November 18, 2009 • 7:57 am
Mike Michalowicz of Toilet Paper Entrepreneur has canvassed women entrepreneurs for a list of must-read books for women entrepreneurs. My pick is #128, Mother’s Work by Rebecca Matthias. See the full list at
http://www.toiletpaperentrepreneur.com/blog/mustread-books-women-entrepreneurs
Mother’s Work
Why It’s A Must Read: Mother’s Work by Rebecca Matthias is the story of the founder of Pea in the Pod, Mimi Maternity, essentially the founder of career maternity wear. Business lessons, life lessons and inspiration abound. Plus the anecdote of how she thought one of her young kids ate a cockroach while she was busy on a call makes me feel less guilty as a fellow working mom.
Thanks To: Caroline Ceniza-Levine of SixFigureStart Career Coaching
Filed under: book review, resource recommendation , book review, entrepreneur, Mike Michalowicz, Mother’s Work, Rebecca Matthias, Toilet Paper Entrepreneur
I like Marcus Buckingham and am already familiar with his work. If that describes you too, then The Truth About You is a great refresher of the traditional Buckingham material. If you’re new to his stuff, I would start with the meatier Now Discover Your Strengths.
The Truth About You outlines 5 pieces of career advice that are counterintuitive and originally presented. I welcome Buckingham’s candid advice for readers to take control of structuring their own day to day jobs and long-term careers — to identify what they like to do, to identify what companies value (and therefore what you’ll be paid to do), to pay attention over the long-term so that you continue doing what you like.
The book is so breezy that it takes just an hour or so to read. It has a companion DVD and special note paper which adds more heft. I don’t know if I would have enjoyed the book as much had I not already read several of Buckingham’s previous books. I found myself wanting more specific examples and instructions to put the advice into play. But all in all, these are great ideas and well worth the time it takes to read them. This would also be a great book club selection because the ideas lend temselves to open-ended discussion.
Filed under: book review, career coaching , career advice, Marcus Buckingham, self-help, The Truth About You
November 12, 2009 • 7:03 am
I always like reading about industries unfamiliar to me firsthand because success and obstacles have common threads across industries, and looking from the outside in often gives a perspective that is tough to see when you’re waist deep in immediate issues. Jonathan Schorr’s Hard Lessons is a play-by-play of Oakland’s struggle to open charter schools in the inner city. Told from multiple points of view — teacher, student, parent, administration — it’s a fascinating story but also a good coaching book. Some lessons from Hard Lessons:
Progress can take a while. Schorr spends time describing the difficult start-up phase before and after the charter schools opened. You can feel how slow and seemingly hopeless the circumstances were. Yet, because we can see the fruits of plowing through the difficulty, we get the benefit (without the interminable wait) of hindsight and the encouragement that we too can prevail if we want something as badly as some of those parents wanted a good education for their kids.
But just because we push doesn’t mean we have to rush. Some of the biggest problems came when decisions were rushed — hiring calls where no references were checked, teachers using an approach without training and therefore digging a deeper hole for themselves. There are numerous examples of haste makes waste here. It reminds us that even when we want to move things forward, we shouldn’t push things.
Sometimes you need to reconsider options you earlier might have dismissed. The parents who lobbied so hard against the district schools later aligned themselves with the district when a new administration came in. Great lesson on how we shouldn’t be afraid to go back, reassess, and perhaps move in a direction that was not ideal before. Our circumstances change, and we should always adjust for what’s best now, even if that means doing something deemed less than ideal before.
I strongly recommend looking at experiences and stories outside your immediate sphere of knowledge, as Hard Lessons provided for me. You will stretch your mind, learn something new, and possibly get unstuck on something that currently feels intractable.
Filed under: book review , charter school, education, Hard Lessons, Jonathan Schorr, life coaching, obstacles
November 5, 2009 • 7:21 am
I love biographies of all kinds, but especially stories of struggle and overcoming the odds and stories of extreme change. Stand For the Best by Thomas Bloch fulfills both of these. A CEO leaves his nearly million-dollar salary to work for free teaching inner-city youth. Some of the writing feels self-congratulatory but it’s still impressive. This isn’t someone who volunteered a few hours per week. Bloch taught for five years (part-time but still at no salary) and then founded a school and served in other functions for years after teaching.
I admired his honesty — he commented at one point that if he had to worry about money and fulfilling his financial obligations to his family he would not have made the same choices. I admired how he often and profusely thanked other people, especially his wife. (This isn’t Bloch’s fault, but I always wonder why we rarely see these extreme career changes from the woman’s point of view. Could Bloch’s wife Mary have done what he did? What if she decided to pursue a radical change with two small children?)
All in all, it’s an easy read about an exciting career change. It may inspire you to move forward with a business decision. The ego may be a slight turn off. But if you can gloss by that and you enoy biographies this is a solid one.
Filed under: book review , charter school, Stand For The Best, Thomas Bloch, urban education
October 29, 2009 • 1:47 am
I have to love the book that introduced me to the term, bricolage, or as Madson puts it, “use what is there artfully.” Improv Wisdom by Patricia Madson is a must-read for improvisers but still a good read if all you know about improv is Drew Carey in “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”
Madson, chair of the undergraduate acting department at Stanford and creator of the Stanford Improvisors, lists 13 maxims of improv and coaches on how these relate to life at large, not just on stage. The subtitle of the book, “Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up” are two of the maxims. Bricolage was in the chapter on Make Mistakes, Please. Other insightful chapters include Be Average, Face the Facts, and Stay On Course.
You will likely enjoy the book more if you have improv in your experience because Madson doesn’t take too much time explaining the concepts. But her ability to draw parallels between what could be seen as pithy improv rules and important life concepts is impressive. This book is a fast read, thoroughly enjoyable, and incredibly deep.
Filed under: book review, life coaching , bricolage, career coaching, Drew Carey, improv, Improv Wisdom, improvisation, life coaching, Patricia Madson, Stanford, Stanford Improvisors, Whose Line Is It Anyway
October 17, 2009 • 8:50 am
Get Out of Your Own Way at Work…And Help Others Do the Same by Mark Goulston is a fast, digestible read on a variety of failings that might beset you or a colleague at work. Procrastination, not taking No for an answer, and staying too long in a job you should leave are just 3 of the 40 items covered in the book. Each item has an anecdote to give it 3-d clarity, helpful tips, and a quote. All in all the short chapters provide a good snapshot of what the problem is and some strategies to address it.
Goulston created a very efficient book and seems to know his stuff. While I liked the breadth of it, I wanted to go deeper on each, even if it meant leaving some out. But that’s my preference. This is a good book for the reference shelf when you find yourself stuck in a work rut or managing a difficult team member. You can get some quick tips and inspiration here.
Filed under: book review , career management, Get Out of Your Own Way at Work, management, Mark Goulston, procrastination
I read Power of Less by Leo Babauta at the recommendation of a life coach I respect greatly (and still do despite this book). Who isn’t attracted to the notion that we can simplify our life and still be more productive? Unfortunately, that temptation is merely that – a temptation with no substance at least from this book. I’m glad I borrowed it from the library, rather than purchased it. Here’s the summary:
To do less and still get more done, cut to the most essential. Author can’t tell you what those essentials are; you have to figure that out. End of book.
Babauta suggests picking no more than 3 goals at a time and then sticking to them till they are all done, as opposed to adding a goal once just 1 is done. That intrigued me for the logistical possibilities but otherwise I wasn’t sure why that would work. Babauta also advises to take small steps (exercise first just 10 minutes rather than 30) but that’s been advised in numerous other books.
The best I can say about Power of Less is that it’s a fast read and a good reminder to simplify, even if it doesn’t offer any suggestions on how.
Filed under: book review , Leo Babauta, Power of Less, simplify
August 31, 2009 • 3:48 pm
Thomas Neff and James Citrin’s “You’re In Charge — Now What?” offers an 8-point plan for starting a new leadership post. Written with the CEO as the intended audience (though useful for lower leadership levels as well), the book offers a comprehensive checklist of strategies, as well as helpful real-life anecdotes from past CEO’s making the transition.
Of particular help are the stories, top ten list of mistakes to avoid, and the emphasis on building consensus (with the board, with the real power players you take care to identify). There is a lot of repetition which helps reinforce the subject or bores you, depending on your point of view.
One piece of conflicting advice that I struggled with was the time allocation advice. According to Neff and Citrin, the new leader has less than 1200 hours, (calculated as 14 hours per day and a 6-day work week), so exercise and family time are likely to fall off the radar (they mention several times the value of leaving family behind for the first few months of a relocation situation. Kudos to Neff and Citrin for providing both male AND female examples of this). Yet, they also talk about how there are many first 100 days over the course of a career, implying that there are many instances where you need to drop health and family and focus all or nothing on the job. While I agree wholeheartedly that there are crunch times throughout a career (and family crunch times as well), the implied start and stop made me wonder if there is a better way. Given Neff and Citrin’s extensive experience watching careers via their work with executive search firm Spencer Stuart, I hope a more balanced long-term approach might be part of a follow-up book!
All in all it’s a great book for the reference shelf.
Filed under: book review, career coaching , CEO, james m. citrin, leadership, Spencer Stuart, thomas j. neff, You're In Charge -- Now What?
This is a feel good, motivational book but also with substantive advice, illustrative examples, and actionable tips. I am keeping The Art of Possibility in the front of my reference shelf. I may be biased as a former classical musician because the Zanders are artists (Benjamin conducts the Boston Philharmonic) so the creative and music stories really resonate with me. But I think their easygoing and fun storytelling will hook anyone.
With 12 memorable frameworks to help the reader embrace Possibility as way of approaching life, The Art of Possibility is practical as well as motivational. There are many gems: Rule Number 6 for not taking yourself too seriously; Giving Way to Passion memorably encapsulated in Benjamin Zander’s story of the one-buttocked pianist (you have to read the anecdote to get the full flavor); and Being the Board about taking responsibility are just a few of my favorites. I love the index of anecdotes at the end of the book so you know exactly where to find the one-buttocked pianist (page 118 in my edition) and all of your favorites.
This is a must read. I read a lot of business, self-help, non-fiction books and this is at the top of the list. In this down market where anxiety and doom and gloom rule, this is an even more important and transformational read now.
Filed under: book review, life coaching , Benjamin Zander, book review, Rosamund Stone Zander, The Art of Possibility
