In an interesting turn of motivation about a week before I had finished reading my last book (Winning by Jack Welch) I started reading Rework. Partially my motivation to get started on the new book was to get ahead of the rest of the class, but partially it was just because the style of writing was so much more conversational (read interesting). The book is full of bold statements, many of which seem like they amount to common business sense for our time. And the times have changed like I read in Here Comes Everybody The internet is changing the costs associated with doing things and the capital and investment required to get attention. I totally enjoyed reading it and I hope to read less and start chronicling my personal doings as opposed to just my reflections on other peoples writings about what they have done.

The book is broken down into thoughts (2 or 3 pages), which are collected together to make chapters on productivity, promotion, culture, hiring ... Really tough to draw out highlights, everythird page is kind of a highlight, but here's a couple.

Pouring yourself into your product is the easiest way to avoid trouble from the competition. Cause personality, that is hard to replicate and people want to feel like they have a real connection with some one.

"Making decisions is making progress" that's one that struck me pretty hard. As I have a tendency to try and obsess over making the right decision. A like the idea of deciding doing and getting feedback quickly, doesn't everyone? But it seems so often we get stuck making long long term plans which may or may not come to be and then having to change those plans later anyways, or they just get forgotten. We're trying a one-page-plan strategy at work right now. Certainly keeps the plan short in length. Hopefully, it'll also keep the plan front of mind and achievable. I'll keep you posted.

One of the more generalized ideas I took out of the book, is that there are a lot of conceptions about what a great business is (and isn't) and those guidelines might not fit your business at all. As a consequence, it is likely best to just ignore the preconceived notions about what a business ought to look like and just focus on what is right for this business. This kind of taps into my long standing dislike for the professionalization of everything (ie I'm not able to fix my leaking tap, I need a professional to do that... baloney!) and applies it to business. I like that. I liked a lot about this book, it's a great tool for occasionally kicking one's own butt into action. (Mr. Think #6 by eaubscene)