Rothacker Reviews

How to be an Explorer of the World

How to be an Explorer of the World by Keri Smith

Does the idea of bringing value to another person's life intrigue you? Where do you get the stuff value is made of? Grade school? High School? College? Sure. 

Let's say you have a small bottle filled with marbles. Let's say a marble is the equivalent of a good deed. Let's say each time you do a good deed one marble is removed from the bottle. What happens when all of the marbles are gone? Do you run out of good deeds?

In order to give value, one must ingest the type of stuff value is made of. When marbles are taken out, new ones must go in. Conventional learning is a fine place to begin. School, seminar and websites provide knowledge that can be turned into value. But take a look around you. Isn't everyone trying to take their education and turn it into a value supplying machine? Sure. That's the world of work.

I don't know about you, but when I see sheep standing in line to walk off the cliff because the sheep in front of them are, I'm thinking twice before getting in that line. The key is to turbo charge and enhance your education. And you don't have to go to school to do it. Increase your value by providing something that no other person in the world can. How? By being an explorer of the world.

 If you take basic math in school and your job requires this knowledge to produce results, the outcome that you produce will be identical to everyone else who works in your field and who took the same math. Think sheep. Think cliff. Think splat. But if you go out and explore the world, download what she has to offer onto your internal hard drive, letting it permeate your existing education, knowledge and wisdom, then what comes out will most likely be unique to anything in the universe. 

In How to be an Explorer of the World, Keri Smith provides a creative medium that will help transfer what the world has to offer onto your own personal hard drive. 

Check out the following book photos:

The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly?

The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly? by Seth Godin

I participated in the Kickstarter campaign for Seth and his team. This is a picture of all the stuff that my donation included. That large book weighs twenty pounds and you can see by the ruler below how large it actually is. I'll probably review the book in the not so distant future but I just wanted to pass the word along on the book and show you these pictures.

Should you buy the book? Yes. I've already made that determination after reading about thirty pages. But here's another reason. I first began to read Seth's books in the late nineties. I've seen improvement in each book. Seth has sharpened his awareness, increased his resources and enhanced his writing skills (I have twenty pounds of proof of this). That's why I'll continue to buy Seth books, provided he's not writing on some uninteresting topic, for years to come.

p

USF Humanities Institute:The Hillsborough River

The University of South Florida's Humanity Institute put together a schedule of events celebrating the Hillsborough River. I attended one of the events last night:  Dr. Kevin McCarthy, Professor Emeritus of English, University of Florida: “10 Little-known Facts About the Hillsborough River. My reason for writing today is not so much about Dr. McCarthy's talk as much as it is about the USF Humanities Institute's connection to the river, to the community and to me, a non-academic regular citizen with no commercial ties to USF or commerce involving the river.

It would be a total disservice to Dr. McCarthy however, if I didn't mention a couple of things first. I arrived early and spoke (but mostly listened) to Kevin and a couple of the attendees. It took me less than three minutes to decide that I had to have his book, Hillsborough River Guide. I later learned of his connection with Florida and what a prolific writer he is. It was impossible for this connection to not permeate his talk making it interesting and enjoyable. I recommend attending one of his talks if you get the chance and perusing the many books he's written. Although it wasn't like he was giving a talk at Florida State, he did a pretty decent job of keeping a lid on Gator Nation.

I believe that I represent a desired-type of attendee to a Humanities Institute event. I am not a student, researcher, professor or visiting scholar. I am not an Institute donor or sponsor. I am not related to the speaker or staff, nor am I a reporter. While attendance of these types of people is critical to the success of the Institute, I am just a member of the community - who is not a politician, museum employee, involved locally in the arts nor involved in charitable organizations looking to extend reach. I'm just a husband, dad and grandfather who is most intrigued by interdisciplinary human connection that is orchestrated by a great university bent on the enrichment of lives. (I'm not an alumni either:-)

From the Institute's director Dr. Elizabeth Bird to its assistant directior Liz Kicak to the staff to even
the bartender, I felt welcome. The other major felt sense that I experienced was one of caring. I spoke to Dr. Bird for a moment and watched Liz as she engaged in her role of support. It's perfectly clear that they care about the connection they are in pursuit of. 

The Hillsborough River is important to me because it symbolizes a sense of place. As we canoed down the river for the first time, I felt drawn into its history and needed to learn more. I was particularly interested in native Americans and the early settlers connection with the river. The folks at Canoe Escape where we rented our canoes, recommended reading River of the Golden Ibis. I wrote a little bit about it here. 

So my need to learn more about the Hillsborough River brought me to USF's Humanities Institute. And my need to stoke the fire of curiosity related to interdisciplinary human connection will keep me coming back.

How Children Succeed

How Children Succeed by Paul Tough. 

Paul Tough's book How Children Succeed is one that fits in well at all three of my blogs and the Standing Out Facebook page. I intend to write the review at Cultivating Awe, but for now I'd like to talk about two things. First, if you have children or are acquainted with parents or grandparents of children, Paul's book is a must read. Second, Paul's book is steeped in academic research and science. While this might give intellectuals a warm and fuzzy feeling, it's just not that important to me when it comes to understanding how this philosophy helps kids succeed*.

Why read? How Children Succeed guides us through how characteristics like perseverance, curiosity, self-control, grit, optimism and conscientiousness make a difference in young people's lives. That's why.

In regards to the research and science...if you were born on Mars and had just moved to Earth, the research would be of value. Or perhaps if you were just starting out in your first career it would be of value. Or if you are one of those old adults who after years of going through life on cruise control, just decided to tune in, it would be of value. I suppose if you are an academic contrarian it would be of value as well.

I've read thousands of books. Most are non-fiction and most deal either directly or indirectly with people's success. You'd be hard pressed to find even one of those books that didn't talk about a successful individual having perseverance. Same for self-control, optimism and grit, although grit would mostly fall under perseverance. I simply do not need the results of scientific investigation to tell me the how and why of Steve Job's success. Or if you've gone through life paying even the slightest bit of attention to, well, life, Paul's work here translates to not-so-common, common sense. I just don't have to dive into reams of scientific research to know how important the characteristic of curiosity is to the young adult bent on succeeding in business and life.

I love the tone that Paul Tough sets in this book. It's natural and humanistic which for me, duct tapes the content to my conscious...think Heath Bros.

*I  very much appreciate Paul's diligence in including the research and actually find some of it most fascinating.

How Children Succeed

Where Are You Going?

I came upon a child of God, he was walking along the road and I asked him "tell me where are you going...?

He looked at me and said, "I'm tired man. I've been walking for two hundred thirty five years. It started with the Revolution, the one in 1812, the Civil one - which wasn't, a Spanish one, a WW I one, a WW II one, one in Korea, a Vietnam one, one in the Persian Gulf, an Iraq one and the one in Afghanistan."

He let out a breath and said, "You know man, we've fought hard to keep this great country free and we're still fighting and we'll always fight with those from foreign shores who threaten our way of life. But I'm tired man, I'm tired of the fighting that's goin' on inside our borders. I'm talkin' bout domestic violence man. It's gotta stop man."

I asked him, "how can we do that brother?"

He said, "You know, there's all kind of domestic violence man. But if you're askin' me, I think it starts by respecting our mothers. If we do, then as we grow we'll learn to respect women. The more a boy sees a man respect a woman, the more he'll respect women. When you start to think about what women go through...ah man, don't even get me started goin' down that road. Women are to be respected. My dad taught me that and now I'm tellin' you."

"Where are you going," I asked.

He lowered his cowboy hat and said, "I'm walkin' over there to that meadow. I'm gonna kick back, close my eyes and imagine Jimi Hendrix kick out the Star Spangled Banner and then I'm gonna thank God that I live in America and I'm gonna thank Him for my brothers-n-sisters who are overseas fightin' for us. Then man, I'm gonna go home and hug my mom and then I'm gonna thank God for my mom."

He started off and then turned back, "where are you going brother?"

"You know man, I'm gonna just hang out here a bit. I'm gonna thank God for all three of my girls and then I'm gonna thank Him for those on American soil who are fighting the war against domestic violence."

 

 

How to be Alone

From filmmaker Andrea Dorfman, artist Tanya Davis writes and performs this...

These two lines leapt out at me:

"...if you're happy in you head then solitude is blessed, alone is ok."

"...if you have an art that needs a practice, stop neglecting it."

Are you neglecting your art today?

Change by Design

Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO authored a book in 2009, titled Change by Design. Today it ranks number five at Amazon under the category Organizational Change. Tim writes:

This is not a book by designers for designers; this is a blueprint for creative leaders seeking to infuse design thinking - an approach for creative problem solving - into all facets of their organizations, products or services to discover new alternatives for business and society as a whole.

The high ranking at Amazon is not because a bunch of leaders who want to be creative rushed out to buy Tim's book - even though Tim clearly communicates the strategies and business reasons behind engaging design thinking, c-o-m-m-u-n-i-c-a-t-e-s in CEO and leader language. Rather the high ranking is because those who work for these leaders are desperately in search of - as in crawling across the hot desert floor in search of a tall, cool glass of water - other leaders who get it, other companies that are doing it and other ways to operate a company better.

If you're a CEO / leader and the word change begins to constrict the little fellers in your groin's environment, relax. You don't have to embrace creative problem solving to change your entire company. Learn about it, become familiar with it and change one outdated personal business practice. Once you've gotten your arms and mind around design thinking and have effected a positive personal outcome, you will be encouraged and excited to use it once again. For design thinking to be effective in your company, it must become a mindset in which you truly believe in.

The cold reality of the situation is that if you're a CEO / leader now and are not already tuned into design thinking, you will never will. Your best bet is to step down from CEO and become a Wal-Mart greeter for your company. The only difference is you'll have the wealth and knowledge of your typical WM greeter, but you'll get to actually use it because you will remain on with your company in an advisory capacity. (Wal-Mart shuns the depth-less pool of knowledge and resources contained in their greeter's hearts and minds).

Could you possibly imagine the courage and incredible self-knowledge of a CEO who understands that he doesn't have the capacity to embrace design thinking, but cares enough about his company to turn the reigns over to someone who does and remain on to help?

The cold reality of the situation is that this person doesn't exist. And this leads back to my number one recommendation for reading Tim's work: Learn to identify CEO's and companies who embrace design thinking. Learn from them. Work for them.

Here's another reason for reading Change by Design: Use it as a compass to help navigate your own road. Read the book looking through the window of your own potential development. 

The Who & the Super Bowl

"Hey Mom! These old dudes are singing the song from CSI Las Vegas!"

The Rise of the Real Mom & How Dads Can Help

So easy, even a caveman can do it.

The Rise of the Real Mom is a white paper published by Advertising Age, written by Marissa Miley and Ann Mack. I found this paper and an excellent summary of it at Michele Miller's site Wonder Branding. I discovered Michele at Roy Williams' site the Wizard of Ads when Roy began to partner with talented marketing folks like Michele a few years back. Michele's review and link to a free download of The Rise of the Real Mom.

When I was a manager and needed to learn more about Gen Y & Gen X, I studied websites like Brazen Careerist. Penelope Trunk and her crew teach the younger gens how to build and nurture a network of trusted peers. And, they teach these folks how to optimize their experiences with older people like myself. So in essence, I went undercover to learn.

To become a better hiring manager I studied Richard Nelson Bolles' book What Color is Your Parachute? Richard gives job seekers advice on career building and how to get jobs. I went undercover again.

Married dads with kids, consider going undercover to learn more about your wives...

Married dads with children, would you like to better understand your significant other? Take a break from the relationship gurus. Listening to a relationship guru is like Bear Grylls telling you that you can be just like him. You know Bear Grylls from Man vs. Wild, right? You could do what Bear does, if you had his gear, right? Riiiight! Just like you could be the head hunk author in a book titled, How I conquered 20,000 Women by 20, right? Yeah riiiiight! So, put the guru on hold and think about what you can learn, looking at it from a different point of view.

The survey and author's aim is to focus on how marketers can change their strategies to more effectively communicate with women, particularly those between the ages of 18-44. (Don't be distracted by just this age group, common sense will tell you it's applicable to most moms). The data is the result of more pragmatic, business-like questions and less emotional ones. As you read through this business-like report, you can't help but feel the cold, harsh realities that women are up against. If you care about your wife, the answers for how to better communicate with her and how to make her life easier, will permeate your conscious.

Sure a caveman can do it. Now how about you!?

btw, I love the Brazen Careerist web site and still visit often and I am now on my third edition of What Color is Your Parachute? (bought first in 1981).

A Place of Great Significance That Needs to be Seen

Kyle Cassidy is a photographer. One day he had the opportunity to step inside author Michael Swanick's home office. Kyle thought, "this is a place of great significance and it needs to be seen. It was like I'd cracked open his skull and seen the gears of genius." Kyle's glimpse into genius spurred on his project Where I Write: Fantasy & Science Fiction Authors in their Creative Spaces.

Kyle spends a lot of time thinking about people's environments. Where I Write is a project designed to explore whether or not there is a connection between where writers work and the work itself. Wow! If you're a writer and that last sentence doesn't cause a pause for introspection.

Is your writing a product of the environment where it is written? Is there a connection?

I am including a snapshot of my lair below. At first I thought, "OMG, I better clean it up before I invite ya'll in." Then I reconsidered. It is what it is. I'm going to have to think about that connection, but there is a gravitational pull towards what flies off my fingertips and a sense of place...

One other thing that struck me in regards to Kyle's "...a place of great significance...needs to be seen" is my own reaction to stuff I see and my need to write about it.

Btw, the books you see here are the ones that I refer back to most often, pretty much my babies. The rest are scattered on shelves throughout our house and garage.