as easy to spread spam, unwanted popups, and products that have questionable effects at best, like pornography, online games, and fast food with viral marketing and networks. The tools are neutral; the content is not.

The best part of this book was the technical part. I liked the descriptions of how Facebook, Paypal, and Ning were created to scale based on people inviting others into a network. I also liked his description of how viral networks were challenging newspapers, and now film with their popular methodologies.

Whether or not this is beneficial remains to be seen. I see both positives and negatives with the new technologies. This book very much evangelizes for the point of view that new media is the best thing that is happening today. Things are changing very fast. Lots of people are losing their jobs without training to move with the changes. The digital divide between the technically capable and the not so capable is increasing, not decreasing

The descriptions of the growth of Ebay, Netscape, and tupperware are fascinating. Also the description on how to create a movie using a $10,000 digital videocamera was interesting. If you like web video or pictures, the story of the creation of Youtube and Flickr is written into this book.

The book is divided into three sections; Viral Business, Viral Marketing, and Viral Networks. If you want to learn how a social media company scales quickly, this book will help you tremendously.

This is an excellent overview of the process of building a viral business with a gushing, evangelizing web 2.0 viewpoint. There is a list of the companies which Adam Penenberg covers at the back of the book as well as notes and an index.

The Human Side of Enterprise Annotated Edition by Douglas McGregor

The Human Side of Enterprise Annotated Edition Updated With New Commentary by Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld by Douglas McGregor

Have you ever picked up a book which you learned a lot from, but know you aren't really qualified to comment on it because you really don't have the necessary expertise to understand completely what is being said. I think I understood about half of what was being said in this book. This book is a seminal book on management theory which many people go back to as the basis for modern management practices. It was written 1960 and people still make reference to it.

There is a lot discussed here which is meant for the advanced practitioner or c level executive in a large publicly traded company. It is way over my head. There are portions of it which I can relate to strongly. The premise is that the manager is not in control, they are there to teach, develop, and coach the workers so that they can become self-motivated, self-teaching, and self-actualizing. A lot of the ideas in this book draw from Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of needs. In this book, management is not focused on controlling people but getting people to meet and fulfill goals inside a company.

There is a focus on management by objective and limiting the amount of job descriptions and formal organization charts. In Theory Y management people should be encouraged to work together as groups and rated on their ability to get things done. People are not given formal performance appraisals instead they are given objectives to fulfill.

The job of the manager is described as a problem solver and motivator for line staff and specialists. Leadership comes from training in formal methods of motivation and organization. It is supposed to be spread throughout an organization. Performance is also supposed to be rewarded through a formal incentive structure like the Scanlon plan.

Incentive structures described in this book like the Scanlon plan are practically non-existent in government work. I am not sure how you could apply some of these ideas in a library because of the focus on a non-hierarchical structure which does not match with most civil service positions.

I think this book gave me a lot of insights into the language of management. I learned about concepts like Theory X and Theory Y as well as ways managers might talk about employees. It is not a language which I am used to. One of the reasons I was able to at least partially understand what was being written was that the text was annotated with commentary throughout the book. The commentary was mostly from Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld who is a senior researcher at the MIT Sloan School of Management and Engineering Systems Division. Also, there was recommended reading at the end of each chapter and a set of questions to ask yourself about what was being said? This made it a bit easier to understand the book.

The end of the book had an appendix with the original papers which the book came from. They were short and clear. There is an extensive index as well. Even if you don't understand most of what is being said, you may learn a few things from reading this book.

The Way We Talk Can Change The Way We Work Seven Languages For Transformation by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey

The Way We Talk Can Change The Way We Work Seven Languages For Transformation by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey

This book observes how we talk about problems at work and tries to create tools to manage our ideas about criticism. It describes a process by which criticism and complaints are turned into observable assumptions about the way people are acting. These assumptions are then used to learn new wasy of taking action on a personal and organizational level. The book is very academic and mostly uses examples from academic settings.

The process starts with a committment to change, followed by a description of what a person is doing or not doing to make the change happen, then a list of fears or counter committments against the original committment, and final the assumptions we are making about our committments. The process is very self analytical and a bit touchy feely. It looks like it is something which would not be workable if people were resistant to it.

The book moves from the personal level to the organizational level. I did not find this very practical. However, the ideas were interesting. The most interesting and possibly useful idea in the book is how to do "deconstructive criticism", or criticism that relies on problem solving instead of praise or blame.

This book seems to be focused on a very cooperative open management style. I am not sure how it would work in a very controlled environment. There is a lot of talk about creating regard for the people you work with as well public agreements about change. The public agreements remind me a bit of management by committee.

I have a mixed opinion of this book. There are many useful ideas, but much of it seems very impractical in the work world. Both of the authors of this book are professors at Harvard. This makes a book of ideas with excellent writing.

Up the Organization by Robert Townsend

Up The Organization by Robert Townsend (2007 Commemorative Edition).

This is a classic business book by Robert Townsend who was an executive for American Express and turned around the Avis rental car business. He was also a successful consultant and speaker. This book was a New York Times Bestseller when it first came out in 1971.

This book is very much a book focused on how to make organizations flatter, more responsive and more equitable. The author believes in eliminating most executive perks, removing nepotism, and paying 15% of profits into a profit sharing arrangement.

The writing is clear and straightforward. The book is arranged with alphabetical A to Z headings with one to two pages under each heading. Some of the headings I liked were: Big Wheels In Little Companies, P.R. Department, Abolition of, and Stock Options and Democracy.

The author speaks against bureaucracy arguing against complex organizational charts, job descriptions, complex legal agreements, and secretaries. At the same time he makes statements against oversize companies, ineffective boards of directors, and big government.

The writing can be blunt at times. There is a little bit of swearing. He seems to say that it is a managers job to give people who work with them the tools to get the job done in a a very hands on way. This includes creating a comfortable, discrimination free work environment where people want to get the job done.

This is a book worth reading. In this edition, there is an introduction by Warren Bennis, and three other short introductory essays to the book.

There's No Elevator to the Top by Umesh Ramakrishnan

There's No Elevator to the Top A Leading Headhunter Shares the Advancement Strategies of the World's Most Successful Executives by Umesh Ramakrishnan Vice Chairman of CTPartners

This book is about the process of becoming a successful CEO. The book is international in scope. It gets stories and anecdotes from CEOs from all over the world; Steve Reinemunde of Pepsico, Lucas Chow of MediaCorp Group, Nadia Zaal of Al Barari, Javier Gutierrez of Ecopetrol, and many other international CEOs.

The book takes the view that we live in an international world. It is necessary for a CEO to travel and live in the countries which they operate in. Mr. Ramakrishnan calls the search for talent, worldsourcing.

Unlike most books on CEOs, there are very nice sections on family, interests, and health. It is suggested that regular sleep, exercise, and strong family support are necessary to run a company. It is very easy to burnout in the position as chief. People should have at least two outside interests. This can be as simple as reading and golf.

There are a lot of tips on networking and advancing ones career. The point of networking in this book is not to advance ones career but to get more done on the job. People who network to be more effective on their current job are more likely to have their contacts help them. It is not good to be too comfortable in a job. It is as important to make lateral moves inside a company as it is to move upward. Manage up, down, and sideways or you will never move up inside a company.

There are also ideas on how to succeed as CEO. You are not #1, the company is. When you reach the top, you cannot rest, your job is to improve the place you work for.

On a personal level, this book made me realize that there are always sacrifices in time, family, and committments when you move up in position in any job. More responsibility brings more stress and requires you to pay closer attention to your health and family. At the same time, this book gave me some ideas on how to better manage my own career. I found the book both useful and entertaining.

Umesh Ramakrishnan is the Vice Chairman of CT Partners, a global executive recruitment firm that recruits CEOs, directors, and senior management positions. This book has a website at http://noelevatortothetop.com/

Getting Things Done When You Are Not In Charge by Geoffrey M. Bellman

Getting Things Done When You Are Not In Charge by Geoffrey M. Bellman

This book is about how to bring change and lead from the middle of an organization. It talks about informal networks of power and politics inside organizations. The book focuses on support, professional, and administrative positions. There is a focus on identifying peoples wants, creating incremental goals, and moving from what is to what you want the organization to be.

Everyone wants something at work. It often makes things easier if you can help them get it. It can be as simple as a new coffee pot to as hard as a whole series of new safety procedures. Fulfilling peoples wants increases cooperation. I wish more people understood this in workplaces. Throughout the book there are numbered lists with suggestions on how to improve your lot in the workplace. There is a very nice list on how to identify what people want in this book.

In change you look at what is currently happening, then where you want to be. This is not easy at all. Resistance to change is often about personal power and a sense of being respected as well as fear of being taken advantage of. Any kind of change is naturally uncomfortable, but often inevitable. We have a new director at our job, she has been here for a little over a year and has brought quite a bit of change.

Sometimes it is better to do things in a systematic incremental manner to reach your goals. Even if you don't fulfill the main objectives, you end up finishing a number of smaller goals along the way. Sometimes, larger goals seem unattainable. Systematically completing small projects gives enough confidence in your work for you to get larger projects. For example, I started ordering computer books, then I asked to have more money to build out a larger computer books collection because I thought we needed it.

I liked the reminder about your position in an organization being what you make of it. When I first started, I was in charge of making sure the reference books were in order and the law collection. Now, I am a bit overextended. I am currently in charge of ordering adult graphic novels, business books, job information center books, social science books, ereference, some programming, and law books.

There is a nice chapter on cross functional teams. It is a reminder that it is often easier to get things done in teams than as departments. We started a team for Bridges Out of Poverty at our work. During the last month we had sixteen different service agencies come to a meeting, and created a new services brochure. I don't think this would have been possible outside of a team.

This book is very useful if you to expand your role and responsibilities in a support position and bring about incremental systematic change. The book is not a book of theory, it is a book of practice. There are numerous lists of specific actions which you can take. The book has an index and bibliography. It was written in 1992, but almost everything still feels very relevant. There was a second edition printed in 2001. It was based on an earlier title, The Quest For Staff Leadership I would call this a classic of business writing.

Getting Things Done The Art of Stress Free Productivity by David Allen

Getting Things Done The Art of Stress Free Productivity by David Allen.

This book is about how to be more organized. It describes how to use organization to become more productive towards reaching your goals. The methods are focused on a combination of workflows, peak productivity, and translating your goals into immediate actions.

I have very mixed reactions to this book. I rather like the idea of a to do list being a list of actions instead of goals. This makes sense for me. I believe in the principle of actions leading towards finishing goals. This is very similar to the idea of MBO (Management by Objectives).

One of the things I don't like is the work flow charts he uses to show how to accomplish goals. They seem much too complicated in my eyes. They look like something a consultant might cook up to get extra billable hours.

I also didn't like the idea of creating daily folders 1-31, and monthly folders, January-December. It seemed like this would work if you had an executive assistant to help you, but not if you were on your own. They system is called a tickler file system.

I also don't like the long process he uses before you decide to act: 1. Ask why you are doing this. 2. Look at the principles behind the goal. 3. Envision a clear outcome. 4. Brainstorm about the outcome. 5. Organize your brainstorming. 6. Perform the action. It is much too long in my opinion.

He claims that if you process all your stuff until you can do things one at a time, you will enter a zen like state of peak performance. This seems a little unreal to me. There is nothing about the meditative practices to do this. To do this you must go through absolutely everything you are doing and write it down.

Parts of his organizational ideas make sense. Keep the systems you need to organize your office simple and straightforward, use manila folders, staplers, a labeling machine, paperclips, a calendar, in box trays, pens, and a wastebasket. Have a few filing cabinets and a clear workspace. Do this for both your home and your business. It is imperative to be organized in both places.

Another idea that makes sense is to always keep a noteboook and pen with you so you can write down ideas that come to you when you least expect them. I have started carrying a small notebook and pen with me.

I also like the way he envisions things. What is immediately in front of you is on a horizontal plane, what is to be done in the future is on a vertical plane going higher and higher like an airplane. In the airplane idea, you start on the runway with immediate goals then rise into the air finally reaching life goals.

It reminds me that I have to focus a little more on future goals; learning microsoft office products, attending conferences, and longer career goals. I am going to pay my Westchester Library Association dues because the book reminded me about it. Because the airplane starts on the

He reminds us that we should keep a file for future ideas in our drawers, things which we cannot do immediately. Also a file for important documents that you might need to reference in the future.

This book is such a mix of good and bad ideas that I think you will probably learn a few things as well ask yourself why is he suggesting that? David Allen's suggestions can be a real puzzler sometimes. I think it could have been simplified and clarified more in a few parts.

The writing is typical of most business writing. I would call it simple and practical, but not that entertaining. The quotes in the margins are interesting-- "We must strive to reach that simplicity that lies beyond sophistication."-- John Gardner. There was an index in the back of the book, but no bibliography or notes.

Getting Things Done is a bestseller on the New York Times Bestseller business list.

Good Morning, Films Based on Graphic Novels or Books

E.B. White (Elwyn Brooks White) Author of Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little, editor of the Elements of Style. A great writer.

Good Morning

Last night, I tried to read Teach Yourself Negotiating by Phil Baguley. I honestly tried to read it, but the writing was very tepid. It was thick and boring. The content itself wasn't bad. It probably was very good advice, but it had a soporific effect on me. I had to put the book down about halfway through it.

I am starting on reading Guerrilla Negotiating Unconventional Weapons and Tactics to Get What You Want by Jay Conrad Levinson. This book so far has caught my attention and held it. The writing is gripping. The book describes you as a guerrilla who is fighting an unconventional war to win in business. Strategies are described as you being a maverick out to change your business into a winning position. It is quite appealing. The content might not be that different than the first book, but the style certainly is.

There really is no excuse for when people write poorly, no matter what the subject is. A good writer can make almost any subject interesting. At least, this is what I believe. Writing should hold peoples attention with a little bit of wit, even if it is a textbook on plumbing. All it takes is a little bit of extra effort on the writers part.

I also watched Ultimate Avengers 2, Rise of the Panther an animated Marvel comics feature. I really enjoyed it. It was fun seeing the classic Marvel characters of Thor, Ironman, Black Panther, Giant Man, Black Widow, Wasp, Captain America and Nick Fury in action. The interaction of the superheroes was the best part of the film. The villains were cookie cutter evil aliens.

The imaginary African kingdom of Wakanda was also quite interesting. Black Panther is the king of Wakanda. The theme of isolationism and refusal to let outsiders into Wakanda added to the back story. Of course the heros win, but one of them dies which adds to the melodrama. Captain America is especially well done in this animation. He is not just portrayed as a superhero, but as a supersoldier in the service of the American government. Also Thor casts runes and speaks to Odin revealing his connection to Asgard.

The film had a lot of action in it. Most of the film was fighting the evil aliens. One of the aliens is a shapechanger who fought Captain America during World War II. There is also the evil alien superscience with the weird metal vibranium. Vibranium is something which might have come out of Flash Gordon or Buckaroo Banzai.

The animation special feature includes a clip on the making of the animated movie. The talent used in the film is all top notch, Joe Quesada, Mark Millar, Stan Lee, Greg Johnson, and many others made the film possible. If you like superhero comics this is a very good set of animation. It also is a standalone film. The authors specifically wrote the film so you would not have to have read the comic books to understand what was happening.

The Ultimates comics are a revamping of the older comics like X-Men and Spiderman for a new audience. We bought the Ultimate X-Men and the Ultimate Spiderman graphic novels for our library for the young adult collection because they are a rewrite of the old storyline for a more modern audience.

I just started two threads on Blogcatalog discussing Films based on Graphic Novels, and Films Based on Authors lives. I am looking to get a new list of films to watch. So far people have suggested Barfly about Charles Bukowski and A Mighty Heart about the Wall Street Journal Reporter Danny Pearl. Both are probably films I might want to watch.

Two other films were mentioned, Capote and Shakespeare In Love. Both sound like very interesting films.

Winning by Jack Welch and Suzy Welch

Winning by Jack Welch and Suzy Welch

This book is about business and how to succed in business. It is very candid. There is a certain hard edge to the book despite its very positive presentation. Jack Welch likes to differentiate the top 20% best players, the 70% in the middle, and the 10% on the bottom on the way out. A lot of this book is about how not to be in the bottom 10% despite being advertised as being how to win.

A lot of the basics of business are covered; mission statements and values, what makes a winner, how to succeed in your career, and how to have a positive energetic attitude that will lead to success. Jack Welch was very successful in his career; at the same time some people described him as being too candid and willing to fire people too quickly.

He warns people against complaining and resisting change. The best way to get out of a hard situation is to either buy in to change or move on somewhere else. He tells you that a sure way not to get a new job is to complain about your current job, underperform, and sent out resumes to everyone in existence. According to him, the best way to find new work is to improve your performance so you stand out.

There are many insightful ideas in this book which I found quite useful. Jack Welch says that many of his ideas came from working at General Electric as well as teaching and consulting after retirement. He describes how he has learned from many different people, not just fellow CEOs.

One of his ideas is that organized people automatically have better work life balance. This is because they are more able to do more at work and at home. Organization and time management are something I am working on.

The book is well organized and easy to follow. Winning was a bestselling business book. It will remain a mainstay of business reading for a long time. If you are interested in the basics of how to succeed in a career or business this book offers a lot of insight.

Winning The Answers Confronting 74 of the Toughest Questions In Business Today by Jack and Suzy Welch

Winning The Answers Confronting 74 of the Toughest Questions In Business Today by Jack and Suzy Welch

This book consists of 74 chapters. Each chapter is headed by question related to business and success. The questions cover all aspects of business from resistance to a new boss, what to do if you are promoted, when you should leave a company, and how to win in the world. Here is an example question.

"Do tough bosses get more out of people? Of course they get short term results -- but do they really help a company win in the long run?" The answer is complicated, the Welch's ask what is tough? Being tough can make things go wrong if it is purely spiteful or pushy.

Some of the answers are not what you would expect. There is a consistent theme about resistance to change and complaining a lot being very bad for your career. In any career people prefer people who are positive and upbeat.

I definitely do not meet the Welch's definition of what a good salesperson or entrepreneur is. I don't have an incredible new idea or am constantly seeking new ways to expand my market share. Well, I sort of am with this blog. I also realize that I have to improve my organization and scheduling skills before I go anywhere else.

There are some excellent tips on goal setting in this book. The Welch's believe in incremental goal setting. Setting goals which you can reach in a practical, systematic manner. This is what separates the winners from the losers. Being able to reach life goals in a clear consistent way whatever they are is what makes a winner. It does not matter whether it is helping the homeless, becoming a published poet, or starting a successful business. Those who win set goals and achieve them consistently.

This book is a useful, practical book. It is very easy to read. The writing is very direct. There is no obfuscation or jargon. I recognized some of my own strengths and weaknesses in many of the questions. Many of the questions are universal in nature and would be useful to people anywhere in the world.

I didn't focus on the questions on China, Russia, and international business which I am sure would help some people. I focused on the questions which would help me in my own career. The book makes me want read the first book, Winning by Jack.

Morning Thoughts, Afternoon Thoughts

A scene from the cartoon Superman The Mechanical Monsters. I don't know quite why I chose this image today.

Morning Thoughts

I have been having problems with Entrecard at home. I think my browser is not working correctly on my home computer so I can't login from home. I can login from other places. This makes it a bit difficult to use this service right now.

This morning, I went through the Demco catalog, the Gaylord catalog, and the Librarian's Yellowpages http://www.librariansyellowpages.com/ to look for furniture and some other items like book displays. We need a new globe, I am requesting the Pioneer Political Globe to replace our old globe which is long outdated. I'm also looking at some clear plastic wall shelving for papers and handouts in the Job Information Center. I am also requesting some clear plastic bookstands, both single tier and three tier stands for display materials.

I am probably going to do some more weeding this afternoon.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie premiered yesterday in Los Angeles, so we are going to buy some more of the Star Wars Clone Wars graphic novels. It should spawn various books as well. I hope they did a better job with this movie than they did with the last one.

I am reading Saturn's Children by Charles Stross. Think Barbarella meets James Bond in the far future where everyone is an android. It is fun, sexy, and very entertaining. There is some really interesting writing here. Charles Stross recently won the Hugo Award for Halting State. He is currently one of my favorite authors. This is a link to his online Journal http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/index.html. He has a computer science and pharmaceutical background so he uses a lot of hard science in his writing.

Afternoon Thoughts

I have been weeding the business management collection, the 600s. It is a slow tedious process where it is better to be careful than anything else. The collection is packed with older books, some of them are quite interesting. There are books by Robert Half, Peter Drucker, Jack Welch and many prominent business writers.

Another book came in for me to read, Reaper's Gale, A Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. I really like the character Karsa Orlong in this series. He is one of my favorite swords and sorcery heros.

Twitterku, More Business Ordering, Random Thoughts

Twitterku

Twitter is the near perfect medium for impromptu haiku. I have written two of them as part of my messages so far. I'll probably write more. It is very easy to integrate them into messages.

Coffee drifts in my dreams
Sweet burnt smoke in a hot cup
Drink it down with milk.

Waking in morning
*Birds chirp outside the window
*Summer is now here.

More Business Ordering

I went through and ordered more business books. An awful lot of the books are motivational hype in the business management area. I wish there were more how to run things books; how to write email, run an office, manage a team, and similar things. There is a little voice that seems to come from the books which says do more no matter what. I wish people would focus a little more on working smart.

After looking at hundreds of business management books, I found a hyped out title that seemed right on target. The cover was even bright canary yellow. Impact How To Get Noticed, Motivate Millions, and Make a Difference In a Noisy World by Ken MacArthur. This is a really well done title, it reaches out and grabs your attention immediately.

Random Thoughts

I am going to stop ordering for the next couple days. My next set of ordering is Social Science books. I think it should be a bit more interesting for me because it includes a lot of very interesting trends like globalization, environmental issues, green issues, investing, and economics.

I did some switching out of the law books. I brought up some new McKinneys New York Annotated and United States Code Annotated. I have some looseleaf material to file as well.

One new book came in for me to read Green: Your Place In The New Energy Revolution by Jane S. Hoffman. I hope it is an entertaining read.

I am about halfway through reading The Long Tail by Chris Anderson.