There are very few books or videos that really change your life. Last lecture is one that will really change your life. It is all about achieving your childhood dreams. Randy is no more with us but he has left a legacy. Dream and Dream big and then work hard to achieve them. I had seen the lecture first and then I read this book. Book provides background on the lecture and Randy’s life. Was a great read. Actually some portions of book are really emotional. Great read I will highly recommend watching the lecture and reading the book.
Microsoft moved from 5 to 4. Apple and Google are still 1 & 2.
With the sudden reversal of the global economy, businesses are struggling not only with shrinking income and budgets, but also with seismic shifts that are upending entire industries, from autos and retail to banking and entertainment. These same forces are apparent in our latest ranking of the Most Innovative Companies. While the 2009 list includes some stalwarts in their usual top positions—namely Apple and Google—15 newcomers have joined the lineup, the biggest change since BusinessWeek and Boston Consulting Group first partnered on this proprietary survey in 2005. These include more companies headquartered outside the U.S. than in the past, such as Volkswagen, Infosys, and Telefónica
Recently started reading blog on compete.com really good stuff. I found this post very interesting. I think this is because Apple has not launched a new version of IPhone and Blackberry had launched new products hence there is more traffic on that site. But who know… :)
The chart below shows traffic to U.S. phone-specific portions* of each manufacturer’s website between July 2008 and February 2009.
Amazingly easy read. You will learn something and will be able to use it in your work life next day. I actually started using some things from the book and the ideas really work.
This book is about visual thinking. In short how do you draw your ideas and how that helps you think about a problem and come up with solutions. Had 3 hour meeting today discussing about our product’s future. I thought this book gave me great ideas on how to think about things. Loved it…
Suggestion: Do not read it on Kindle which I did. Images are really horrible on Kindle. I had to borrow a copy from my friend to look at images.
Of course I will highly recommend this book to anyone.
I had written a post on what is Photosynth few months back(Photosynth- Different way of looking at photo albums). Today I saw CNN promoting photosynth for "The Moment" campaign as part of their inaugural day coverage. It is great to see new Microsoft technology hitting prime time.
This is a great read. I read it in 1 week. I have never read a book in that short period of time. This book is about Success…
Outliers says success follows a predictable course. It is not the brightest who succeed. Nor is success simply the sum of the decisions and efforts we make on our own behalf. It is rather a gift. Outliers are those who have been given opportunities and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.
Just read the article "The Quick Wins Paradox" by Van Buren and Safferstone Todd in Harvard Business Review – Jan 2009. It is a good article focusing on things that can make newly appointed leaders successful.
We all agree that new leaders need to show quick wins to gain confidence of their direct reports and the higher level management. Authors suggest 5 main reasons new leaders fail are Focusing too much on details, reacting negatively to criticism, Intimidating others, Jumping to conclusion and Micromanaging.
According to the author new leaders can be successful if they focus on collective quick wins instead of individual wins. They way to achieve collective quick wins are by making people believers not bystanders, understanding uncertainty, showing humility and learning about the team.
The article is very good and you should surely read if you like the brief intro here. Order Here…
This is story of Archway bakery in Ashland, Ohio. The bakery was closed in October abruptly and 300 employees were let go. Lance Inc of South Carolina bought the bakery in auction and reopened the bakery. I was really moved by this story. I think it is amazing what Lance has done.
Business Week has released its 10 best list of Innovation and Design books for Year 2008. I think it is a great list. I am already readying one on the list and will surely try out others. Enjoy the list.
Aaron Gustafson
By Reena Jana and Matt Vella
This year, a number of the world’s experts released long-awaited books that augmented a bumper crop of texts on the subject of innovation. Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, for example, published four books in 2008, while Procter & Gamble (PG) chief executive officer A.G. Lafley contributed a volume of tips on how to be innovative. Here we offer our list of the year’s 10 best reads—as in stimulating, practical, and well, inventive. The roster includes some well-known titles and a few surprises, presented in alphabetical order.
Another good article By Arik Hesseldahl . I saw a touch screen PC by HP at best buy it was impressive but I already own 2 PCs and 2 Laptops. Could not convince my wife to get one more. But touch screen laptop sounds really interesting.
Apple watchers assumed Jobs & Co. would be the first to offer a multitouch laptop, but Hewlett-Packard has beaten them to the punch
From the first time Steve Jobs demonstrated "the pinch"—the two-finger gesture used to zoom in and out of photos and Web pages on the iPhone—some Apple observers assumed it was just a matter of time before a multitouch-enabled screen showed up on the Mac.
That hasn’t happened yet. But as of Nov. 19, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has beaten Apple (AAPL) to the punch, announcing the first multitouch-enabled notebook PC, the tx2. I can’t help but wonder whether Apple just lost an important race.
I had seen the lecture first and then I read this book. Book provides background on the lecture and Randy’s life. Was a great read. Actually some portions of book are really emotional. Great read I will highly recommend watching the lecture and reading the book. 
