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.

Daily Thoughts 3/16/2010

Stamp of USSR, 13th Definitive Issue. Symbols of art and literature, 1988-1989

Today has been a relatively quiet day. I checked the displays and did some weeding this morning. I am going to finish weeding the storage fiction this week. Try and do are two different concepts. When you try to finish something, it puts in mind that you might not finish it. I am almost done. I also spent some time reading Publishers Weekly this morning.

Brandon Sanderson has a new book coming out called The Way of Kings. I like the cover art. It is done by Michael Whelan. Hopefully it should be a very enjoyable fantasy title. I also just put Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley on hold. It is the sequel to The Quiet War which I enjoyed a lot.

I was reading the Oxford University Press blog which had interesting book suggestion; A Better Pencil Readers Writers and the Digital Revolution by Dennis Baron. It makes the argument that people are already becoming writers because of computers, so it is almost a moot point on whether or not it is particularly wonderful writing.

I spent some time talking to people about a poetry program I am working on for April 10, 2010. I am going to try a Saturday afternoon this time. I also think that I will have more local people interested in this kind of program now.

On the way home, I read some more of The New How. It is describing how there is more than enough information out there for strategy, it is easy to get information. Now, it is more important to get people to act on ideas than create new ones. Basically to collaborate and work together. Nilofer Merchant describes something called an "Air Sandwich" where there is a giant fluffy disconnect between people who manage and people who work. The management is on top, air is in the middle, and the line workers are on the bottom. In the middle is a lot of hot air.

Daily Thoughts 3/15/2010

Art and Literature, William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1867)

Daily Thoughts 3/15/2010

Today has been a steady day. We just finished moving the paperbacks and trade paperbacks out of the Fiction room to a new location. It is much easier to use. We have to look at it and make sure that the arrangement is right. I am still doing a little more weeding in the paperbacks.

I am also doing some more weeding in the storage area. I have quite a bit more to do. They are also shifting near this area.

I put in a hold for The Crucible of Empire by K.D. Wentworth and Eric Flint. It is a sequel to The Course of Empire. I rather liked the premise to the first book in the series; earth is conquered by more advanced cat like aliens. I am rather fond of Baen books and their military science fiction.

An article from Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore about how having a social media presence increases walk ins from the public. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-md.pratt15mar15,0,5002932.story . I think this is quite true. There is a direct link between combining social media and meeting people in person.

From Boing Boing article by Cory Doctorow-- The Most Beautiful Bookstore. http://www.boingboing.net/2010/03/13/most-beautiful-books.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

On the train home, I read some more of The New How. It focuses on how to strategically combine what people should be doing with why they should be doing it and how they should be doing their work. The goal is to get people to work together to create strategy and goals. The book is not about winning, it is more about working together.

Daily Thoughts 3/12/2010

Portrait of Palmer Cox : Frontispiece Frontier Humor, Chicago: Donohue, Henneberry, c.1900

Daily Thoughts 3/12/2010

Today has been extra busy. We had an extra group of people show up which required a little extra work, but it went well. I checked the displays and read two copies of the New York Times book review. We are buying most of the material in the book review. I also showed a film today. Today was quite busy.

I finished reading The Time Paradox today. The book is mainly about how we view time focusing on the past, present, and future. It reminds us not to be too hedonistic in the present, lose track of what is important by focusing too much on the future, and hold extremely negative views about the past. This is not about how to manage time, but how to view and reflect on time and what it means to you.

I am about to start reading the New How Creating Business Solutions Through Collaborative Strategy by Nilofer Merchant. It is published by O'Reilly books. I rather like the way O'Reilly formats their books. They have an excellent grasp of layout and graphics in their books.