Reverb Consulting

I read a lot. I have not always been a reader and I don’t read particularly fast. Anymore, I find that taking in information, as much as I can, the best quality that I can, is critical to being relevant in the 21st century. Besides, being informed gives meaning to my life, helps me make meaning of my life.

I recommend that everyone be informed, and I am not the most sympathetic person when it comes to excuses. The most common excuse people offer, and I hear it a lot, is I don’t have time. I am married to a dyslexic man and have a dyslexic son who both read more than most people despite the effort it takes. They don’t complain about the time it takes. Not to be flippant and in all sincerity, we all make time for the things we value. I would much rather hear someone say, I don’t value reading/learning/taking in information, or I don’t make time. Then, we would have something to talk about that began with honesty.

I just finished Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson. This book is a balanced portrait of Einstein the man and Einstein the theorist. It was refreshing to see Einstein’s humanity in the many struggles of his personal relationships and his disdain for the rhythms of daily life. It is humbling to see how his mind worked, especially in that it didn’t work well for everything. Einstein struggled with basic math and was not a talented teacher. He lacked empathy and compassion and had few close relationships that were not bound by physics. It is inspiring to realize that Einstein’s great discoveries were primarily made possible because of his conscious unwillingness to accept and conform to conventional thinking.

The most inspiring message for me from the book is the importance of developing and sustaining a compulsive sense of curiosity and marvel, a creative spirit, and a great independence of thought. Einstein believed that freedom was the basis for all of his thought work. “The development of science and of the creative activities of the spirit,” he said, “requires a freedom that consists in the independence of thought from the restrictions of authoritarian and social prejudice.” This nurturing of creativity and independence is what Einstein believed was the fundamental role of government and of education.

Asking in our educational systems how we instill the values of creativity and of independence of thought and of a driving, seeking curiosity instead of requiring allegiance to conventional doctrine is an important new question. We need to create a collective celebrated regard for thinking and problem solving instead of valuing and rewarding inert knowledge. Like President Eisenhower declared of Einstein, we need to become a society that highly values “thoughtful wonderers.”

Einstein Archives Online — Be curious!

I take in information in a variety of ways, including watching Charlie Rose religiously. Last week Charlie had an exceptional interview with Chef David Chang that is worth watching, regardless of what business your are in, and regardless of your passion for food. Why? Because David Chang is a man living a vision. He is consciously working toward a big picture. He understands, accepts, and embraces the need to innovate all the time, to change in order to stay the same, which, as he says is his goal over and over again: to be the best. Midway through the interview when the conversation turns to his pricing strategy, Chang easily and comfortably states the guiding vision of his work: let’s make delicious food of value. Chang had already repeated this vision many times over throughout the interview: we try to serve the best food we can; our goal is to make the best food in New York City; good food is not just for fine dining; we try to do something good and do it the right way. Without anxiety, Chang states that he is not sure where he and his restaurants will be in three years, but he knows the goal will be the same: to be the best. Chang exemplifies the importance of knowing the vision and the importance of not letting allegiance to specific strategies and tactics rule the vision. He strives to be dynamic, ever-changing in response to the environment, in order to remain relevant.

Chang is a refreshing mix of humility and ambition. He possesses a clear vision and an acceptance of the ambivalence of the specifics of the future. For a young man, he is full of sage and visionary advice:
Work hard. Stay humble. Try to do it right. Have integrity. Delight in what you do.

Wow!

More about Chef David Chang
The I Chang by Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld
Chef on the Edge by Larissa MacFarquhar
The Year of the Pig by Alan Richman

I finished two books this weekend that were well worth the time spent. When first sitting down to write about them, I was thinking they were quite different books, but in this moment I see they are about the same thing, from different vantage points. Both books are about building community, which is one of my primary interests. I am interested in building community infrastructure/relationships, and then developing collective vision and skills within that community.

Personal Village: How to Have People in Your Life by Choice, Not Chance by Marvin Thomas was published in 2004, so it is not new. Nonetheless, I found it timely in its themes. I appreciated that this book is not heavy into or dependent on technology to build community. Thomas focuses on the old-fashioned putting yourself out there in a real and courageous way in strategic places to attract people who compliment and inspire you. Thomas suggests finding communal hangouts where people share your values and your interests. This might be a third place like a coffee shop or yoga studio or gym, or it might be a more formal group specifically formed around interests. Whatever the group, Thomas gives forgotten advice about being engaged and engaging in order to become attached and rooted. The best part of this book is the collection of resources after each chapter. I think studying successful community building strategies would go a long way to making the organizations we work in, the second places, more fulfilling and thereby more effective.

Naked Conversations: How Blogs Are Changing The Way Businesses Talk with Customers by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel is also about building community around a business’s interests through technology, specifically blogging. This book is a survey of businesses that blog and the context in which they blog - some successful and effective, others, not so much. Scoble and Israel in effect have collected stories of how and why companies are building community around the common element of being a product-user. In fact, the Naked Conversations blog that they used to collect write about much of their research has been renamed Global Neightbourhoods.

I am fascinated, and was not let down in reading this book, by the movement toward cultures that are more open, more transparent, and more authentic. I find it amazing that CEOs of huge, multi-layered, well-insulated corporations blog. Here is an interesting wiki that is following this phenom. There are, however, corporations that blog which is more like their PR department getting tech savvy instead of real authentic blogging. Dave Winer, creator of RSS among many other things, sums that up nicely in the book with this quote, ” The act of creativity — only a person can do it, a company cannot.”

I recommend reading Naked Conversations with your computer very near so that you can check out the blogs they are talking about as you read about them. Then, highlight the structural questions as they critique them Who should blog? What are the policies and parameters, What does open mean and are we comfortable with that? Are we going to try to monitor the blogging by employees are just trust? – there are many considerations. But, their bottom line, and I agree, is that blogging is an incredible opportunity to build community, create trust, earn respect, and engage in passionate, reciprocal relationships. And, blogging done poorly or for the wrong reasons does more harm than good.

The logical book to read in conjunction with Naked Conversations is The Cluetrain Manifesto.

Read both and realize there is developing a very new usual in business. Only those who get it will be relevant.