Summer Reading 2012

Michael Stone, August 26, 2012, , (src), (all posts)

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Back in April, I met some awesome folks at the first STAMP/STPA Workshop.

Since then, I’ve been reading furiously trying to catch up with them!

Here are some of my favorites from my summer reading adventures, mostly c/o Lane Desborough’s reading list, along with short summaries of what I’ve taken away from them so far and related fun:

Influence

Link: Amazon

Author: Robert Cialdini

Summary: Cialdini thinks that most compliance tactics are the application of a six principles of influence, crudely paraphrased as:

Mnemonic Principle Description
R reciprocation We experience strong social and internal
pressures to reciprocate gift-giving. The
gift-giver can often choose the form of
reciprocation.
C commitment & We usually strive to act in ways that are
consistency consistent with our own self-image. Even small
changes in our self-images resulting from new
commitments can produce large and lasting
changes in our behavior.
P social proof When uncertain about how to behave, we tend to
mimic visible bystanders who resemble us.
L liking We are more willing to do things for people we
like or find attractive.
A authority We respond to authority, both real and imagined.
S scarcity We covet scarce goods over abundant ones,
especially in competitive situations, and we
fear loss more than we enjoy gain.

Related fun:

The Power of Habit

Link: Amazon

Author: Charles Duhigg

Summary: Habits can be understood as “cue -> script -> reward” programs. (Think of chemical abstract machine programs.) To change habits, it helps to try to preserve the old cues and rewards while swapping in a new script.

Related fun:

The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing

Link: Amazon

Author: Thomas Nagle, John Hogan, and Joseph Zale

Summary:

Related fun:

Kotler on Marketing

Link: Amazon

Author: Philip Kotler

Summary:

Related fun:

The Toyota Way

Link: Amazon

Author: Jeffrey Liker

Summary: The philosophy underlying the TPS & TDS and the environment that produced them. Various useful tools, like kaizen, jidoka, heijunka, muri, mura, and muda.

Related fun:

Reframing Organizations

Link: Amazon

Author: Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal

Summary: Organizations can be viewed from many perspectives; four particularly useful perspectives (frames, projections) include the “structural”, “human resources”, “political”, and “symbolic” frames.

Related fun:

The Science of Success

Link: Amazon

Author: Charles G. Koch

Summary: Koch attributes some of his success in growing Koch Industries, Inc. to his reuse of several societal determinants of prosperity:

both in operating the business and in selecting business partners.

Related fun:

The Art of Systems Architecting

Link: Amazon

Author: Mark W. Maier, Eberhardt Rechtin

Summary: A book on inventing systems.

Related fun:

Certain to Win

Link: Amazon

Author: Chet Richards

Summary: A capsule summary of Boyd’s philosophy of OODA loops as applied to maneuver conflict in the business world. A nice overview of Schwerpunkt, Einheit, Fingerspitzengefühl, and Auftragstaktik. Claims that the TPS is the second known instance of a maneuver conflict system. Referred me to MCDP-1, which is awesome.

Related fun:

The Art of War

Link: Amazon

Author: Sun Tzu, B. H. Liddell Hart, Samuel B. Griffith

Summary: tbd.

Related fun:

MCDP 1: Warfighting

Link: clausewitz.com

Author: ?

Summary: The USMC’s conception and theory of warfare, the mental and spiritual qualities and tradeoffs required to succeed despite the danger and uncertainty of war, the relation of strategy, operations, and tactics, attrition and maneuver warfare.

Related fun:

The Art of Design

Link: SAMS

Author: SAMS Student Text Design Team

Summary: tbd.

Related fun:

Inspired

Link: Amazon

Author: Marty Cagan

Summary: Closed-loop control will get you better products than open-loop control.

Related fun:

Rules for Revolutionaries

Link: Amazon

Author: Guy Kawasaki and Michele Moreno

Summary: tbd.

Change the Way You Lead Change

Link: Amazon

Author: David Herold and Donald Fedor

Summary:

Related fun:

Now, Discover Your Strengths!

Link: Amazon

Author: Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton

Summary: We have better language for discussing weaknesses than strengths, yet our strengths (and not our weaknesses) enable us succeed. Strengths are defined as tasks that we can perform consistently near-perfectly. Clustering two-millionish survey answers resulted in 34 “themes” of strength. Strengths (or skills that can be developed into strengths) can be identified by the ring of satisfaction that exercising them produces.

Related fun:

Drive

Link: Amazon

Author: Daniel H. Pink

Summary: A reasonable basis for motivating employees is

{mastery, autonomy, purpose}

Related fun: