My top 5 Books for 2010

Shelley — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 09:00:58 +0000

The books I couldn’t put down in 2010

Self-Promotion for Introverts: The Quiet Guide to Getting Ahead by Nancy Ancowitz – as an introvert this book has been a great reference and affirmation for what works for me and what doesn’t when it comes to promoting myself. I learned I was already doing alot to honor my own style. Not necessarily the way an extrovert would but one that works for me. I wrote several posts about my experiences with Nancy both as an instructor for self-promotion and presentation skills for introverts.
Below are the posts: –
Follow her on Twitter for Self-Promotion for Introverts® tips – @NancyAncowitz
The Female Brain by Louann Brizendin – in my post “What makes women unique? “The Female Brain” reveals many secrets.” I discussed what I learned from reading this book. It’s funny as a woman you’d mistakenly think you know everything about your brain but there is a lot that science can teach about why and how we do the things we do. This book answers some of those questions.
Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith – a solid overview of social media and why it’s more about relationship building than the tools you use.
Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow by Elizabeth Lesser – Sharon Salzberg, is one of America’s leading insight meditation teachers and spirituality writers said it best when she said that the book

“bravely and beautifully explores one of the most compelling questions of life: How do we emerge from suffering and challenge with real, encompassing wisdom and love? Broken Open is personal, pragmatic, and enlightening.”

Broken Open presents some great questions to ponder: Do we give-up when bad things happen? Stay angry forever? Or learn and grow from the experience. The book is filled with stories. Yes, some tragic but how the individuals or families chose to live in spite of what happened is a testimony to what the human spirit can achieve. We can’t choose what fate throws at us but we can choose our reaction to it. One doesn’t have to live with the “why me” syndrome. Be like a Phoenix and rise from the ashes. Shit happens regardless of our best intentions.
Unfolding the Napkin: The Hands-On Method for Solving Complex Problems with Simple Pictures by Dan Roam the follow-up to The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures is a great book to learn how to solve problems visually. It is a workshop in a book. You just have to spend the time doing the exercises. Even if you think can’t draw it doesn’t matter. I plan to re-read both of Dan’s books in 2011 just to reinforce what I learned.

It’s no secret I read a lot. I have run out of space on my bookshelf at home. The next step is to go digital I suppose but I think I would miss the feel and smell of the real thing. I probably only read about 5% fiction books. In 2010, I only read 3 – The Host: A Novel by Stephanie Meyer, An Echo in the Bone: A Novel (Outlander) by Diana Gabaldon and Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga) by Stephanie Meyer (The movie adaptation will probably suck given it’s PG 13 rating. As my 1st and only Twilight book it was better than expected).

What’s on my reading list for 2011

The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t
Idea Mapping: How to Access Your Hidden Brain Power, Learn Faster, Remember More, and Achieve Success in Business
Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy
Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently
How We Decide
Under Her Skin: How Girls Experience Race in America (Live Girls)
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
What’s Your Story? Storytelling to Move Markets, Audiences, People, and Brands
The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life

So what’s your top 5 books for 2010? Knowing myself as I do, my reading list will definitely get longer. Happy reading!

Now, Discover Your Strengths – “No more damage control!”

Shelley — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:01:38 +0000

I recently completed the book Now, Discover Your Strengths and I felt compelled to write a review of the book. It was that good! The book is written by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D. When I was purchasing the book at Barnes and Noble the sales clerk commented on my choice of reading material and asked if I had read the previous book First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently. I haven’t but now I might. There is a newer version of Now, Discover Your Strengths called StrengthsFinder 2.0 with an upgraded edition of the online test and other tools.

The quote on the front cover of Now, Discover Your Strengths claims that the book is a

revolutionary program that shows you how to develop your unique talents and strengths – and those of the people you manage

Well I don’t manage people often so the part about managing people wasn’t that meaningful to me but still intriguing. All that sounded great but how was I going to learn anything about my strengths. Well each book comes with a unique code that works only once online…so sorry you can’t borrow my copy…you then go to the testing website and complete the test. I’m sure the cynics will say that’s a nice way to sell books. If you’ve ever completed the Myer-Briggs test or any sort of personality test you are already familiar with the types of questions tests like these ask.

Strengths Defined

“First, for an activity to be considered a strength you must be able to do it consistently. And this implies that is a predictable part of your performance…The acid test of a strength? The ability is a strength only if you can fathom yourself doing it repeatedly, happily, and successfully.

Second, you don’t have to have strength in every aspect of your role in order to excel…excellent performers were rarely well rounded. On the contrary, they were sharp.

Third, you will excel only by maximizing your strengths, never by fixing your weaknesses. This is not the same as saying “ignore your weaknesses.” The people we described did not ignore their weaknesses. Instead, they did something much more effective. They found ways to manage around their weaknesses, thereby freeing them up to hone their strengths to a sharper point.

I really loved how they described constantly trying to fix your weaknesses as just “damage control”.

According to the authors most people think that with “enough practice almost everything is learnable”. I have to agree there are some things I have a natural aptitude for and others I don’t. I always know when I’m doing something that doesn’t come naturally. I am sure you have had the same experience. It’s like having teeth pulled without being put to sleep. I’ve had that done and I don’t recommend it!

There are 34 themes in the StrengthFinder profile and the book goes into detail about each one. Plus there are stories below each about people with those themes. In case you’re curious here are my top 5 strengths:

Empathy – Can sense the emotions of others
Connectedness –Believe things happen for a reason and that we are part of something larger than ourselves
Restorative – Love to solve problems
Individualization – Intrigued by the unique qualities of each person. Impatient with generalizations or “types” because you don’t want to obscure what is special and distinct about each person
Command – Desire to take charge. Share opinion.

Honestly I wasn’t exactly thrilled with my results when I first read them and even more so when I returned to the book and read the following.

There is one obstacle barring your progress: Your own reluctance

Two words popped into my head after I read that.

“Bite me!”

Then I kept reading.

I think I am going to focus more on my strengths rather than “damage control”. Why frustrate myself with a losing battle? Like we say in Trinidad – “It’s like spinnin’ top in mud”. You get nowhere.

Being empathic makes me a better user experience designer and so do all the other strengths I have. I always thought picking up on others feelings was kind of weird but after working in Bellevue as a teaching artist and computer graphics instructor with an autistic student. I better saw its value. I got a hug our last day of class. Not an easy thing to have achieved. And he made some money! One of his teachers bought his creation.

On page 130 of the book the authors write

…those things that “you can’t help but…” – are not mundane, commonplace, obvious. On the contrary, your instinctive reactions are unique. They make you different from everyone else. They make you extraordinary

Everyone doesn’t see the world the same way. Honestly it would be boring if we did. Now go discover your strengths!

shelley-ann.com: musings in exploring design + business » review

My top 5 Books for 2010

Now, Discover Your Strengths – “No more damage control!”