(BOOK REVIEW) Imagination First: Unlocking The Power Of Possibility

 

When imagination becomes a habit, it can transform your work and your life.

The above sentence is the rallying call of the authors of the book, ”Imagination First: Unclocking the Power of Possibility”. Through this book, the authors, Eric Liu and Scott Noppe Brandon introduce a new angle of looking at the notion of imagination. As opposed to the traditional or conventional mind set of imagination being the a gift not bestowed on everyone, the authors argue that imagination is in fact a habit that can be nurtured and cultivated by everybody with a healthy working mind. This is indeed a breakthrough as it challenges the cast-in-stone mind set that imagination is a mystery, gifted by the God to whom he chooses and that imagination is inextricably linked only to the man of arts.

The aim of this book or rather the purpose of this book, according to the authors, is to show readers that it’s possible to develop and cultivate imagination. The authors begin with the introduction of concept, which is highly essential. Breaking away from the usual approach of creative and creativity books, the readers will notice that the book is devoid of any funny cartoon, wacky lines and idea boxes. In my opinion, this is a masterstroke on the part of the authors since it will lend a certain aura of crediblity so that readers will take the book seriously. However, the approach is balanced with the use simple language and true stories, told in a light manner to enable readers to relate. Thus, it ensures a well-balanced representation of the topic. Also, the book will not be dismissed as another attempt to get people to think cartoons and light bulbs when talking about imagination.
The authors divide the book into 3 parts. The first one is The Premise, The Practices forms the later part of the book and The Purposes is its end.
In ’The Premise’, the authors excellently explain the what,why and how of the imagination. Here, the authors attempts to convert the readers to embrace the main idea of the book i.e. imagination is something that can be worked on and nit gifts from the skies. The authors define imagination as the capacity to conceive of what is not, or does not exist, or something that may exist but canot be simply perceived. The authors further proceed to introduce the correlation between imagination, creativity and innovation and argue that the 3 concepts are related but are different stages or phases of a continuum. But most interestingly, what I understand from the book is that out of the 3, the most important is imagination as one can never be creative or innovative without being imaginative or having imagination. Hence the title of the book – Imagination First. Points to ponder, maybe?

This chapter contains with arguments to break the myths associated with imagination such as, ”You Either Have It Or You Don’t”, ”Imagination Is A Mystery” and ”ImaginationCan’t Be Taught”. Bold ideas indeed, but very novel. The authors also explain the importance of imagination in our lives as almost every parts of our life depends on it.
The second chapter is a ’how to chapter’. In this chapter, the authors lay out for the readers 28 practices on how to imagine (for those who have not) and how to sharpen your imagination (for those who already have). Careful reading will reveal that the book in fact offers 29 practices as 1 practice is listed as Practice 12.5.

The last chapter forms the concluding part of the book. The authors take the opportunity of reiterate that as with other things, there is no apparent short cut. Imagination or the capacity to imagine needs to be worked on and practiced. And it will take time. And some may take longer than others.
The book comes with a bonus feature in the form of a web support for its readers. Readers can log on to http://lciweb.lincolncenter.org/imaginationfirst/ to further enhance their reading experience.
The book could not have come at a better time. With the present leadership espousing the need to be creative and innovative in discharging tasks entrusted to us, the book serves as a guideline to further increase the understanding and assist in fleshing them out. The book tries to answer the pertinent question that is undoubtedly present on the minds of civil servants at any one time or another i.e. how to be creative? The answer – Imagination First! It is interesting to note that this important part of the creative/iinivative equation or continuum has always been left out or being given little discussion time considering its importance and how fundamental it is.

However, I would like to caution readers that while it contains some answers, the book will not be the all-encompassing solution to the above question. Mere reading of the book will not bring out anything unless one follows it with the measured process of cultivation of the imagination habit.
On the down side, I find the book to be too simplistic. The authors could have endeavoured to put a bit more emphasis on the need to cultivate and nurture the imagination habit. As with other self-help book, finishing the book from cover to cover will not make one’s life better. It wholly depends on the effort of the readers to embrace and turn the printed words into practice.

This is a recommended read.

(BOOK REVIEW) The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles For Turning Ordinary To Extraordinary

 

The Starbucks name is synonymous with coffee. Forty millions customers visit each week and the most loyal customer visits their Starbucks store 18 times per month. The Starbucks employee turnover rate is 250 percent lower than the industry average. From a single store to five new stores opening EVERY DAY (one every 5 hours) 365 days per year – Starbucks must be doing something right.
Author Joseph Michelle finds that the success of Starbucks can inspire other businesses or organisations. He highlighted that the phenomenal growth of the company and how a successful business can grow from using a product people enjoy but take for granted, turn the use of the product into a pleasant experience, and get results, which is essentially the secret to Starbucks' many achievements in the world of business.
Five principles that make Starbucks successful:

1. Make it your own: Companies benefit when all employees understand business priorities and look for ways to bring their individual creativity and passion to meet those objectives. All people in the organization feel a true sense of ownership and believe that they have a stake in the success of the company.
Starbucks partners (employees) think about customer service in a way that allows each of them to connect, discover and respond to their customers on a personal level. According to Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz, “We are not in
the coffee business serving people; we are in the people business serving coffee.”
The people who work in the stores, who do the everyday work you see are called PARTNERS, not workers, not employees. The objective is to get a lower level associate functioning in an entrepreneurial fashion. Somehow Starbucks gets it done. For all of the Starbucks partners, they have to understand and practice the “FIVE WAYS OF BEING".
A) Be Welcoming
B) Be Genuine
C) Be Considerate
D) Be Knowledgeable
E) Be Involved
Be knowledgeable, love what you do, and share your knowledge with others.

2. Everything matters: Not only does everything matter; everyone matters as well .What goes on behind the counter is just as important as what customers see. Cleanliness, atmosphere, a desired product, customer service, are all important and no detail should ever be overlooked.
Paying attention to absolutely every detail gives Starbucks a competitive advantage because it builds intense loyalty among patrons. Michelli mention that “Managers have to constantly put themselves in the shoes of their customers, seeing everything from the other side of the counter”.
There are two must remember quotes that are used in the business:

A) Retail is Detail
B) All Business is Detail

Starbucks management looked upon each store as a billboard for the company and as contributor to building the company brand and image. Starbucks also demonstrates its commitment to social responsibility.

3. Surprise and delight: The most effective events are natural and spontaneous not artificial or forced. Surprise can be as simple as offering a little guidance and then getting out of the way as people search for things that bring them joy.
At Starbucks, it is critical to deliver consistent product and service to delight customers. But on top of consistent quality, Starbucks partners look for ways to surprise and engage consumers in a process of discovery. In an example of the importance of surprise, Starbucks gave out free cups of “Calm” tea on April 15 in anticipation that their customers would be frazzled by the tax deadline.
Another example is the success of Crackerjacks as a snack that people enjoyed that also caught them by surprise when first introduced; Starbucks tries to have new and innovative ways to attract new customers and keep committed customers interested so that the business never becomes static.

4. Embrace resistance: Embracing resistance involves a complex set of skills that enable businesses and individuals to create business and relationship opportunities when they are confronted with criticism. When errors are made, it is important to take direct, take responsibility and follow up with corrective action.
Starbucks rely on good public relations to be rid of problems and criticisms. Instead, Starbucks tries to engage in discussions with its dissenters to convince where it's necessary and change when change is what is necessary. Most companies seem to fight off criticism or complaints - not Starbucks. They look upon criticism as an opportunity to learn from the person doing the criticizing.
Starbucks receives many forms of resistance from communities, international organizations, and at times, customers. Both at the leadership and front line levels, Starbucks has benefited from criticism and utilized it to become stronger and better able to meet the needs of those who share their input.
A case in point is a high level Starbucks executive calling up a person who did a radio show flailing against what he viewed as a lack of consistency in the coffee and service at his local Starbucks. The company took the criticism as an opportunity to learn on a company-wide basis. This is very unusual to say the least. Michelle uses Fair Trade policies as a case in point as to how Starbucks has been criticized and how it has responded using this principle.

5. Leave your mark: Successful business leaders realize that a key to their success is leaving a powerful and positive mark on their communities. By participating in community-based activities, leaders and employees are given the chance to build their leadership skills and grow as teams.
Making money may be a goal of any business, but businesses also have a responsibility to contribute to the greater good. Starbucks does this through financial transparency, involvement in the community, a commitment to making sure that its suppliers are justly paid, and delivering a quality product.
Reach out to entire communities. Listen to individual workers and consumers. Capture growth opportunities in every market. Come up with a practical solution to achieve and sustain success by creating an unique customer relations engagement.

The Starbucks Experience offers a rich mix of frappucino ideas for individuals that want to learn how to apply the espresso secrets behind Starbucks phenomenal vision, creativity, and leadership. It’s the perfect business model for anyone with a taste of ice blended mocha for success.

(GENERAL) Facebooking

It has become trend for everybody to have their own facebook account. Why should we have 1? Here are some of the typical reasons that we may heard from anyone:

1. To have more friends (dont you have enough? hehe)
2. Looking for information (study, hobby, anything)
3. Looking for soulmate (wahh! but it could really happen actually..proven!)
4. Just trying to test market (erkk..got mehh?)
5. Looking for long-lost friends..(yeah i believe it helps!)
6. As a medium for you to express your feeling (last resort, when nobody or you dont know where else you can do)
7. Just because everybody have it..why dont ya?

So, which one is yours? Just one thing for sure, facebook is actually a very good medium for those who know how to fully utilize it, be it for leisure, family and friends matters or even business purpose..and dont forget, it could also do harm if you dont really 'care' about it..

(BOOK REVIEW) 5 Minds For The Future

“5 minds for the future”, which falls under business & management category, is authored by Howard Gardner, the John H. and Elisabeth A.Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Among numerous honors, Gardner received a MacArthur Prize Fellowship in1981. And in 2005 and 2008, he was selected by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines as one of the 100 most influential public intellectuals in the world.

The author’s approaches in this book are based on his background as a researcher in psychology focussing on human’s mind development, organization of mind, and what becomes of a mind at its fullest capacities. Studying mostly on how people learn, create, lead, and change the minds of others and themselves, the author also offered how we should use our minds.
The author emphasizes on five minds approach that are vital in nowadays life, and more importantly to ensure sustainability of mankind in years to come, namely:-
i) The disciplined mind – Distinctively mastered at least one way of thinking through the process of gaining knowledge and understanding through thought, experience etc.

ii) The synthesizing mind – Compilation and study of each source of information resulting to new combined sources that’s acceptable to the synthesizer and others.

iii) The creating mind – An innovator to new ideas and ultimately must gain acceptance from the knowledgeable audience.

iv) The respectful mind – Tolerance and respect among diverse individuals.

v) The ethical mind – Think beyond self interest and to do what is right under the circumstances.

In my opinion, these five minds have existed since the human civilization begins and have gone through significant changes over many years via modernization. However, most of the time each mind approach is practiced or at least being viewed individually. In the book, through study on existing ideas and thoughts, the author suggested that being well verse in the combination of these five minds shall equip us for the robustly changing environment and what’s interesting to me is educating readers of the importance of being an individual with well balanced thoughts.

At the earlier part of the book, the author has made its stance to oppose to the unrestricted free speech via mass media such as newspapers, in particular, the 2005 published cartoon by the Danish newspaper that ridiculed Muslim religion. According to the author, while there is no way to prevent harmful and hurtful materials being circulated, there is a need to distinguish between responsible press versus other medias like blogs, web sites etc., given the great diversity of human beings on earth.
I can relate the author’s statement to a book by Dale Carnegie titled “How To Win Friends And Influence People”, at one part suggesting that we should not criticize, condemn, or complain, in which to certain extent, complements the book “5 Minds For The Future”, to ensure our soft skill or humanity value is not jeopardized with the ongoing rapid growth and changes.

I find the book easy to comprehend, and can be read be anybody particularly educators and individuals at management level like trainers, motivators; leaders of governmental organization, religious group leaders, business leaders to name a few.

(BOOK REVIEW) The Source of Leadership

The Source of Leadership was written by David M. Traversi, a well known executive coach, entrepreneur, former corporate chief executive and investment banker. He uses his life experience, both successes and failures, as well as those of others he knows personally to illustrate how his Leadership Dashboard can be used to achieve results both organizationally and personally. Traversi explains existing leadership literature provides checklists of the traits that an effective leader should possess and the functions that a leader must perform, but they don’t explain how leaders and potential leaders can begin to embody the those traits and perform those functions. They describe the destination, but don’t address the means (the engine) to get them there.
The Source of Leadership written by Traversi has 9 chapters in total. Chapter 1 to 8 describes the Eight Drivers of The High-Impact Leader and chapter 9 is putting the entire driver together.

In chapter 1, the first driver is presence. Traversi used an automobile analogy to describe presence as getting the engine started. It is a solid foundation for the development of the other seven drivers of high-impact leadership. According to Traversi, when we live in presence moment, we understand that everything is connected. Everything matters, not only in our personal life but in our leadership roles as well. We absorb everything because we are highly focused, think more clearly and efficiently. We act more integrity and clarity. We are not burdened by unproductive thoughts of the past or future. We worry less and fear less. We will infinitely more creative.

Openness, the second driver in chapter 2, says most of us, have learned through difficult life experiences to resist "what is." If we once felt pain in response to something, we close ourselves to situations that might involve the same pain. In some cases, this may be a form of self-preservation or protection. However, we often close ourselves off from opportunities because of unrelated pain experienced long ago. Resisting "what is" actually causes more pain and drains our energy. Opening to "what is" becomes liberating and energizing. When we are open, we constantly seek to widen our mind for ideas, creativity and we will see possibilities is everywhere.

In chapter 3, Clarity means the clarity in thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Many people work hard to maintain a healthy, clear persona (the appearance they present to the world) and suppress the unhealthy characteristics of their shadow (the personality and behavior energies that have been repressed from consciousness, usually since childhood).
But they allow their shadow traits, such as rage and envy, to undermine their best intentions and drain them of energy. According to Traversi, when we choose clarity of thought, emotion, and behavior, we choose to honestly acknowledge our shadow traits and use the light of honesty and openness to manage them so they do not undermine our relationships and pursuit of happiness. When we are clear, we find it easy to define every element of who we are, both to ourselves and to others. We will be people oriented, open-hearted with a genuine love for people. We see the good and the potential in everyone, instead of a threat. We will have healthy, empowering relationships with others, ultimately, will be an effective leader.

Intention, the seed of possibility is the fourth driver in chapter 4 and it means employing intention to influence others’ opinions and behaviors, and to change the course of events and conditions. Intention involves a discipline of expressing our desired result in great detail, regularly visualizing it as a current reality, offering exchange for it, starting a "conspiracy" of people focused on helping us achieve our intention, and, ultimately, detaching from it, significantly helps us to achieve the results we want in our life.

In chapter 5, personal responsibility is the fifth driver which is complete ownership of "what is," as distinguished from openness, which is the unbounded willingness to consider every element of "what is." Once we learn to own "what is" on every front, and create the energy that results when you have the courage to say, "I am completely responsible for every positive and negative element that exists in my life," we will see a dramatic improvement in the integrity with which people view us, our courage, and our personal relationships. As a leader, it will significantly boost our credibility among those who follow us and every other constituent involve in our leadership role.

Intuition, the sixth driver in chapter 6 says, each of us have a powerful source of an intuition. But fear often causes us to abandon too quickly in favor of a "safer" route supported by "facts" or the opinions of others. In doing this, we abdicate the crucial role that active intuition plays in life. The skilled and liberal use of intuition such as be self-defined and be inspiring enables our ability to build confidence and thus make good decisions in all areas of our life, adapt to uncertainty and changing conditions, and interact with others in a highly empathic and supportive way.

Creativity, the seventh driver in chapter 7 is a key element of innovation, the commercialization of creativity, upon which the survival and ultimate success of organization depend. According to Traversi life is binary, because there is only creation and destruction, growth and decay, life and death. Stagnation, which is just a stage of decay and death, is not a viable option. The key then, is stoking our creativity in every
possible way so that we remain aligned, and not at odds, with life itself. Every person has the potential to be a powerful creative force. When we have that creativity, we become highly energetic, we see possibilities instead of barriers, we see a better life for ourselves and everyone around us and we will see the path of achieving it.

Connected communication is the eighth driver in chapter 8. In this chapter, interconnected and relationships are paramount and communication is essential for survival. Once past mere survival, the better we communicate, the better our relationships will be. The better our relationships, the better our life will be. Better communication is a function of increasing the connection in our communication. "Connected communication" is an intensely powerful energy or a driver deep within each of us. On a connected path, we are present, mindful, and completely honest. We are clear and concise, acutely empathic, and in complete alignment with "what is." Everyone around us senses the integrity, the wholeness, of who we are and how we communicate; others gather strength in our presence. The system of connected communication, from clear expression of a purposeful message by an empathic speaker to an empathic listener, fuels our ability to be supportive of and inspiring to others and has productive, empowering personal relationships.

Chapter 9 puts all eight drivers together. It outlines a step by step program of The Source of Leadership to embody the traits and perform the function of a high impact leader.

Conclusion, The Source of Leadership identifies and instructs how to develop eight personal drivers, energies deep within such as, presence, clarity (of thought, emotion, and behavior), openness, intention, personal responsibility, intuition, creativity, and connected communication. Each of them drives several of the traits and functions of the effective leader. The leader who develops these personal energies will achieve maximum effectiveness as a leader, as well as a deep sense of contentment and fulfillment as a person.