Books

I just finished reading Seth Godin’s book “Tribes” and have just been fired-up with its message of radically changing the rules of the game through the fluid, cause-based, leadership of communities that he aptly terms “Tribes”. Anybody who is involved in influencing the market of ideas, would do well to take this book’s central themes to heart. By the way, YOU are that person, involved in influencing the market of ideas. If you care about stuff, if you want to get things done, if you want to change things, if you use the power of words to bring about change…… then this message os for you.

If you are passionate about an idea, or a message, then there is a tribe out there waiting for you to take the initiative and lead. Your message needs you – your tribe needs you….. welcome to the new world.

Technorati Tags: Tribes, Seth Godin, Books, Viral, Marketing

Clowning in Rome – Reflections on Solitude, Celibacy, Prayer and Contemplation (By: Henri J. M. Nouwen)

Our cultures have pretty much put aside the values of solitude, celibacy, prayer and contemplation. As a result, we experience emptiness in our hearts and our relationships. Clowning in Rome will perhaps inspire us to risk to be touched by those in our homes and on our streets that we would rather put aside and forget. The homeless, belligerent, rejected, violent, lost, uncooperative, and vulnerable people are the prophets of today beckoning us to become clowns in the circus of life, where we foolishly squander our enormous energies of love and generosity. -Foreword (xviii)

… I [slowly] realized that in the great circus of [life], full of lion tamers and trapeze artists whose dazzling feats claim our attention, the real and true story was told by the clowns. Clowns are not in the centre of the events. They appear between the great acts, fumble and fall, and make us smile again after the tensions created by the heroes we came to admire. The clowns don’t have it together they do not succeed in what they try to do, they are awkward, out of balance, and left-handed, but…. they are on our side. We respond to them not with admiration but with sympathy , not with amazement but with understanding, not with tension but with a smile. Of the virtuosi we say, “How can they do it?” Of the clowns we say, “They are like us.” The clowns remind us with a tear and a smile that we share the same human weakness. -page 3.

The Challenge of Jesus

The cross is the surest, truest and deepest window on the very heart and character of the living and loving God; the more we learn about the cross, in all its historical and theological dimensions, the more we discover about the one in whose image we are made, and hence about our own vocation to be the cross-bearing people, the people in whose lives and service the living God is made known.

When therefore we speak… of shaping our world, we do not – we dare not – simply treat the cross as the thing which saves us ‘personally’, but which can be left behind when get on with the job. The task of shaping our world is best understood as the redemptive task of bringing the achievement of the cross to bear on the world; and in that task the methods, as well as the message, must be cross-shaped through and through.

The line between justice and injustice, between things being right and things not being right, can’t be drawn between “us” and “them”. It runs right down the middle of each one of us.

Simply Christian by N. T. (Tom) Wright.

Screw it, Let's do it

Just finished “Screw it, let’s do it“, the second of my four books on Richard Branson. This guy is an incredible agent of change in every industry that he enters. He seems to be like a walking hurricane that leaves results in its wake instead of destruction. He leaves the Virgin mark on everything he touches – a different way of doing business.

This book is very easy to read, and straight to the point. In a way supplemental to his “Losing my virginity“, it reveals the lessons that have helped him build a global business empire. His formula for creativity is so revealing – he says that he just stays really positive all the time (his staff call him “Dr. Yes”) and ideas just “drop into his head” (!!!!!)

The lessons that he explains in this book are the following:

Just do it!

• Believe it can be done
• Have goals
• Live life to the full
• Never give up
• Prepare well
• Have faith in yourself
• Try and try again
• Help each other

Have fun!

• Have fun, work hard, and money will come
• Don’t wAste time – grab your chances
• Have a positive outlook on life
• When it’s not fun, move on

Be Bold

• Calculate the risks and take them
• Believe in yourself
• Chase your dreams and goals
• Have no regrets
• Keep your word

Challenge Yourself

• Aim high
• Try new things
• Always try
• Challenge yourself

Stand On Your Own Two Feet

• Rely on yourself
• Chase your dreams but live in the real world
• Work together

Live the moment

• Love life and live it to the full
• Enjoy the moment
• Reflect on your life
• Make every second count
• Don’t have regrets

Value family and friends

• Put family and the team first
• Be loyal
• Face problems head on
• Money is for making things happen
• Pick the right people and reward talent

Have respect

• Be polite and respectful
• Do the right thing
• Keep your good name
• Be fair in all your dealings

Gaia capitalism

• Leave the world a better place
• Pull your weight
• Take the long-term view
• Always consider the implications of your actions
• Big victories are made up of many small ones
• Confront the big issues, they won’t go away
• Understand the situation then consider whether to fight and how
• Never lose sight of the end goal
• If something is wrong – fix it

Sex appeal

• Be passionate about the brand and make it sexy
• Use the normal to engage the enemy, the extraordinary to win
• Walk the talk
• Create excitement in everything you do
• If something needs doing, do it yourself
• Look beyond the obvious and put your a$$ on the line

Be innovative

• Nothing is impossible
• Think creatively
• The system is not sacred
• To win you have to break the rules
• Play the hand you’ve been dealt with
• Find another way

Do some good

• Change the world, even if in a small way
• Make a difference and help others
• Do no harm
• Always think what you can do to help

Pow! Shazam!

• Speed is the ultimate competitive weapon
• Be first in the field
• Do it now
• Keep it simple
• Cut red tape
• Keep your eye on the ball

Think young

• You’ve got to challenge the big ones
• Keep it casual
• Haggle: Everything is negotiable
• Have fun working
• Do the right things for the brand
• Smile for the cameras!
• Don’t lead ’sheep’, herd ‘cats’
• Move like a bullet
• Small is beautiful
• Be a common, regular person

Richard explains how his best business ideas always come through having lots and lots of conversations with people – even when he is working through his long to-do lists. He has his entrepreneurial antennae always switched on and ideas are picked up and then developed. I look forward to reading the other two books on this Richard Branson palooza that I’ve embarked upon. Stay tuned for more…..

Richard Branson: Losing my virginity

I have just finished reading this page-turner!  It was a really enjoyable and inspiring read, especially as Sir Richard Branson seems to speak my heart when he writes about social entrepreneurship and of using influence, position, and wealth as a force for good and for change in the world.

Sir Richard seems to be a very remarkable man.  He has the unique gift of being able to impart Virgin’s DNA, its core values, to whatever endeavour he embarks on.  In all of his projects, he seems to have the knack of changing cultures and raising the high water levels.  Just reading his journey from a student activist-entrepreneur to the chief visionary behind the worldwide phenomenon that is Virgin is truly exhilarating.

Like him, I strongly believe that social entrepreneurship provides a way forward for many of the third world’s poverty-related problems.  If you have a heart for the marketplace and for business, I seriously recommend that you read this book – there are tonnes of business lessons in there for you.  If you happen to get fired up with his message of changing the world, then join the movement.

Just finished reading The Snowball:  Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, the mammoth tome on Warren Buffett.  The author strips away all the mystery surrounding this intriguing persona to reveal the pure genius of the man.  She gives a thorough history of both his personal as well as business life and also goes into the heavy toll that his family have borne for his dedication to business and investing.

To any student of business or investing the lessons to take away from this book are incredible.  The prudent value system that guides his every decision, as well as his propensity to consider honesty and openness whilst at the same time pushing for a hard deal will benefit any serious student of business.

Some of the insights and dealongs with previous busts and bailouts hark prophetic to our time and current crisis.

Taliban: The story of the Afghan Warlords

Just finished reading this really interesting book written by prominent Pakistani author and journalist Ahmed Rashid. I seriously recommend this book to anyone who wants to go behind the simplistic portrayal of the Taliban issue often presented by the mainstream media. The only drawback is that it was written before 9/11 and the author simply wrote a new preface post-terrorist attacks. I would have personally gone for a complete re-writing of the book – indeed maybe I would have gone for a sequel!

If I take anything away from this book it is the notion, from a Western perspective, that one must be very careful with whom we go to bed with – we may end up with an unplanned child down the road. That seems to be the moral of the story for all the parties involved either directly or covertly in this saga. A terrible sin of omission has been created by the western powers who were invested in Afghanistan only whilst their overriding interest was to secure a defeat of the Soviet Union. Once the Cold War was over, Afghanistan was allowed to slip off everyone’s radar, descend into chaos, and into the vacuum left by the lack of good governance the Taliban rose up as, frankly, the only alternative to anarchy in their country. This is now coming back to haunt regional and international powers big time.

When I look at what decisions are being taken with regards to Iraq, the problem in Sudan, Somalia and other forgotten hot spots and war zones around the world, I am seeing Afghanistan replayed all over again. We do not seem to learn our lessons well.

Just finished reading through Brennan Manning’s “The Ragamuffin Gospel” for the second time round. This book grips me as being an account that comes from a man who has experienced the deep reserves of grace – a man who has had to look deeply into the eyes of a loving father, and has seen the depths of mercy, compassion and forgiveness that are there to be received.

I get the impression from Manning that it is far more important to get a grip on God’s heart for me than it is to “stop sinning”. Indeed, it may very well be that the former is the precursor and condition for the latter – the man whose foundation is the love of Father God towards him is a man who will be extremely motivated to live an upright and righteous life.

In my own strength I fully feel like a ragamuffin – beat-up, discouraged, unqualified – I am even learning to embrace my weaknesses knowing that when I am weak then I am strong. When I do this I stop trying to “make it” on the merits of willpower, my own strength, or even my own obedience. I simply surrender to the grace of God and begin to experience a release of power that comes from the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit that empowers me as a child of God to do things that I could never have done on my own.

I recommend this book to anyone who thinks he knows what Grace is…… read and learn bro., read and learn.