From Amazon.com…

Have better ideas, faster, without the stress and burnout.

It isn’t enough to just do your job anymore. In order to thrive in today’s marketplace, all of us, regardless of our role, have to be ready to generate brilliant ideas on demand.

Business creativity expert Todd Henry explains how to establish effective practices that unleash your creative potential. Born out of his consultancy and his popular podcast, Henry has created a practical method for discovering your personal creative rhythm. He focuses on five key elements:

* Focus: Begin with your end goal in mind. * Relationships: Build stimulating relationships and ideas will follow. * Energy: Manage it as your most valuable resource. * Stimuli: Structure the right “inputs” to maximize creative output. * Hours: Focus on effectiveness, not efficiency. This is a guide for staying inspired and experiencing greater creative productivity than you ever imagined possible.

Link: The Accidental Creative: How to be brilliant at a moment’s notice by Todd Henry

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Career Compass: Finding Your Career North by  Douglas E. Welch This career booklet (5100 words) can help you to find the true direction of your career and guide you on that journey. Topics: How do you discover which job and career is right for you? How do your desires point you in the right direction? How to discover and stop your from moving “Due South” — exactly the wrong direction in your career? How can you use the Career Compass to evaluate new opportunities? From the introduction… “Imagine if when you were born you were given a magical compass to lead you through your life. It would always show you the way. It would show you the right answers on tests, lead you to the right college and to the right course of study at that college. It would lead to your first job, your first (and maybe last) love and always show the path ahead. This isn’t some idle fantasy. We each have a compass to show us the way, if only we would take it out of our pocket and use it. This compass, of course, is our desire. Instead of a needle, it is a feeling, a pull, a tension — in some cases, an overwhelming flood of feeling that says “Yes, this is the way — this is the one — this is where you need to go!” Douglas E. Welch

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Description from Amazon.com…

Best-selling author and popular speaker Garr Reynolds is back in this newly revised edition of his classic, best-selling book, Presentation Zen, in which he showed readers there is a better way to reach the audience through simplicity and storytelling, and gave them the tools to confidently design and deliver successful presentations.

In this new edition, Garr gives his readers new, fresh examples to draw inspiration from, with a whole new chapter for those who present on more technical and educational topics based on techniques used by many presenters who give high-level talks at TED and other powerhouse events. Whether the reader is in research, technology, business, or education–this book will show them how to take what could look like a really dry presenation and reinvigorate the material in totally fresh (and sometimes interactive!) ways that will make it memorable and resonate with the audience.

Staying true to the mission of the first), Garr combines solid principles of design with the tenets of Zen simplicity to help readers along the path to simpler, more effective presentations that will be appreciated, remembered, and best of all, acted upon.

More information from Amazon.com

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Practical Genuis | Eat People | TouchPoints | Now You See It

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Social Media Self Preservation

7100 Words
Take advantage of social media without losing your mind…
Using social media as part or business or personal life can seem overwhelming and fraught with pitfalls. There is a way, though, to make the best use of social media without falling into the traps of lost privacy and social media burnout.
This guide explains what you need to know as you start your journey into social media and how to make social media productive for you.

Cultivating Your Career Reputations

11,000 Words

While we often talk about one, monolithic, Reputation – with a capital R — I believe that there are a series of reputations that make up the whole. This book will focus on the combination of reputations that make up your one, overarching, Reputation. By examining each of these reputations in detail, I hope you will find specific areas where you can improve your work, your actions and your thoughts so that your overall professional reputation grows.

Why break your Reputation down into its constituent parts? It is often said that you can’t “do” projects, you can only do the individual tasks that make up the project and achieve the desired result. The same can be said for reputation. You don’t build your reputation as a whole, you cultivate the smaller reputations that create it. Each individual action builds your reputation in unique ways and each requires some thought as to how they relate to the whole.

The High-Tech Career Handbook

30,000 Words

Navigating the special difficulties of a high-tech career can be troublesome for workers, young and old. Career Opportunities, a weekly column for ComputorEdge Magazine in San Diego, California and Colorado Springs, Colorado, has addressed these issues for almost 13 years.

While simultaneously developing his own high-tech career, author Douglas E. Welch has shared his insights, trials, setbacks and successes with his readers. The High-Tech Career Handbook collects the best columns from 1997-2003 into a book for all high-tech careerists, whether they are just starting out, building their career or looking for a new career in the high-tech world.

Topics covered in the columns include getting your career started, ethics, fairness and the benefits of doing honest business, personal development, professional development, and the tips and tricks for transitioning into a mature career.

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TouchPoints: Creating Powerful Leadership Connections in the Smallest of Moments

From Amazon.com…

A fresh, effective, and enduring way to lead—starting with your next interaction.

Most leaders feel the inevitable interruptions in their jam-packed days are troublesome. But in TouchPoints, Conant and Norgaard argue that these—and every point of contact with other people—are overlooked opportunities for leaders to increase their impact and promote their organization’s strategy and values. Through previously untold stories from Conant’s tenure as CEO of Campbell Soup Company and Norgaard’s vast consulting experience, the authors show that a leader’s impact and legacy are built through hundreds, even thousands, of interactive moments in time. The good news is that anyone can develop “TouchPoint” mastery by focusing on three essential components: head, heart, and hands.

TouchPoints speaks to the theory and craft of leadership, promoting a balanced presence of rational, authentic, active, and wise leadership practices. Leadership mastery in the smallest and otherwise ordinary moments can transform aimless activity in individuals and entropy in organizations into focused energy—one magical moment at a time.

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Listen to the audio promo

This 11,000 word book is available for immediate download in the Amazon Kindle bookstore. Kindle books can be read on almost any device including Windows and Macintosh computers, iPhone, iPads and Android tablets and phones using the FREE Kindle Reader software.

Here is an example from the introduction of Cultivating Your Career Reputations.

“While we often talk about one, monolithic, Reputation – with a capital R — I believe that there are a series of reputations that make up the whole. This book will focus on the combination of reputations that make up your one, overarching, Reputation. By examining each of these reputations in detail, I hope you will find specific areas where you can improve your work, your actions and your thoughts so that your overall professional reputation grows.

Why break your Reputation down into its constituent parts? It is often said that you can’t “do” projects, you can only do the individual tasks that make up the project and achieve the desired result. The same can be said for reputation. You don’t build your reputation as a whole, you cultivate the smaller reputations that create it. Each individual action builds your reputation in unique ways and each requires some thought as to how they relate to the whole.”

Sections include:

• A Reputation for Fairness
• A Reputation for Honesty
• A Reputation for Trustworthiness
• A Reputation for Decision-making
• A Reputation for Empathy
• A Reputation for Helpfulness
• A Reputation for Compromise
• A Reputation for Clarity
• A Reputation for the Big Picture…and the small
• A Reputation for Balancing Work and Self
• A Reputation for Creativity and Innovation

Buy the book, or download a sample, today!

Other Kindle Books by Douglas include:

• Social Media Self Preservation
• The High-Tech Career Handbook

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The Starfish and the Spider by Orj Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom

This book was published back in 2006, but I only discovered it recently. The main topic is a discussion of decentralized (starfish) organizations versus centralized (spider) organizations. While I have been living with decentralized organizations for a long time, it is nice to see the differences, and the usefulness, of decentralized organizations laid out in such a clear fashion with some great examples.

From Napster to AA tto British Anti-Slavery groups to Al Qaeda, decentralized organizations take many forms, but they all share some common linkages. Firstly, it is about a catalyst or a champion that spearheads the effort while not being a centralized, command and control, leader in the usual sense. They start the ball rolling. They develop local groups to take action in their local areas. They provide support, cheerleading, persuasion and inspiration more that they provide office space, money or workers.

In my own experience with CareerCamp International, I have had direct experience in being part of a decentralized organization. Each camp is locally organized and managed. I help where I can, usually by sharing my passion for CareerCamp and unconferences in general. People new to the concept of an unconference need to be shown a vision for what can be and I paint them a picture that, hopefully, encourages them to join us in helping people build their careers. The Starfish and the Spider led me to new thoughts about what I am trying to accomplish and how I am going about it. It clarified some of my personal experiences and gave me a few ways to make my own work more useful and productive. It even gave me some warning signs to be aware of when developing a decentralized group and I can see where I had been ignoring those in some ways.

If you want to better understand the power involved in decentralized organizations and how they compete directly (and well) with more centralized groups, take some time with The Starfish and the Spider. You probably instinctively understand many of the issues involved, but having them laid out in such a clear fashion can help you develop a much deeper understanding.

Recommended.

For more book and product recommendation, visit the WelchWrite Bookstore in association with Amazon.com

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Like other books I have read recently, this is what I consider a “real world example.” Every aspect of the book draws on his experiences in advertising, blogging and cartooning. It makes you think. It make you stop sometimes and glance up at the ceiling to take stock of what you have just read. Some of the sections may seem contradictory to others that you have read, but that’s ok. Life itself is pretty contradictory, too, and the best advice is often to look at a problem from all sides.

Some sections feel like MacLeod is getting in you face and telling you how he thinks the world really operates. You can chose to believe him, or not, but you can’t ignore him. I think this is one of the marks of a good author. Mediocre authors can be be ignored, but good authors force you to pay attention, whether you agree with them or not.

Ignore Everybody is based on a blog, so it is divided into distinctly blog-like sections. Each has a beginning, middle and end, but also ties together nicely as a whole. MacLeod even recommends blogging for others who want to share their creativity with the world — something I often recommend myself to my clients. Those unfamiliar with blogs might find the style a big choppy, but even someone older like me can find it enjoyable and informative if you keep an open mind.

If you need a recharge in your creative life, are looking for the next step in your career or just trying to make sense of the world around you, Ignore Everybody could be an interesting and enjoyable read.

Recommended

Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity is available in hardcover, audio and Kindle editions.

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“The world is full of brilliant people whose ideas are never heard. This book is designed to make sure that you’re not one of them.

Even for the most self-confident among us, public speaking can be a nerve-racking ordeal. Whether we are speaking to a large audience, within a group, or in a one-on-one conversation, the way in which we communicate ideas, as much as the ideas themselves, can determine success or failure. In this invaluable guide by two of today’s most sought-after communication experts, Peter Meyers and Shann Nix offer a comprehensive approach for tackling the underlying obstacles that almost all of us experience when faced with speaking in public. In As We Speak, you’ll learn to master the three building blocks at the core of their approach:

Content: Organize the information you want to convey and construct a clear and lucid architecture of ideas that will lead your listener through a memorable emotional experience.

Delivery: Use your body, voice, eyes, and hands in ways that engage your audience and naturally support your message.

State: Bring yourself into peak performance condition. Your state is the way you feel when you perform, and it is both the most powerful and most frequently overlooked component of communication.

Meyers and Nix show how to apply these principles in a wide variety of situations. You’ll learn how to handle difficult face-to-face conversations with colleagues, friends, and family; how to make the best use of e-mail, phone, video conference, and other technology; and how to communicate in a crisis, when all eyes are on you and emotions are running high. Meyers and Nix also emphasize that effective communication is impossible without first becoming aware of your own true goals and personal beliefs, and they offer helpful tools and exercises that will lead you to greater clarity and self-knowledge.

Accessible, inspiring, and laden with useful tips, As We Speak will help you discover your authentic voice and learn to convey your ideas in the most powerful and memorable way possible.

Book description from Amazon.com…

If you cut off a spider’s head, it dies; if you cut off a starfish’s leg it grows a new one, and that leg can grow into an entirely new starfish. Traditional top-down organizations are like spiders, but now starfish organizations are changing the face of business and the world. 

What’s the hidden power behind the success of Wikipedia, craigslist, and Skype? What do eBay and General Electric have in common with the abolitionist and women’s rights movements? What fundamental choice put General Motors and Toyota on vastly different paths? 

Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom have discovered some unexpected answers, gripping stories, and a tapestry of unlikely connections. The Starfish and the Spider explores what happens when starfish take on spiders and reveals how established companies and institutions, from IBM to Intuit to the U.S. government, are also learning how to incorporate starfish principles to achieve success.

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You can find out more about The Adversity Paradox on Amazon.com

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Book Description from Amazon.com…

The acclaimed author of Ignore Everybody is back with more irreverent wisdom, wit, and original cartoons.

“It has never been easier to make a great living doing what you love. But to make it happen, first you need an EVIL PLAN. Everybody needs to get away from lousy bosses, from boring, dead-end jobs that they hate, and ACTUALLY start doing something they love, something that matters. Life is short.” -Hugh MacLeod

Freud once said that in order to be truly happy people need two things: the capacity to work and the capacity to love. Evil Plans is about being able to do both at the same time. The sometimes unfortunate side effect is that others will hate you for it. MacLeod’s insights are brash, wise, and often funny.

What I’m Reading…Evil Plans: Having Fun on the Road to World Domination by Hugh MacLeod is a post from Career Opportunities

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The Domino Project

Anything You Want is the type of writing I have come to describe as a “Real World Example.” It is like sitting across the table of someone as they tell their story…a story that will hopefully change your life.

Over the years I am sure we have all had moments like this. The friend who educated us about the stock market, the soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend who taught us what a relationship should be, and in Sivers’ case, the story of one business — his business — that also encompasses the nature of business as a whole.

Anything You Want is a short book – only 77 pages in printed form – and yet it illustrates a complete journey. It also details Sivers’ attitudes towards business – slow to no growth, doing it all for the customer, and knowing when to get out. In these few short pages he gives us it all, alpha to omega, and we are better for it.

I unabashedly like this book. It matches with my own beliefs about career, business and life at many points. I too believe that money should never be the sole reason for doing anything and that bigger is not always better. Sivers also touches on another important topic, success. While he doesn’t come out and say it directly, I get the sense that he understands that there are levels to success. Too often today, we believe there are only 2 levels of success – Nobody and Rich and Famous. Hopefully people will use Sivers’ example to remind themselves that supporting yourself, providing for your family and being comfortable provides unlimited gradations of success.

Settle in with Anything You Want and your favorite beverage and an hour later you will come back with ideas, plans, hope and a deeper understanding of what it is to run your own business and perhaps, your own life.

Highly recommended

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The Whuffie Factor by Tara Hunt

Comments about The Whuffie Factor

“Embrace the chaos! The Whuffie Factor weaves stories from Moleskine, 37Signals, Threadless, Willitblend, and Gary Vaynerchuk into a compelling story of the way business is now done. Tara doesn’t just talk about it, of course, she does it herself.”

—Seth Godin, author of Meatball Sundae

“Marketing–or doing business at all–in the age of whuffie and the world of social media means authenticity, listening, engaging, and trusting. That’s what Tara Hunt says, and it’s also exactly what she does. If you are in marketing now or starting a company that has customers, you need to read this book to understand exactly, and I mean precisely and with detailed examples, how the conversation between vendor and client, business and customer, has changed radically. Tara Hunt knows her stuff, and she knows how to put a great deal of knowledge into compelling ­stories that are a pleasure to read because her voice is not just the voice of extensive experience: Tara Hunt’s voice works well in this book because it’s who she is.”
—Howard Rheingold, author of The Virtual Community and Smart Mobs

The Millionaire Messenger: Make a Difference and a Fortune Sharing Your Advice by Brendon Burchard

Comments about The Millionaire Messenger

“This is a must-read for any author, speaker, coach, seminar leader, consultant, or online information marketer. Brendon Burchard shows you how to get your message to the public in a bigger way (and get paid for it too).” –John Gray, New York Times Bestselling Author of “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus”

“We all have a life story and a message that can inspire others to live a better life or run a better business. Brendon Burchard’s book proves it and shows how you can share your message to make a difference and also make an income. This book will help you change a lot of lives.” –Marci Shimoff, New York Times best-selling author of Happy for No Reason and Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul

“The expert industry has been shrouded in myth and mystery for far too long. Now Brendon Burchard, one of our most innovative and powerful leaders, reveals exactly how we—authors, speakers, coaches, consultants, seminar leaders and online information marketers–make a difference and earn an income with our advice and expertise. This is an industry defined by how much value we add to others’ lives, and this book delivers and shows exactly why Brendon is one of the best.” –Jack Canfield, New York Times best-selling author of The Success Principles and originator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul(R) series
“I love making a difference in the lives of millions of people worldwide. It gives my life a deep sense of meaning and purpose. I wish I had read Brendon Burchard’s new book, The Millionaire Messenger, twenty years ago, because it has many of the lessons that would have dramatically boosted my career, both in terms of impact and finances. Lessons I had to learn the hard way. No matter what your age, now is the time to make the biggest difference in the world. Brendon will show you how.” –Daniel G. Amen, MD, New York Times best-selling author of Change Your Brain, Change Your Life and Magnificent Mind at Any Age

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The Referral Engine

All links go to the WelchWrite Bookstore in association with Amazon.com for reviews and more info.

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We are all weird by Seth Godin

Whenever I read one of Seth Godin’s books I feel he is preaching to the choir because his thoughts are so much in tune with my own when it comes to New Media, marketing and business. I often that he is describing things in much the same way I do when talking to those people who don’t understand the new world we live in, but want to know more. We are all weird is another of these cases. I found myself nodding in agreement and even saying “yes, yes, yes!” out loud as I read.

The basic, overriding message to this book is, “Mass is dead. Here comes weird.” Godin should have just as easily said “Here comes niche. Here comes small or a variety of other words, but I am sure using weird makes readers stop and take notice.” I agree with him, too. The mass market is shrinking (he provides some charts showing how and why) and smart businesspeople will focus on tribes, niches, small groups to find those people with an affinity for their product.

“The opportunity of our time is to support the weird, to sell to the weird and, if you wish, to become weird.”

Like most “normal” processes of the world, the Internet and the hyper-connectivness it allows, is making weird the new normal. I know, that seems an oxymoronic phrase, but I get where Godin is coming from. As the “mass” decreases the old normal gives way to the new, weird, normal.

As with most of Godin’s books, this one gets me thinking, and making notes and instituting changes in my own marketing policies even as I am reading. You may have to think deeply about how to implement some of the ideas here, but I think there is something for nearly anyone who wants to reach a particular audience with a particular message. This can be anyone from a non-profit out to change the world to a corporate hive worker trying to keep their company relevant in the new weird, normal world.

We are all weird is available from Amazon.com as both a paperback and Kindle book. Use the links above to find out more information, read reviews and buy the book.

Disclaimer: I received an early, e-gallery version of We are all weird directly from the Domino Project. The opinions here are my own and no payment was made for this review.

Find more great career-related books in the Career Opportunities section of the WelchWrite Bookstore in association with Amazon.com

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The great thing is that is doesn’t require a Kindle to read. You can get free Kindle software for nearly any device (Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPod Touch, Android, Blackberry) and read the book there.

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Social Media Self Preservation: Taking advantage of social media without losing your mind

7100 Words

Price: $4.99

Using social media as part or business or personal life can seem overwhelming and fraught with pitfalls. There is a way, though, to make the best use of social media without falling into the traps of lost privacy and social media burnout.

This guide explains what you need to know as you start your journey into social media and how to make social media productive for you.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction: Why Social Media?
• Chapter 1: Which social networks should you join?
  • Be Found!
  • Reserving your name
  • A few social networks to get you started
• Chapter 2: How to decide who to include in your online community
  • It is all about value
  • Where to begin building your online community?
• Chapter 3: Maintaining your online community
  • Re-evaluation
  • No longer needed
  • People Change
  • Too much information
  • Information you can find elsewhere
• Chapter 4: What to share online
  • Share your knowledge and expertise
  • Share your work
  • …but my work is secret!
  • Share your life
  • Balance in your social media sharing

eBook: Social Media Self Preservation (Kindle) by Douglas E. Welch is a post from Career Opportunities

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Another book in my “To Read” stack. A review will be coming soon if I deem it worthy of one. — Douglas

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