Category: Non-Fiction

One day, Cynthia brought home a new book sponsored by her company written by one of her Partners and in this book, her client Johnson & Johnson is featured as one of the case studies. As always, I read the book and she gets to hear the summary. A win-win situation for the both of us.

I love reading strategy books but to finish one is a daunting task. “The Strategy Paradox” turns out to be the exact opposite of what I perceive a consulting book to be. It is full of interesting case studies, not too much into the methodology, and it is written with such a pose. Read the following excerpt and you will see what I mean.

Bowing to the limits of our station need not imply that we aim lower: a Macbeth or an Oedipus who accedes to the vagaries of fate can still be king, but he rules the kingdom very differently. Similarly, a strategy built on humility can still succeed; it just looks very different from a strategy built on hubris. This book has explored those differences and argued that a strategy of humility is a better and nobler way to think about the future of your company – Chapter 11 Reinventing Strategy.

In the beginning of “The Strategy Paradox”, Raynor brought out an excellent analogy. Tell me, what is the opposite of love? Some may say hatred. But the answer is indifference. Hatred and love has the same intensity of feeling towards a person but indifference has none. So, what is the opposite of success?

Failure?

The opposite of success is mediocrity. Being average is what many companies are contented with. Raynor pointed out that the ones that aim for greatest, the ones who aim for success has the same attributes as the ones who fail. It is due to the uncertainty that these companies fail. Traditionally, in order to succeed, companies formulate a strategy and commit to it. It is this commitment that forbidden them to adapt to the changes experienced. To resolve this, the author proposed Requisite Uncertainty. Simply put, the corporate office should focus on managing uncertainty while the operating managers must focus on delivering on commitments.

In chapter 2, the author has brought forth an interesting case study of Sony through its electronic formats of Betamax in video, MiniDisc in audio and illustrated how focusing too much on strategic success and not enough on strategic uncertainty can be disastrous due to bad luck.

The book has made clear that we simply cannot forecast the future. There are just too many variables. And some changes are too fast for us to react while some changes are just too slow (as illustrated by the example of the Viking) for us to adapt.

But there is a way out.

All we need is to create options. In chapter 7, the author brought in the excellent case studies of BCE and Microsoft. The former one consists of a portfolio of partial equity stakes that creates a strategically flexible corporation but lacks the formalized processes required to implement the approach versus the latter one that is able to pursue an options-based strategy far more consistently and so manage strategy uncertainty far more effectively.

The key to success is to acquire options that are related to the way a business is shaped. Take J&J as an example. There is a corporate venture capital arm, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC) that its primary focus is to acquire business that may benefit J&J in future. To achieve strategic flexibility, one must acquire enough stake – and not too much – in order to sell off or further invest on the options as the future unfolds. There is a price to this of course. And the 4 phases of managing a portfolio of real options are create, preserve, exercise, and abandon. In the end, it boils down to how one should exercise the option (i.e. purchase the subsidiary that will benefit the overall group) or sell off the option (i.e. abandon what is not beneficiary to the future of the company).

I personally believe that “The Strategy Paradox” is crucial to those who are into M&A business (Merger and Acquisition) as well as those who are into corporate strategy. It would have been nice if Michael Raynor elaborates on the future of Sony with the Blu-ray format war against HD DVD as that would have been a true testimony to what he preaches about.

My friend Barbara from Philippines whom I have met back in Mauritius one day went online and as we chatted, I realized that she was like me taking a break from career and unlike me, she is a whole lot more productive – she is into charity works. Barbara introduced me to means to find out what our strengths are and we have made a pack – we are going to find our dream job at the same time. Some sort of support group we have.

In “Strengths Finder 2.0”, the author Tom Rath preaches that we should put our effort to develop our talents (hence making them our strengths) rather than to work on our weaknesses. That I am not too sure if I am entirely agreeable to it. According to the author, we all have our natural talents that are inborn. Hard work can only bring us to a level of mediocrity if you are not born with that talent. Personally, I would rather think that working hard on our passion does mean something and without paying attention to some of our weaknesses (like empathy for some), we can only go that far.

Anyway, here are my results. I am still very puzzled on what to make out of it. As in what sort of insights I should derive. I think friends of mine may have some idea on what my strengths are and looking at the listed ones below, are these my strengths? If so, what can I make out of it? It is so generic in a sense. So readers of my site, please lend me your two cents of thought.

In the order of my strengths are …

1. Strategic – People who are especially talented in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.
2. Learner – People who are especially talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.
3. Activator – People who are especially talented in the Activator theme can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. They are often impatient.
4. Individualization – People who are especially talented in the Individualization theme are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how people who are different can work together productively.
5. Futuristic – People who are especially talented in the Futuristic theme are inspired by the future and what could be. They inspire others with their visions of the future.

On a side note, I think the book is a precipitation of a great business idea. The real gem behind that book is that online survey that people would love to take. But in order to take the survey, you have to buy the book. Each book grants one entry to the survey and therefore, you cannot possibly share that book with others. To be frank, part one of the book tries to convince you why focusing on your strengths is important and out of 34 themes that are listed out in part two, only 5 that are relevant to you (hence only 15% is relevant to you). In another words, you put your money to the online survey rather than to the book.

The online survey consists of 177 questions each comes with 2 descriptors. Your job is to decide which of these 2 descriptors best suits you in a scale of 5 (visualize a lever that slides between the 2 descriptors at each end). Mind you, you have 20 seconds in exact to complete each question and the website will automatically proceed to the next question if you take too long to think. No toilet break or whatsoever.

An afterthought of mine is … it is good to reconfirm what my strengths are. The big question is: what’s next? The final report – pretty much like a condensed version of the book – further describes what each strength theme is and to probably help you come to terms with who you are. Each theme is also accompanied with 10 action items so all of a suddenly, there are 50 action items to work on. Some who took the test (as read from forums) wonder why the report only shows top 5 strengths rather than perhaps all 34 themes in descending order. I actually have no problem with that because I think there are only that many actions I can focus on at one time. And since the author preaches that focusing on weaknesses is a waste of resources, knowing what my bottom 29 themes is just a satisfaction to my curiosity.

Having said all of the above, I still wonder if these strengths are really inside of me all these while or because I have been a management consultant for over 10 years, I am conditioned to be good at these 5 areas. And if indeed all these years I have been working on my strengths, I shall be happy and growing and successful by now, which is not quite the case. The only conclusion I have is that there must be some fundamental flaws that blindsided me – something that the book fails to answer. Or perhaps …

… all these years I have been given opportunities to sharpen these strengths of mine but I have not fully exploited them because I did not manage to list down my strengths all these years and come to terms with myself until now?

It is funny how everything seems to make sense if tackle from random directions – however senseless the reality is. I still have my doubts.

My friend KF the Branding Consultant (not KF the Muscleman) passed me a book titled “Brand Leadership” to read. I have always enjoyed expanding my horizon whenever I can. Two reasons for that: (1) I’ll never know what I read or do may come in handy in my future (in another word, get prepared for the unknown unknown) and (2) I strongly believe in the “innovation intersection” where the best place to innovate is to put various different types of disciplines together (it helps me to get out the box).

Books on consulting ideas, theories, approach, and frameworks are not known as easy reads. I have yet to read a consulting book that is engaging. As a confession, I have not survived reading many of the consulting books that I have bought over the years. If not for this blog, I probably would not be finish “Brand Leadership” either. The previous non-fiction book I read was “Medici Effect: What Elephants and Epidemics Can Teach Us About Innovation“. It is a total page turner full of exciting case studies, a great material for trainers and motivational speakers but not necessarily for the consultants. “Brand Leadership” has some great frameworks and I can imagine how a branding consultant is able to readily take them into the battlefield. I enjoyed reading the first 5 chapters, which is consistent with some of the other readers’ reviews I have seen. The author tends to get a bit long winded and the case studies become stale after numerous repetitions. And I love the leading questions that are listed in the last chapter as well when it comes to global brand planning (in the areas of brand strategy, brand-building programs, strategic analysis, and goals and measurement). Those are valuable to the branding consultants who may be new to this aspect of the business.

Essentially, the authors try to advocate the idea that branding strategy is not a one-off project. The organisation (i.e. leadership) has to embrace this constant change and be able to champion this brand planning effort. To constantly evaluate the customers, competitors, and own brand image, to constantly look into the brand strategy versus the brand portfolio, to constantly employ effective action plans to carry out the strategy, and to constantly evaluate the branding effectiveness. This requires a change in mindset especially when the brand has a global presence.

I can draw similarity between branding and the last piece of work I have done – balanced scorecard. The end result of balanced scorecard is a strategy map, a set of indicators, and the processes to sustain this system. Creating a balanced scorecard requires ground level contribution as well as ground level buy-in. Ultimately, it is a set of vision and mission and strategy that an organization can identify with. And if an organisation has a hierarchy of units, each unit may have its own scorecard that has to be harmonized and aligned to the parent unit. To me, it is like internal branding. Branding requires a good look at identity in the areas of brand as product, as organization, as person, and as symbol. There should be a value proposition (very much like vision and mission) and if there is a portfolio of brands (like the units within the organization), we need to look into the relationship and to create synergy. What follows would be action plans to realize the brand strategy, measurements, as well as a system in place to sustain. In fact, pretty much like many of the other management consulting tools out there.

If you want to learn more about branding, the first few chapters should get you started. If you are a branding consultant, there are couple of pages you will need to photocopy and have them pinned to the wall. One of the authors, David Aaker, is highly regarded in the domain of branding. I can certainly see why judging from some of the frameworks he proposed.

Branding is powerful. Large organizations are willing to pay big money to branding because it has a direct effect on the top line. Look around you, branding is everywhere.

Named after the banking family in Florence, Medicis, who funded creators from a wide range of disciplines and together, they forged a new world based on new ideas – the Renaissance, “The Medici Effect” explores what the best chance to innovate is, how to create the Medici Effect, and how to make these new ideas happen. It is by far one of the most engaging non-fictions I have read. I seldom use “page turner” to describe a non-fiction and “The Medici Effect” is one. I finished reading the book on my way travelling from Singapore to Melbourne.

I can certainly relate to the book’s content. I have worked as a consultant in two of the biggest global firms and on one end of the spectrum, we put consultants of different disciplines – not only that but to exploit the strength of it, different cultural and social backgrounds, different experiences, and I have witnessed the explosion of creative ideas being realised. On the other end of the spectrum, I have seen a homogeneous group of consultants – even the subtle differences were not exploited – being put under a straight hierarchical order and focus is less on innovation. The key difference is one of these two global firms actively assembles a team of people with a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds and to provide them with an environment to innovate. How about at an individual level? Many creative ideas are realised by mainly one person. As an individual, it is how we broaden our horizon, having a core skill and proactively expand into different domains – doesn’t matter if they are related at all, and to be able to view the world in various perspectives that put us right at the “Intersection” where our best chance to create the Medici Effect is.

“The Medici Effect” has numerous citations (52 in total) from other famous non-fictions and sources and it is packed with entertaining and inspiring case studies. In “The Medici Effect”, the author pointed out that the quality of work has a direct correlation to the quantity of work. That is to say, the more we create, the better chance we are to create something good. However, having created a masterpiece does not mean that the next masterpiece is guaranteed. There is always an element of randomness. That is why some famous businessmen at times made the worst business decision, some great musicians release albums that may disappoint fans, and even great painters do have their bad days. The author continues to write about how to overcome some of these challenges.

By the way, I have come across a wonderful definition on creativity and innovation. Being creative is to be able to generate original ideas. New ideas that no one has thought about. To innovate is to be able to realise those creative ideas. That, is the difference.

It is beautiful oil paintings like the one on the left that inspire me to pick up this new hobby (“Sunflower” by Louise DeMore). I have a belief that every hobby needs 10 years to mature and to turn into something more serious. If you pick up guitar as a hobby today and keep practicing it on a regular basis, 10 years later you should have decent skill to please a crowd (if that is the case, please come back to this site and tell me that I was right). Same theory applies. If I pick up oil painting now, in my 40s, my friends should be proud of hanging my paintings in their homes. By 50s, people may start collecting my paintings. Who knows?

Smart readers of my website must be asking: is this guy for real? It may not look very real right now but between you and me, I have already invested more than S$160 into acquiring all the basic stuffs that I need to start painting oils (as of now, I wonder if Cynthia has discovered the large painting board, bags of equipment, and an … easel – all hiding inside the common bedroom). I still have not created my first oil painting yet and to tell you the truth, it is a bit scary – given the fact that I hated art classes at school.

One of my friends insists that art in general (including music) cannot be taught. It is either you have the talent or you don’t have it. You may get a teacher to get you going with the basic but the rest will depend on your talent no matter how hard you practice or train. I wish to follow one of the painter’s philosophy – “Don’t worry about talent; it means nothing without perseverance”.

In his recent interview by the Reader’s Digest, Will Smith said: Give me the book, and I do not need somebody to stand up in front the class. I am no Will Smith but I am happy to start off my new hobby with tons of books I have borrowed from the National Library. If you wish to start painting oils, you may wish to get hold of some of the books listed below. One thing I noticed as I moved from one book to another is that there may be contradicting teaching points. Some prefer to use pencil to create a draft and some give reasons why not to do it. Some prefer to use diluted black colour as the underpaint and some say otherwise. Even for brushes, different painters have their preferences. Some are more the old school type while others encourage you to start painting before you learn how to draw. Some insist that all painting must be modelled after real life objects or subjects while some use photographs or even imagination. Of course, another advantage of absorbing multiple books at one go is that there are bound to be some techniques that one author penned them down in details while others did not.

Painting Oils (First Step Series) by Louise DeMore

A wonderful book with examples relatively simple enough to demonstrate the techniques. I especially like her 5-step approach in completing any kind of painting. She likes to use warm colour a lot and the examples look even beautiful to look at. What I like about the book too is that the examples given seems achievable for even beginners to attempt. The author seems to have lots of experience in teaching students.

Oils by Peter John Garrand

Garrand’s book has some interesting tips that others may have missed out such as how to look after the brushes and how to stack the canvases amongst others. The examples though are not that easy to follow. His teaching more encourages people to start painting and go back to drawing techniques if you find that you cannot improve anymore.

Oils for the Beginner by Alwyn Crawshaw

One of the best narration, very well explained, and I felt motivated just by reading the words. Lots of useful information and seemingly achievable examples. Crawshaw has lots of passion and experiences in painting.

You Can Paint Oils by Linda Birch

Beautifully written for absolute beginners. The steps are clear and the example are simple enough. Perhaps Birch has illustrated many children’s books besides teaching painting and drawing, she tends to teach drawing from imagination (compares to others who paint based on a real setting).

Oils by Patricia Seligman

Although this book belongs to the “Step by Step Art School” series, it is definitely not for beginners. Even some of the techniques seem unconventional. The examples, though, are professionally beautiful. One example even gives a “paper-folding” effect on an oil painting. In no way I am going to draw those examples in the very near future, I am sure.

Oil Painting for Beginners by Francisco Asensio Cerver

I bought this book at Kinokuniya because first, it didn’t cross my mind that I can borrow oil painting books from the library and second, it is relatively affordable (S$15.65). It turns out to be a good buy as it is packed with information and examples. And it is always a good idea to have a book within reach to refer to at all time for beginners.

“It was Friday night when my son Bryan wanted to use the car. I didn’t want him to use it – partly because I saw him as someone irresponsible, troublemaking, and disrespectful – so I gave an insanely early curfew time (10.30pm) that I didn’t think he would accept. Bryan accepted the condition, took the car key, and stormed out of the house. My husband and I were both complaining about Bryan while keeping an eye on the clock. At 10.29pm, we heard the squeal of tires in the driveway. And you know what? In that moment, when I saw the time, I felt a keen pang of disappointment.” – summarised version of a case study (page 91 to 98) of how we may just want the problem to occur to prove that we are right.

When was the last time that you even before interacting with someone, you have formed this perception on him or her that affected your subsequent actions without you consciously knowing it? A partner who places career as a higher priority than you because he or she works late most of the time, a client who is demanding and unreasonable because every time you talk to him or her on the phone your blood pressure goes up, a coworker who is incompetent because he or she just can’t deliver what you asked for. With this sort of perceptions in mind, do you see each of them as a person with his or her own needs or an obstacle to what you are trying to achieve? People have this tendency to put blame on others without realising that by doing so creates the problem of resistance that is hard to solve. The problem is this: How can we simultaneously (1) create our own problems, (2) be unable to see that we are creating our own problems, and (3) resist any attempts to help us stop creating those problems?

“Leadership and Self-Deception” is written by The Arbinger Institutes. I first heard of this book from one of my clients (a large organisation in the public sector). For those entities that have sent their executives to this Arbinger Course, I noticed a significant difference to those entities that have not. Executives who are trained for this course communicate in a much open manner to people across levels. Issues are discussed and decisions are made with everyone feeling good on how the situations are handled. Compare this with some of the meetings I have participated with clients getting personal with one and other, issues beget more issues, and at the end of the meeting, nothing gets done.

Not only have I seen the difference between entities that have attended the training and the entities that have not, I have also witnessed the difference in people’s behaviour before and after the training. At the beginning of the project with one of the entities in this large organisation, we had difficulties even to gather the executives of each branch (took 6 months to arrange) and when the “big day” came, some were late, some were on the phone, some even suggested to abort the project. Then one day, one of the branch head invited us, the consultants, for a coffee break and he apologised for not being supportive throughout this project. And he went on sharing with us what he has learned in this “Leadership and Self-Deception” course. From that day onwards, we have witnessed that the branch heads were more engaging during workshops and a common goal was achieved.

After seeing all these wonderful effects this course has on people, I have picked up the book from a bookstore and started reading. I would say the concept is not new, the methodology is straightforward, and the authors have chosen a storytelling mode to educate the readers. It is not easy I suppose because unlike workshops, book reading is a one way communication. The scenarios painted in the book have to be generic enough to appeal to the general public.

At the personal level, I started reading the book with the mindset of “I don’t have this problem and just read for fun” and halfway through the materials, it was changed into “I do at times have this problem and thank God I am reading this”. Since then, I have passed the book to Cynthia. “Leadership and Self-Deception” is not a tool to solve all your problems (Cynthia and I initially thought so). But it helps you to solve one of the most persistent problems you have – self-deception.

Verdict: 9/10
Pros: Written in such a compassion that makes you smile and wipe with the author. Wonderful insights in other aspects of life and they are as real as they can be.
Cons: Can’t think of much except that if you are not into memoires kind of writing, you may not enjoy it. Even so, it is worth a try as the book is indeed a page turner. Another reason why this book could be a put off is that it contains more than a million words (as quoted by the author).

I have picked up a signed copy from a bookstore inside Singapore airport and the image shown is the exact signature of Jeffery Archer. It turned out that I have enjoyed this book tremendously. A rare gem I would say.

This entire work is divided into three volumns. The first of all is Belmarsh: Hell. It was written when Archer was first sentenced for four years due to perjury and Belmarsh was where he ended up: jailed together with drug dealers and murderers. Inside Belmarsh as he unveiled the politics inside the prison community, how your life could be made better by mixing with the right people, stories from the lifers, and stories that are so wierd that are even better than novels. Archer also revealed the flaw of the so-called rehabitation system.

When he finally moved to a less restrictive prison (quite a fair bit of interesting plots), that was when he penned the second volume – Wayland: Purgatory. His zest of inquisition never ended. He interviewed the prisoners as well as the prison officers and all gave a deep insight into the prison system as the serious drug problem that UK faced. Not to forget to mention the stories that make you laugh as you read along.

Moving to an open prison prompted him to write the third volume – North Sea Camp – Heaven. By then he was so expert in the prison system and worked hard to gain his enchanced state that provided him with privilages. Here was when he revealed the sad reality that many prisoners who have been model prisoners and been locked up in many years – simply cannot survive in the real world. The so-called stupid things they do just to get them back to jail again because they feel safe inside the four walls.

There is a final twist to this book but I am not going to reveal here. I am really glad that Archer – a politician as well as a writter – continued to write given the circumstances. This book is a must-read.