Newsletter of December 20, 2010

The wonders of suckiness

Hi there!

You don't want to miss this wonderful,
funny seven minute video on "the
wonders of suckiness" by Chris Flink
of IDEO. It's actually about how
your most irritating experiences-the
ones that really suck-are really huge
opportunities for innovation. This
should be good news for the reinvention
of management, because if there is one
thing about traditional management,
it really sucks! Read about, and watch,
it here.

I did a book review of Umair Haque's new
book, The New Capitalist Manifesto:
Building a Disruptively Better Business.
My conclusion: It's a brave, profound, witty
and brilliant book. A must read! Get
it here.

Boredom had a big week. (Is it the holiday
season?) A nice post from Umair Haque
who urges us to "stop being boring. Start
being interesting." And my post on the role
of storytelling in accomplishing just that.
Read it here.

Great review by Dave Moran of my book, The
Leader's Guide to Radical Management
He comes at it from the perspective of
an Agile software developer and concludes:
"the book you give your managers." Read
it here.

"Our Dickensian economy: Has our country
become mean-spirited?" was the question
posed in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. My
reply is: not really. That's the result, not
the cause. The real story is that the
economy has become unproductive.
Read it here.  

Surprise! President Obama did not use
my proposed opening remarks for the
CEO Summit on Wednesday. Instead
he offered a tame, generic plea for more of
the same. Ugh! A lost opportunity!
Read it here.

Also in the series on the most beautiful
blog, building, fonts and so on: the
most beautiful gift in the world. Only
partly tongue in cheek, here.

And facebook photos of last
Wedneday's lively KMI event here.

Hoping our paths cross soon.

Warmly
Steve

PS Don't forget to register for my webcast on
reinventing management on January 11.
Get the details here.