6 key takeaways from "The Compound Effect"

Would you rather have $3 million right now -- or take 1 cent which would double every day for the next 31 days?

The answer had a dramatic effect on me.

And it was one of many takeaways from reading "The Compound Effect" by Darren Hardy.

Write out excuses

• Write 6-10 small changes to make
• Write 6-10 small things to stop

Choices

• Take 100% responsibility
• Track it

Habits

• If 1% off, L.A. to N.Y. (Albany and Delaware)

Focus of 3 best habits

“Clean house”

• Momentum

Rhythm register

Influences

• Peak performance partner(s)

Acceleration

• Where can you do more

9 key notes from "Practically Radical"

Here is a synopsis of my notes from reading "Practically Radical" by William Taylor:




Age of disruption

“You can’t do big things if you are content with doing things a little better than others.”


Brand attic

Timelines of products, campaigns, artifacts

Pedigree = Dogma “we’re for dogs”

Girl Scouts = Juliette, founder 1912


Where you look shapes what you see

- Build-A -Bear

- Pepsico

- Container store


“Zero-Gravity Thinkers”

The job of change agent is not just to surface high-minded ideas. It is to summon a sense of urgency inside and outside of organization, then turn urgency into action.


“Crumple it up”

Humana identified practices to stop

“Chief Purposologist”


Be the most of something

You can be unique and not narrow


Thinking harder – caring more

Engage emotionally to satisfy


Blank-sheet-of-paper mindset


Someone who can tap people and processes in org

4 actionable ideas (and 5 behaviors) from "Making Ideas Happen"

Here are the actionable ideas I took away from reading "Making Ideas Happen" by Scott Belsky, of Behance:

Bias toward action = Verbs

Teams = Dreamer + Doers

5 Defined behaviors

1. Stand
2. Capture Actions
3. Talk last
4. Gratitude
5. Stories & Cases

Hot Spots = Go-to people

5 takeaways from "The Reinventors"

Here are my top 5 takeaways from reading "The Reinventors" by Jason Jennings

• Make lots of small bets + S.M.A.R.T. bets
• Step “Skunking” bets with negativity
• Systematize everything
• Change the Experience by changing the environment
• Identify & enlist your critics

Just a few things that have made me happy this Christmas

150 photos from Annie Leibovitz: The "Master Set" exhibit

This weekend, I visited the exhibit of iconic pictures and family photos by Annie Leibovitz on display at the Wexner Center for the Arts on the Ohio State University campus.  

Leibovitz’s work encompasses some of the most well-known portraits of our time, including those of musicians, actors, writers, athletes and political figures. The exhibit is a snapshot of American pop culture representing the past four decades.

Featured is Leibovitz’s "Master Set," some 150 images she selected as best representing her life’s work, including those from professional assignments and personal photos of her family. This is the first time the photos have been exhibited as a set. The exhibit fills the entire museum’s gallery space.

“The camera allowed me to go places by myself. It gave me a purpose. It gave me reason,” said Annie Leibovitz during the opening of the Wexner Center show.

There’s a photo of actress Scarlett Johansson lounging on a worn couch wearing a glittery, circus-like getup and red heels. There’s a portrait of a bare-naked John Lennon wrapped around a clothed Yoko Ono, taken just hours before he was shot dead in 1980. There’s the Vanity Fair cover photo of a pregnant and nude Demi Moore gracefully covering her breasts and cradling her belly.

All are of famous people, but captured in poses that reveal their personalities and transform them into people we know.

20 scenes from 20 miles along the Scioto & Olentangy Rivers

Ohio Statehouse: holiday decorations