Rothacker Reviews

The Clown Manager

Jim was a clown. After graduating from college, he got a job as a professional clown. It was meant to stoke his passion, to make others laugh and as a temporary way to earn money until he landed a job in accounting. Jim never landed that job in accounting.

One year after becoming a clown, Jim was promoted to clown manager. He was doing such a good job making customers laugh, he got promoted to manage people. Seems logical. As the years began to mount, Jim became more entrenched in his management position. But Jim wasn't happy. He didn't have the patience to deal with clowns who didn't want to grow and develop as professional clowns. And it seemed as the old timers retired, most clowns wanted to just put in their time and get the hell out of Dodge.

Jim dreamed of becoming a scout. He dreamed of flying to the edge of the universe, meeting innovative people and learning about what they were working on. He dreamed of finding an organization that would appreciate his insatiable curiosity and hunger to relay these coordinates back for others to learn about and use. Due to his present financial responsibilities and the fact that he had no experience as a scout, Jim felt trapped.

One day however, the corporate bureaucracy came to a head. Jim's bosses distilled the entire operation down to numbers. Cut, cut, cut. No long term vision to develop the organization (that was why he never could have created that scout position at this circus). Jim walked up to the head corporate Clown and quit.

Jim began to look for a new career. Although he was an experienced clown, to hook up with another circus would be no different than the one he just left. Nine months into his search he began to have doubts. Bills piled up and they were about to lose their house. Jim's wife's salary was not enough to keep them afloat. Should he give up the dream and go back to being a clown manager? Or should he burn the bridge and forge into new territories?

In a last ditch effort, as his world began to cave in around him, Jim reached out and grabbed hold of the stork's neck. He had to figure out a way to proclaim to the world that he would never, ever become a clown manager again. So he decided to blow the bridge to smithereens and write about it on his blog. He wrote...

Dear World (and those who will Google me), I have the utmost respect in the world for clown managers. I am in awe of the great patience it requires to navigate between their clown managers and the clown employees who punch into work and punch out their minds. I don't have the ability to work with clowns who don't care about their growth and professional development. I cannot be a clown manager!

Jim turned and looked toward the river. He bent down on one knee over the detonation device. He let out one huge breath and pushed down. KABOOM!!!

Suddenly the stork let out a great cough and he fell to the ground. Freedom! And you know,freedom tastes of reality...

Jim

 Photo image - mrMark

Tom Peters is not a BIG MOUTH & stuff you can learn from him

I used to think Tom Peters' writing was annoying. While I've always appreciated his message, his use of capitalization, bold fonts, radical paragraphs, wild exclamation marks and fonts, in more sizes than there are defintions of design, downright irritated me. It did that is, until one day I had a conversation with my doctor.

I asked my doc, who is also a teacher, "how many students in your class are passionate about what they're learning and are engaged in their professional development? "

Doc said in a class of twenty, maybe one or two. Those one or two make her fifteen hour days worth it. They give her reason to go on.

I think it has to do with how strongly my doctor believes in her craft and its power to heal. To the core of her being she knows it does. The precise moment when I realized this is when Tom and his exclamation marks took over my head. And as they did, Tom's writing style began to fade and his message leapt at me from the pages.

Tom believes so strongly in this message that he overpowers the fonts and punctuation marks and enlists them into his army of persuasion. I don't think Tom is willing to settle for the smaller percentage of believers as my doc, so he raises the volume on his discourse.

To be real, this isn't so much about Tom as it is about me getting my head on straight. Here's another example. My perception of Tom's audience / market was CEO's and managers who wanted to be like the rock star CEO's who Tom consulted with.

This view changed when I read The Little Big Things, Tom's latest book, for the second time. I read it through the window of this mindset: How can Tom's book help college students stand out from their peers and prepare for life after college? OMG! I think The Little Big Things is more relevant to college students than it is to some ole coot managers (or x-managers like me). Matter of fact, I could pattern my entire Standing out in a Sea of Sameness site after it.

The book's premise is that Excellence is the result of many small tasks, all of which can be practiced and mastered. Tom says, "hard is soft and soft is hard."

More on Tom's book here.

If you're an ole coot you need the book because it is relevant. If you're a college student catch Tom over at You Tube where he is presenting short videos of the book's content.

Design is How it Works

Design is How it Works by Jay Greene.

It's summer. It's Florida. And it's hot. I pick up Design is How it Works and begin to read. Three paragraphs in and I look around for my fireplace, my mug of hot, green tea and my stack of cherry and oak firewood. Why? Because when you settle down to read a good story, that's what you need. Although my fireplace is but a distant, N.E. Ohio memory, visions of its crackling flames and warm heat are instantly evoked. Any notion that my good story observation was premature was totally dispelled by book's end.

Here is what Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO says about Design is How it Works:

"Jay Greene gets to the heart of the matter. Design is not just about how things look, it is about how they work. Follow his fascinating journey through some of the world's most significant design-led companies, and learn how they have made design central to their endeavors. Design Is How It Works offers ideas and inspiration to anyone seeking to build a business that makes a difference."

If you like how Malcolm Gladwell spins a non-fiction tale you'll like how Jay presents eight separate case studies yet ties them together into a main theme. As you journey into the book you'll notice how he references earlier case studies and people and how this tightens up his overall discourse.

You know how some business books seem to talk directly to uninformed CEO's? You can almost feel the author's spittle hit your face as his or her's anger builds into a near physical thrashing of those CEO's who kowtow to monthly numbers, quarterly projections and stoic reluctance towards innovation and progress. I'll pause a moment while you wipe the spittle off your bus partner's face... Well, this book isn't like that. Jay's much more diplomatic.

As a matter of fact, backwoods, wayward CEO's didn't come directly to mind. My first thought was that this is an excellent book to help identify a quality company. One that's driven to satisfy customer's latent and obvious needs while sticking to its guns and following its own soul script.

"My Parents Didn't Have a Clue About That Stuff"

"I didn't have a calculated route I was going to take, my parents didn't have a clue about that stuff." Michael Jager.

You're walking down a dark road laden with land mines. It's 2010, your map is dated 1984. You've done okay, you're still alive, but you've got five miles to go. As the road narrows a stranger with long hair, a beard and John Lennon glasses approaches and says, "You look tired miss. Would you like to know where the land mines are?"

Consider it a bonus and privilege to have parents who offer advice for the road ahead. Consider the possibility that there are many people out there who will gladly tell you about the road ahead. Consider listening.

Don't wait until you bump into some along the road. Become curious. Become a seeker of stories.

Michael Jager packs a ton of enlightenment into this two minute and twenty-one second video.

Image by Ian Munroe

The d.school @ Stanford Bootcamp Bootleg

This is about finding direction. Not from a road-map, not from Google maps, not from the guy at the gas station. This is about traveling down the road and finding direction from eclectic sources. It's about being open-minded and becoming a seeker of life and wisdom.

The d.school, short for the Hasso Plattner Stanford Institute of Design, put together this guide to illustrate and explain design thinking. At first glance it's directed toward designers - folks who make things better and solve problems for others. And while it is of value to designers*, it has the potential to be of extreme value to others. Before going on, let's take a quick look at the d.school's manifesto:

Notice the points:

• Use design thinking to inspire multidisciplinary teams
• Foster radical collaboration between students, faculty and industry

The very fiber from which the school is put together, recognizes drawing upon eclectic sources and working with a cross section of people.

 For today, think of a problem. For instance, say you want to draw more out of your college experience than what you are getting from your classes. As you view this slideshow, think about seeking out people and asking for their success and failure stories.Check This Out ̶ It’s the d.school Bootcamp Bootleg.

*In reality, we are all designers.

Julia Dream, Dreamboat Queen, Queen of all my Dreams

Julia dream, dreamboat queen, queen of all my dreams.

Will I forge ahead today?

Will I try today?

Will I fail today?

Will I get back up today?

Will I let the misty master rule my life today?

Will today be the day today?

Julia dream, dreamboat queen, queen of all my dreams.

 

A Story of What Could Be

"Read me another story mommy! Pleeeeeze"

As kids, why were we so mesmerized by stories? Did we understand their meaning? Did stories stoke and fire our imaginations? Or were we just hyptnotized by the cadence in our parent's voice? At any rate, we all loved stories! And most of us still do.

As we grow up, is there a point where our interest in stories fade? In our teenage years maybe? Once both feet are firmly planted on the hamster wheel we call work? Or, maybe it's when we get older and think we know it all.

If you're on the fence with stories but have an itty bit of tolerance left, what kind of story do you suppose has the power to capture your attention and smother your soul? I'm thinking it's a story that tickles your imagination and offers a glimpse of what could be.

I'm about to send you to a story (video) that's five minutes long. It's a story of what was, what is and, if you let your own freak flag fly, of what could be. Barry Brickell, an artist, talks to three college-age students about why he went to college and life thereafter.

I promise you that this will be five minutes of pure magic. I promise you that at the 4:06 mark your soul will want to bust out and fly! And I promise that you will not soon forget Barry Brickell.

Here's Barry's last remark:

...the reason this place is so successful is there's nothing else like it...that might be something with considering and copying...be original.

And now I'm going to mess with you. Please say out loud, "I want to make pots!" Did you say it? I can't send you to the story if you don't say it! Now, don't blame me if you can't get this phrase out of your head after watching...

A magical story of what could be.

Is it ever too late to find your path?

Find a way to change today. Don't leave your family alone.

 

Standing out in a Sea of Sameness

Standing out in a Sea of Sameness is about building a personal foundation while still in college. It will provide an advantage over others in scoring a job upon graduation and become a platform from which to build your career on. While I am not ready to elaborate at this time, the main components of the foundation are story listening, story telling, design thinking, brand you.

I planted the seeds of this foundation on the Facebook page. It is my intent for them to grow organically without too much lableling. I think the term personal branding has become too buzzwordy and the more it is discussed in social media, the more people will think it's all about the likes of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Tom Peters gave it moderninity in his famous The Brand Called You article and others have attached the "personal" label and are carrying the torch forward. But in all reality, Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill and others were teaching personal branding in the early 20th Century and Ben Franklin was doing it before them. (No doubt Someone was doing it in the Bible and no doubt someone was wearing a loincloth and living in a cave while doing it).

Is Standing out in a Sea of Sameness the same thing as striving for success in college?

Not exactly. There is wonderful support and help for students to achieve success in college. From the university to bloggers to newspapers to parents, help is out there. Topics include:

• Set goals and priorities
• Manage time
• Get sufficient sleep
• Participate in student organizations
• How to study and take tests
• How to write essays and prepare resumes
• Internships

Are college graduates being hired by the droves today? And those who are hired, do you suppose they were fairly successful students? So, if we know jobs are scarce and the price of admission is to at least follow these prescribed guidelines, how does one cop a seat in the front row, how does one stand out in a sea of sameness?

That my friends, is what Standing out in a Sea of Sameness is all about. Tune in today.

Popular Mechanics: How to Become an Inventor

Did you ever discover a treasure that you've had for well over twenty years?

This is about Popular Mechanics the magazine, its design, design and an article that brings them all together.

I've been subscribing to Popular Mechanics since the mid 80's. A couple of years ago I opened up the latest issue and noticed the magazine design. This was a couple years after becoming a design guy. I am a design guy because I have an insatiable amount of appreciation for the type of design that affects me. And what most affects me about PM is their format for presenting information. Main body text is artfully broken up by illustration, pictures and smaller inserts of text. Thin lines of distinction and direction orchestrate information flow between text and illustration. Here is an example:

Simply, PM's design facilitates understanding in a clear and concise method (for me). Those more knowledgeable on things like this than I, call it Information Design.

How to Become an Inventor is an article written by Jim Gorman. Jim breaks it down into five sections:

• Cultivate an idea
• Build a prototype
• File a patent
• Test the market
• Sell it or make it

The design of this article is totally lost in the online version. In the magazine, text, inserted text boxes, pictures and illustration join together to present a readable and understandable article. This is what pops for me - In the introductory section, Jim takes the sentence, "The drive to invent is more powerful than ever..." highlights it in yellow and draws a thin, arced line to a text insert box labeled Lesson A. He then ellaborates on why the drive to invent... This technique is similar to linking out from an online article. The additional information adds value while not breaking and bogging down the introductory section. Jim provides a total of three such lessons in his piece.

A few components of design that make my heart skip a beat are how it makes something look, how it makes things better and the process it takes. Although in How to Become an Inventor, Jim talks about taking an idea, patenting it and either making it or taking it to market, his method follows a design process. Start with an idea, build a prototype, test it, get feedback, test it some more and then do something with it.

Once you adopt a design awareness, you'll begin to notice and appreciate pieces and parts of your life that have been with you all along.