I DEVOUR business books…good, bad and ugly…I review them here (click on “book analysis” button to the right). However, I haven’t had too many comments on the blog, so I was psyched to find a business book club (2nd Thursday lunch @ A Real Bookstore in Fairview, TX).
Big ideas can be hard to implement…hard to figure out how it applies to you and your everyday life…we may have the desire to implement, but not the time or energy to figure out what to do with this new found intelligence.
I heard about the Biz Book Club months ago, but it took me awhile to get myself out there – about 30 minutes from my home. Looooved my first meeting – and I hadn’t even read the book … oops.
This month is was the brief, but info packed, Know Can Do! Put Your Know-How into Action by Ken Blanchard of One Minute Manager fame with Paul J. Meyer and Dick Ruhe.
The core idea here is that we learn new things all the of the time which results in information overload. Therefore, we lose focus as we learn new things before we have a chance to absorb the last lesson. Add to that the human tendency to have a negative filter – in other words, when given a new task or new piece of information, our minds naturally go to all of the issues related to making a change…and then we tend to bail out of the new plan.
The authors’ recommend that:
(a) We learn LESS new info, but learn it MORE (or better) – in other words, absorb the first lesson, before moving to the next;
(b) We listen to new ideas with a positive mindset – not just an open mind, but actually force ourselves to think of all the reasons we should be receptive to the new idea (if you ultimately decide you don’t want to incorporate the idea, that’s OK, just start out with the reasons why the idea might be good instead of bad); and
(c) We incorporate a plan to follow up on the new ideas we learn – for example, pair up with a partner or a coach and check up with them on a regular basis regarding your status to incorporate the new idea.
The book is a quick, easy read written in narrative style in less than 100 pages. I would totally recommend reading this book with your own business book club – thus making all members accountability partners moving forward as you read about new business ideas together. It’s also a quick read to ease people into the idea of yet another task.
If you want to partner with me, just read the book and keep in touch with me via my comments section…I’m ready for positive change!
BTW: Recently heard ClubCorp’s CEO Eric Affeldt talk about “Successfully Stagnant” companies…more about that later, but this book’s lessons jumped out at me during his talk…it’s hard to change, especially if you have even a small amount of success.