Have you heard the buzz about Pinterest yet? It’s one of those new social sites that will either be the next big thing or something nobody remembers in six months. But it is a nice interface, and it turns out to be a great way for me to do something that has been on my [...]
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At one level, getting a book published is a fairly scripted process. You write it, you publicize the heck out of it, you speak on it, and, if all goes well, a bunch of people buy it. Thousands of authors/publishers do this (in roughly the same way) every single year. Of course, when it’s YOUR [...]
Continue ReadingAs authors Pfeffer and Sutton point out, there are nearly 2,000 books published each year, just in the “Business” category. There is no shortage of knowledge out there at our fingertips: knowledge about the best management practices, the best strategies, the best structures, the best cultures. There is an abundance of knowledge out there to [...]
Continue ReadingI’ve been pleased with the reviews that have been coming in on Humanize so far. We’ve got 11 on Amazon to date (but feel free to add one!), and a host of blog reviews as well. Most of them are from folks who know Maddie or me pretty well, and it certainly makes me happy [...]
Continue ReadingA few weeks ago, Maddie and I were interviewed about Humanize by Les McKeown. Les is a best-selling author of a book titled Predictable Success, and we were interviewed for his blog. I was really impressed with him during the interview. His questions were intelligent and showed how deeply he understood what we were talking [...]
Continue ReadingGetting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher and William Ury Penguin, 1981 This might be the oldest book that I’ve reviewed here on the blog–the original edition published in 1981. Yes. Thirty years ago. But this one truly is a classic. Remember that I come from the conflict resolution field. I [...]
Continue ReadingIn case you missed it, I got the cover on the September/October issue of Associations Now magazine with an article about the main concepts in Humanize. “We Are Not Machines” makes the basic argument for creating more human organizations, which is quite different from the organizations we have today that were based on the machine [...]
Continue ReadingI have had the book Race for Relevance: 5 Radical Changes for Associations for a couple of months now, wanting to do a review here in the blog. I struggled a bit, though, because I am of two minds about the book. There is a lot in this book I really like. Coerver and Byers do [...]
Continue ReadingThe Corporate Culture Survival Guide: Sense and Nonsense About Culture Change by Edgar Schein Jossey-Bass, 1999 Clients often come to me knowing that something needs to change in order to achieve better performance, but they just aren’t sure what. The specific answer will vary for each client, but more often than not, the area for [...]
Continue ReadingI am a big fan of Dan Pink’s writing, and the first book that grabbed me was A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. Growing up we were told the professions with the most status, respect, and earning potential were ones like lawyers, doctors, engineers, or accountants. Younger readers [...]
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Jamie is a Vice President at MSP where he leads the consulting division. 

