Rothacker Reviews

Aesthetic Aspirations

I was preparing to write a book review of The Substance of Style by Virginia Postrel this morning when the switch of serendipity kicked in and railed my mind toward the open tracks.  A millisecond before reading in The Substance of Style,

"Aspiration is the tricky part of identity, the "world of make believe"...Often the identities we express with our aesthetic choices are not those we have but those we desire."

I thought to myself,

There are no human beings that I work with or acquaintances that I have in the physical world who share my love and appreciation for design, the written word in the world of business, the art of communicating messages, the need to move beyond status-quo, hamster-wheel, business as usual, the incredibly vibrant and stimulating work philosophies of younger generations and what they are contributing today and this aching need to move with fluidity in a world not constrained by judgment-by-looks, suits and ivory towers.

...okay, that last statement might perhaps, be a bit too liberal, but my God, the tie should have faded into history about the same time corsets disappeared from everyday attire.

Additional views on aesthetic aspirations from Ms. Postrel:

Aesthetic aspirations inevitably express some sort of dissatisfaction, a longing for a different sort of life, perhaps even a different self.  Discontent fuels every quest for improvement, regardless of form.

Virginia's definition of aesthetic aspirations is precisely what drove me to express myself on the Internet years ago and still keeps me coming back today.  No doubt that I am to blame for my work situation.  In the nineties I went through a three year stretch where I never disclosed my name on my site.  Today, even though I work for my industry's second largest corporation in the world, no one is even aware of my two sites here.  But that's okay.  I gave up looking for the above referenced aspirations in my industry a long time ago. 

It is most ironic that I am even having these thoughts today.  I have never been more comfortable with my work situation and its separation from my aspirations.  Still, I guess, it would be nice to physically encounter someone who has heard of The Cluetrain Manifesto or Change This or Fast Company or Dan Pink or Virginia Postrel or Thomas A. Stewart or Malcolm Gladwell or Patty Seybold or Seth Godin or Andrea Learned or Pamela Slim or Kathy Sierra or David Armano or Roger von Oech or Jackie Huba or Emanuel Rosen or Gerald Zaltman or Lisa Johnson or Tom Davenport or John Beck or Ted Levitt or Marcus Buckingham or Bruce Nussbaum or Polly LaBarre or Jory Des Jardins or Harvard Business Review or Print or How or I.D. or ...

...but then again, I'm not keeping track :-)

RadioBack Mission: Nau

Mission

Brazen Careerist

Brazen Careerist by Penelope Trunk.

Today's world of work is not the same as your father's was.  Thank God!  Penelope Trunk, columnist for the Boston Globe and Yahoo Finance in addition to her own Website has written a spot on, insightful book titled Brazen Careerist.  Penelope hopes to provide a roadmap for Gen X and Y'ers to follow in pursuit of their own life's work.  Drawing on real world experience, she stories upon such topics as:

• Grad School
• Adventures
• Resumes
• Interviews
• Managers
• Office Politics
• Sex Discrimination
• Promotions
• The New American Dream

Penelope's work has been referred to as the modern day version of What Color is Your Parachute?  While the Brazen Careerist is a manifesto and rallying wake-up cry for Gen X and Y'ers, I find that it talks frankly and honestly to a whole other generation of folks.  Mine.  The Boomers.

As a Boomer manager, I feel as if Brazen Careerist is my own personal undercover spy, infiltrating the Gen X and Y'ers' world.  Of course for me, there isn't a trace of spying or undercover that goes into dealing with folks from these generations.  It is all about collaboration.  And if one wishes to collaborate, they must understand the other collaboratoree.  Brazen Careerist introduces us, stays in the conversation and provides that much needed understanding.

For Boomers who do not recognize the workplace change today, there is no help.  But for those of us who relish in the new environment and who cherish the spirit and attitude of those who will one day be placing us in nursing homes*, I find the Brazen Careerist positively fascinating!!

*Our Gen Y daughter has for sometime reminded us of her role in this potential eventuality, helping to explain why we should see and support her point of view...or perhaps our nursing home will not have all of the amenities that we would expect.  She tried to explain the concept of an outhouse...

Penelope Trunk

"One of the best posts on this site ever! I wish I had such focus." This is a comment in a post written by Guy Kawasaki at his site, How to Change the World.  Guy is interviewing Penelope Trunk about her new book Brazen Careerist. 

I am going to talk about Penelope's book soon here at the Reviews. I want to offer a point of view that differs from most others that I've read on Brazen Careerist.  I am also including Penelope in an upcoming RadioBack mission.  But for now I just wanted to point out this interview by legendary, rock star author blogger consultant rad guy Mr. Kawasaki.

RadioBack

Stop by and join me in a parallel universe.

Citizen Marketers

Citizen Marketers by Ben McConnell & Jackie Huba

You know what makes me mad as hell?  When corporate America will not acknowledge folks out there who evangelize their companies.  By the way, for a clear and crisp review of this book check out Mack's at the Viral Garden.  Oh, you might get a response.  It will be sterile, guarded and watered down just like the example that Ben and Jackie use. 

"We are flattered by Winter's enthusiasm for the Starbuck's experience...and, and we wish him well with his endeavors."

His endeavors?  Are you kidding me?  (slight off path diversion to the world of sports commentators...sorry).  Mr. Winter is a blog-writing Starbucks evangelist.  His mission is to visit every Starbucks store on the planet.  His endeavors Mr. Starbucks, is your meal ticket.  There are times when Mr. Winter must be true and authentic with his discourse.  He is quoted in Citizen Marketers:

"After about four stores, the coffee loses all taste.  After an extreme number of stores, I have to wash out the taste with water after every sip because it's starting to make me sick."

Well, Duh Mr. Starbucks!  What sane person would not feel the same way?  This gets back to authenticity, which is a main theme running through Ben & Jackie's work.  I am going to listen to a cat like Mr. Winter (Winter is his full, legal name) because Mr. Winter is authentic.  I can, as a sane adult human being, (my kids question the authenticity of that statement), discern the statement above which is obvious and eventual, for what it is, and act on a statement in which Mr. Winter describes an outrageously good cup of coffee at a certain store...if it were within my proximity.

Way back in 1998, Patty Seybold spoke of company transparency in her book Customers.Com.  Give the customer a 360 degree view of the process.  I believe the same should hold true for the Filters, Fanatics, Facilitators and Firecrackers who Ben & Jackie talk about.  Mr. Company, open up your gates and let these folks into play. 

You know what fascinates me?  How something or someone becomes viral.  Inevitably it must be found in the message.  The message of Citizen Marketers is that people are the message...and that's what fascinates me. 

This book was smoked-n-signed!  Pick up a copy today!

The Definitive Drucker

The Definitive Drucker by Elizabeth Hass Edersheim

If you haven't already purchased The Definitive Drucker by today, should you invest in yet another business book written about innovation, collaboration, people and knowledge?  My answer can be found in the last paragraph of this post.  I came to this conclusion after reading one chapter in The Definitive Drucker.  After smoking and signing the entire book, my answer remains the same plus an exclamation point!

If you were a professional baseball player and you had the opportunity to visit regularly over a two year period with the greatest hitter the game ever knew, do you think your game would improve?  Now, if you had the ability to articulate those conversations in a book, do you think your readers would discover the value?  Of course this all depends upon you, the individual.  Do you have the heart, will and desire to improve your game?  Chances are, if the greatest hitter who ever played the game allowed someone close enough to his inner circle, he had a pretty good idea that person would be like a sponge.  He might also have imagined that person would want to tell the world his story.  Peter Drucker lets Elizabeth Hass Edersheim into his inner circle and Elizabeth tells an insightful story.

Elizabeth covers the basic Drucker and his views on...

• Where business was and where it is heading
• Future business challenges
• Management and the role of strategy
• Customers and relationships
• Innovation, collaboration and knowledge
• Decision making
• The role of the CEO

I think of Peter Drucker and I think of distilled knowledge.  I have yet to meet the person who has more ownership over the word clarify than does Peter Drucker.   Peter's filter, his strainer, his tool for distilling and clarifying  is available to every single living human being.  Elizabeth uses it roughly 135 times in section titles and boxes containing text in her book.  I used it in the last sentence of my previous post referenced above and the first sentence of this post.

Is it possible to glean insight from the father of modern management via a P.h.D. in operations research and industrial engineering?  Peter Drucker seemed to think so.